Freud

The Structure of the Personality

Freud's arguably most important idea was that the human personality had a structure made up of more than one aspect. He separated the structure of the personality into three parts, the Id, the ego and the superego, all of which he argued developed at different stages in life.

The Id

The id consists of inherited components of a personality, including aggressive and sexual instincts. It is the impulsive and unconscious part of the human personality, which responds directly and immediately to the human instincts. The id demands immediate satisfaction, resulting in the feeling of pleasure. The id is not effected in any way by the real world or logic. Pleasure principle - the idea that every wishful impulse should be satisfied immediately, regardless of the consequences.

The personality of a small child begins as the id but later develops into the other parts of the personality.

The Ego

The ego is developed in order to create a balance between the unrealistic id and the realistic world. It is the decision making component in the human personality, working by reason whereas the Id is completely unreasonable and causes chaos. The ego operates according to the reality principle, working out realistic ways in which to satisfy the demands made by the id. This often involves compromising or pausing satisfaction to avoid negative consequences. Similar to the id, the ego desires pleasure and avoids pain, however, the ego sets out to do so in a realistic way.

More often than not, the ego is weak in comparison to the id and the best that it can do sometimes is to just continue on, trying to point the id in the right direction. The ego doesn't really have a concept of what is right or wrong, something is just good if pleasure is reached through it without causing harm to the id or the ego. It is rational, realistic and problem solving orientated.

The Superego

The superego carefully considers the morals and values of society which are taught by parents and those around you. It usually develops around the ages of 3 - 5 years old. 
The function of the super ego is to really control the impulses, especially those impulses that are frowned upon by society, such as sex or aggression. It also functions to persuade the ego to turn to the moralistic goals rather than the simple and realistic ones. 

The super ego is made up of two systems: the ideal self and the conscience. The conscience can punish the ego through feelings of guilt and remorse. The ideal self is an imaginary image of how you are 'meant to be'. It represents career aspirations, how to treat others around you, how to behave as a member of society etc. If behaviour does not reach the expected standard of the ideal self, the super ego may punish through guilt again. As well as punishing, the super ego can also reward us through the ideal self when we 'behave correctly' through feelings of pride. 

If the standard of a person's ideal self is too high then it can never be reached, meaning that whatever the person does will be deemed a failure. The ideal self and the conscience are determined in childhood by parents and how you were raised.

References:

• McLeod, S. A. (2008). Id, Ego and Superego. Retrieved from www.simplypsychology.org/psyche.html
• Freud, S. (1920). Beyond the pleasure principle. SE, 18: 1-64.
• Freud, S. (1923). The ego and the id. SE, 19: 1-66.

Freudian Analysis of Black Swan

Black Swan is an American psychological thriller-horror film by Darren Aronofsky. In it there is a perfect example to illustrate Freud's human psyche/personality structure theory. 

The superego is the element of the personality which is concerned with the principle of morality. In Black Swan, this is portrayed in the form of Nina's mother who appears to be successful in controlling her daughter, encouraging her to be a perfect dancer and basing her entire life around dance. She puts a lot of emphasis on getting everything exactly right and attempts to keep Nina from become independent. 

The Id is the part of the personality who focuses around the pleasure principle. It lives for immediate gratification from everything it wants and needs. In the film, Nina was unable to play the part of the Black Swan as she had been raised as 'morally correct' by her mother, the superego, who had taught her to believe that expressing sexuality was a bad thing, and as the black swan is meant to be a relatively sensual character, she was unable to grasp the part fully until Lily, the id, enabled her to explore her sexuality and open up to it. This resulted in Nina being able to play the part of the black swan in the end. 

The ego is the aspect of the personality who is meant to be the balance between the measure principle 

Nina, the main character is the ego who is unsure of her situation and no longer finds herself with a voice in regards to her own decisions. Her mother appears to be the superego, being as she is constantly attempting to keep Nina in the confines of her own hopes and dreams and also because of her morals and values that urge Nina to not stray onto the wrong path.  

Lily, another dancer at the dance school portrays Nina's Id. Lily, as a character, is completely different to Nina's mother's character in the sense that she is a free spirit, openly expresses her sexuality and prefers to be spontaneous. Lily encourages Nina to explore her sexuality and let go of all constraints.

Nina's Mother (superego) and Nina (Ego)

 

Nina (Ego) and Lily (id)

References

• http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/FreudianTrio/Literature