Superego
The superego is a concept psychoanalytic developed by Freud. It is with It and I , one of three instances of personality. It refers to the moral structure (conception of good and evil) and judicial (the ability to reward or punishment) of our psyche. He is the heir to the Oedipus complex. It affects our whole culture under the category of "what to do." This is an instance often harsh and cruel, especially formed injunctions that constrain the individual.
Summary |
The word means topical sites (donnat toponymy, topography ...) and designate separate places psychic. It is used to denote the result of a process that occurs in children and is photographed in his unconscious as an adult.
The process described by Freud as follows: The starting point is an instinct born in It. When she was born, this drive is sometimes constrained by a superior force, demanding to waive the satisfaction that would result from achieving the instinctual act. This frustration leads one second drive, aggressive against coercing agent. Such a reaction (as is often observed in young children) is not a socially appropriate response. To break the deadlock, the child uses a specific psychic mechanism: identification with authority. This authority is therefore internalized in a part of me : the superego. The superego is the seat mechanisms renunciation of drives containing images of different binding forces which the ego can identify.
Superego and the Oedipus complex
The superego arises from the resolution of the Oedipus complex: the child assumes the banned of parricide and the incest and identifies the parent of the same sex. Internalizing and authority of the parent, the child kills symbolically taking possession of its sphere of influence and making it somewhat superfluous parent.
The emergence of the superego is also linked to the awareness of the existence of external reality. The inclusion of banned and recommendations of parents allows the child to better manage its relationship with the world around him by making him do without unpleasant experiences that would otherwise repeat (or relive the memories).
Function of the Superego
The superego is thus a critical agent, mostly unconscious impulses filtering through internalized norms. These standards (prohibitions, requirements) may be of an ethical , social or cultural and are more or less restrictive depending on the personality of the individual, his education. The role of parents in this structure during childhood is critical, especially the father who traditionally represents the authority. The superego is the body that generates the discharge of unacceptable impulses. It guides the child become independent and eventually the adult, in his choice.
Jean-Paul Sartre , whose father died young and whose mother has not really exercised any normative authority, said of himself that he had no superego although in the words , it describes the role played by his grandfather in his constructivism.
Injunctions superego
The superego is an instance complex, too often regarded as the "policeman inside." This is not wrong but a bit simplistic. The injunctions of the superego are four types, and in contradiction:
- "Do not enjoy! "This injunction comes from the introjection of the father interdicteur. It is true that one policeman, which does not mean that this injunction is the most important.
- "Go enjoy! "This injunction is in perfect contradiction with the previous one and comes from the introjection of the mother (desired and desiring). This contradiction brings out the symptom approach to the enjoyment, without reaching it.
- "Be perfect! "This injunction has its origin in the model to achieve. It was this injunction that sometimes leads to avoidance behavior ("I'll never ...").
- "Submit yourself! "Coming from the father figure desired, it can lead to masochistic behavior.
These different orders show four types of superego:
- interdicteur the superego;
- the superego enjoyment;
- the superego of the ideal narcissistic;
- sadistic superego.
At these functions, we should add the function benevolent, which protects and encourages (also inherited from the figureheads of childhood), highlighted by Francis Pasche , Franoise Davoine or Heitor de Macedo.
The superego incestuous
Freud drew the contours of the superego from what the child hears, and reads and sees. Sndor Ferenczi emphasizes the importance of significant traumatic experiences. He said that profanity or insults shape the superego as they express the ferocity. It is then possible to define a "superego incestuous." Induced by incest, especially incest with father or father in lieu of the "superego incestuous" is a monster inside dehumanizing constraints. It is characterized by:
- blind submission to the dominant male figures;
- a radical negation of women (misogyny and machismo);
- a gap in place of the paternal function internalized;
- use the body as sex object, the agent of enjoyment;
- systematic denigration of sensitivity.
This type of superego causes identity confusion mirrored the profane. Bibliography See also
References
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