Sigmund Freud’s Super Ego Types, Components and How to Manage

In Freud’s structural theory of the ego, ID and super ego, the superego was the moral arm of the psyche containing instructions received by our parents, teachers, media and society at large over what’s morally right and evil (wrong), over how we should be or not be and who we should be and not be.

Failure to meet these standards set leads to punishment through guilt.

Generally, we can say the super ego just replaces the external control from the parents with inner self control. Even in their absence, their words whether positive or negative still affect our decisions, choices and behaviours.

The Two Components of the Superego.

The moral arm of our mind contains two components;

•The Conscience

• The Ego Ideal.

 

• The Conscience contains the “Though shall” and “Though shall not” mental commandments and moral rules we learned from our parents and society at large. Going contrary too these laws leads to punishment through guilt and shame leading to a mental discomfort. The moral standards contain what is wrong and forbidden.
• •The Ego Ideal; The idealistic image of ourselves that we strive to be based on the learning received earlier on including standards of good behaviours. Adhering to these idealized images leads to feeling of pride, accomplishment and self-worth. High ego ideal standards not met may lead to feelings of failure, dissatisfaction and guilt.

Eg; Sharing your snacks with friends or respecting elders or being an obedient boy. 

Difference between ego ideal and conscience.

The main difference between the ego ideal and conscience is that, the ego ideal sets standards we strive for and reward us with pride while the conscience act as an internal watchdog that punishes bad behaviour with guilt.

Types of Super Ego

Based on the type of parents we have, three types of super egos emerge;

1. Harsh Superego

2. Healthy Superego

3. Weak Super Ego

The harsh or overly punitive Superego arises from parents who were extremely critical and authoritarian whose words still echo like an inner critic. It instill excessive guilt or feelings of inferiority in an individual, even for minor transgressions or mere thoughts hence causing anxiety or depressive tendencies. Individual with a harsh superego might have a harsh inner critic, have weak boundaries and low self-worth.

A weak underdeveloped superego on the other hand which arises from parents who cared less resulting to poor morals, recklessness or antisocial behavior. In fact lack of morals in the society were linked to a weak Super ego.

The healthy super ego comes from parents who guided their kids without being domineering or controlling. Taught them good values and morals that leads to an individual with a good moral standing in the society.

To Freud , a balance between an overly harsh or overly strong superego and a weak superego was vital for any extreme might be problematic.

Can superego Be Entirely be Good or Bad.

As discussed above, the kind of superego one has depends on the parents and environment one was raised in. A harsh or weak underdeveloped superego might be problematic. A healthy superego can be good as it enables one to Cope healthy.

How to Deal with and manage the Superego.

Some of the internalized standards and ideals might be outdated or wrong and hence need to be discarded. Sometimes our parents too had their own issues and were not perfect as we thought and the society might be wrong. Hence the only way to manage the superego is approaching it from a point of curiosity, see how the internalized commandments affect you and discard those that work against you.

• Maybe girls should be respectful but not agreeable when their boundaries are violated. 
• Maybe boys expressing their emotions can be healthy. 
• Maybe we shouldn’t compare ourselves to others. 
• Maybe we shouldn’t care much about others opinion.

In conclusion, the superego is the basket that carries the values, standards and ideals we internalized from our parents,, peers,, teachers, media and the society in general. It replaced external control with inner self-control and replaced external punishment with an inner punishment of guilt when the standards are not met.