FREE ESSAY ON EGO AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

EGO AND PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

The ego, a word that is arbitrarily used by mean, has a quite distinct and significant
meaning. Ego development is an aspect of psychology that has been discussed by a number
of authors and psychologist. Many different authors have concluded a variety of theories
behind the ego and its many stages and its effects upon one's personality. According to
Zimbardo (1992) Freud's theory showed that personality differences arise from the
different ways in which people deal with their fundamental drives. To explain theses
differences, Freud pictured a continuing battle between two antagonistic parts of the
personality, the id and the superego. The id is conceived of as the storehouse of the
fundamental drives. The superego is considered to be the storehouse of an individual's
values, including moral attitudes learned from society. 
This researcher, a supporter of Freudian psychology and Freudian theory of
psychoanalysis, to be unbias will be difficult. This researcher will try to present both
the supporters as well as the critics to Freud's theory of the connection between the ego
and personality as best possible. One must not evaluate or criticize Freud's theories or
to examine them in comparison with other theories unless one completely understands all
of the proposed psychological theories. 
Zimbardo (1992) states that Freud's work assumes that one's personality is shaped and
behavior is motivated by powerful inner forces. In addition, Zimbardo suggests that
...Freud's theory of personality boldly attempts to explain the origins and course of
personality development, the nature of the mind... The total personality consists of
three systems, the id, the ego, and the superego. In a mentally healthy person, the three
systems work in harmony and unity together to form one complete organization. The harmony
enables one to create positive transactions with the environment. On the other hand, if
the systems are fighting with each other, one is said to be maladjusted and dissatisfied
with himself and with the world. The function of the id is to provide for the immediate
discharge of quantities of excitation, including energy or tension, that are released in
the person by internal or external stimulation. The earliest form of the id is a reflex
system that releases immediately by motor pathways any sensory excitations reaching it. 
Rickman (1957) states that
...when a very bright light falls upon the retina of the eye, the eyelid closes 
and light is prevented from reaching the retina. Consequently, the 
excitations that were produced in the nervous system by the light quiet 
down and the organism returns to a quiescent state.
If all the tensions that occur in an organism could be alleviated by reflexes, then any
psychological development beyond that of the simple reflex would be unnecessary and not
needed. However, this is definitely not the case; an example is when hunger contractions
appear in the stomach of a baby, the contractions do not produce food. Actually, they
produce crying and restlessness, which indicates to one that the baby must be fed or over
time, the baby would die from starvation. Through the schedules, training, and
discipline, the baby experiences some degree of frustration and discomfort. All of these
experiences stimulate the development of the id. The most used function of the id, the
primary process produces a memory image of an object that is needed to reduce a tension.
In addition, the id is more in touch with the body and its processes than the external
world. The id cannot be modified or changed with time like the ego and the superego.
Finally, as Frank (1995) states ... the id is not governed by laws of reason or logic,
and it does not possess values, ethics, or morality. It is driven by one consideration
only, to obtain satisfaction for instinctual needs in accordance with the pleasure
principle Id must discharge in action or wish-fulfillment, or it must succumb to the
influence of the ego. 
The transaction between the world and the person require the initiation of a new
psychological system called the ego. In a well - adjusted individual, the ego is the
executive of the personality, controlling and governing the id and the superego and the
external world. Maladjustments and disharmony will engage if the ego abdicates too much
of its power to the id, the superego, or the external world. The ego relies mostly on the
relies mostly on the reality principle, which states that one's actual need will exist
but the discharge of energy must be postponed until the actual object that will satisfy
the need is found. The ego must tolerate this tension on the meantime. In order for one
to find the object or answer that will meet the need, one must use the secondary process
consisting of thought and reason, cognition. Finally, the ego may be thought of as an
intermediary between the id and the superego (Novy 1993).
