The Id

The depth of the unconscious are an unexplored area of the mind that much is not known of. Freud attempted to crack the puzzle with this theory on the Id and its control over the majority of the unconscious mind. In Freud’s eyes, the Id is an incredible, sophisticated line of thinking riddled with complexity and unique abilities such as dream equating. Hall describes Freud’s idea of the id as a “demanding, impulsive, irrational, asocial, selfish, and pleasure-loving [character]”, which “retains its infantile character throughout life” (27). Freud initial findings were very blunt which led to much controversy, but I would agree that this animalistic self would be a present factor in the out core make-up because genetically we are animals and …show more content…
Is it right to test products on animals? Should the death penalty be allowed? These morally conflicting questions has stumped many, but how do we determine what is right or wrong? Freud sought to answer this dilemma by finding the source of our moral and ethical code, and uncovered another area of the mind known as the Superego. Hall claims, “Fear of punishment and desire for approval cause the child to identify himself with the moral precepts of his parents. This identification with the parents results in the formation of the superego” (46). Freud dissected the superego and found that there are two components that create the superego. The superego’s two parts—ego-ideal (child’s conception of right) and conscious (child’s conceptions of wrong)—both are influenced by the internalization by the parents. Children adopt the moral codes of their parent as an act of desperation to stabilize their connection and closeness with the parents. Freud describes the superego as pertaining to both the conscious and unconscious mind that develops a reward or punish system, which depends on a person’s actions according to his moral code. The superego want a person to follow the virtuous path that it deems fit. However, the superego is extremely sensitive and can act irrationally at the slightly action against the moral code, even something as minuscule as thought can be punished through ailment, injury, or loss of memory. The dangers of …show more content…
Freud discovered that we react differently, yet commonly using similar techniques that are now known as the Defense Mechanisms. Hall describes the defense mechanism as, “The ego [trying] to master danger by adopting realistic problem-solving methods, or [attempting] to alleviate anxiety by using methods that deny, falsify, or distort reality and that impede the development of personality” (85). These defense mechanisms work differently, but similarly as they attempt to help us cope with crises and distress. There are five defense mechanisms: repression, projection, reaction formation, fixation, and regression. Repression is the act of forcing some uncomfortable thought, image, or feeling out of the conscious. However, the effect of this lead to increasingly more dangerous unconscious mind, which become the “demons” that haunt and torture the person from the inside, even if the person may seem good on the surface. Hall states repression is seen in, “the taboo against incest is said to be based upon a strong desire for sexual relations with one’s father or mother” (85). Projection is the act of one perceiving a thought, image, or feeling in one’s own mind as if it were external in some other person or group. Though it is a defense mechanism it can be used to project positively, as seen in the formation of many religions. Hall states projections as, “It may take the form of exchanging the subject for the object. ‘I hate you’ is