The last system of one's personality is the superego, which is the moral or judicial
branch of personality. The superego presents the ideal rather than the real. The
superego, the moral code of a person, develops from one's ego as a result of what a child
assimilates as good and bad based upon his parents' standards. The superego consists of
two parts, the ego-ideal and the conscience. The ego-ideal is what a child believes his
parents consider to be good established by rewards, and the conscience is what a child
believes his parents feel is morally bad realized through punishments. The superego will
take on the roles of the parents and society by creating rewards and punishments such as
feelings of pride or feelings of guilt or inferiority. Novy (1993) states that the ego
becomes full of pride when it has behaved virtuously or thought virtuous thoughts, and it
feels ashamed of itself when it has yielded to temptation. Finally, the superego places
inner restraints upon lawlessness and anarchy enabling a person to become a law-abiding
member of society. 
One's personality is constantly changing and developing especially throughout the periods
of infancy, childhood, and adolescence. The ego becomes more differentiated and controls
more of the sources of energy. According to Novy (1993), ... through elaboration of
behavior patterns, a proliferation of object-cathexis in the form of interests and
attachments, and a development of the psychological processes of perception, memory, and
thinking, one's whole personality becomes integrated  The three structural systems and
the external worlds are better integrated and unified. Through learning, one develops
greater skill in dealing with frustrations and anxieties. Other conditions that one is
faced with include maturation and learning, painful excitations arising from internal
conflicts, and personal inadequacies (Bellak 1983). The way in which one meets and
attempts to overcome and adjust to there obstacles shape his personality. Five major
methods exist according to Freud to deal with these frustrations, conflicts, and
anxieties. The methods include identification, displacement, sublimation, defense
mechanisms, and the transformation of instincts by fusion and compromise.
Identification includes the formation of the ego and the superego. Identifications will
be defined as the incorporation of the qualities usually those of another person into
one's personality. Adams and Ascione (1993) stated that for Erikson (1968), a healthy
personality is based upon active control of one's environment, autonomous and independent
functioning, and similarity between what one wants to be and the acceptance by
significant others of what one is and plans to become is viewed as a positive identity
resolution. The more active form of identity that one possesses results in a greater
score on locus of control, cognitive development, and ego development measures (Adams and
Ascione 1993). According to Loewenstein (1994), one might create a false self: as a
...protective but lifeless envelope shielding and holding a hidden authentic core. The
false self develops in response to an environment that is less than good enough, one
which dies not enable the child to consolidate a stable ego. Also, Loewenstein (1994)
presents the accepted idea that one tends to identify with individuals that one admires,
respects, wants o be, or desires. Through one's development, he identifies with many
individuals including the mother, the father, a lover, a baby sitter, worker, etc. The
motive force for identification is provided by frustration, inadequacy, and anxiety.
The development of one's personality greatly involves the displacement of a energy from
one object to another object. The source and aim of the instinct remain the same when
energy is displaced; it is only the goal object that varies. A displacement will take
either of two different courses. First, society acting through its principle agents, the
parents, influences the direction of displacement by sanctioning certain object - choices
and prohibiting others. Second, the degree of resemblance between the original and
substitute object, or the extent to which the objects are identified with one another.
This researcher believes that the ego controls all aspects of decision including which
final object is selected after a series of displacements. An example of a series is when
a boy/girl perceives his mother/father as an ideal person but then finds faults.
Consequently, the individual will continue to look elsewhere for the ideal person. When
the substitute is when that represents a higher cultural goal, this type of displacement
is called a sublimation. Examples of sublimation are the deflection of energy into
intellectual, humanitarian, cultural, and artistic pursuits. Sublimation does not always
result in complete satisfaction because as Freud (1923) states ...that a person never
actually relinquishes his original object-cathexis. A person is always looking for his
first love in the substitute object; however, one must compensate for the original goal
object. This researcher believes that the ability to displace energy from one object to
another is the most powerful instrument for the development of personality. If
psychological energy were not displaced and distributed, there would be no development of
personality. 
A major threat of the ego is to deal with the threats and dangers that fall upon a person
and stimulate anxiety. The ego attempts to resolve the conflict by adopting realistic
solving methods, or the ego will deny, falsify, or distort reality and impede personality
development. The latter methods are called defense mechanisms. The first mechanism is
repression, the restraining of a cathexis of the id, ego, and superego, by anticathe