superego

superego
/sooh'peuhr ee"goh, -eg"oh/, n., pl. superegos. Psychoanal.
the part of the personality representing the conscience, formed in early life by internalization of the standards of parents and other models of behavior.
[1890-95; trans. of G Über-Ich (Freud); see SUPER-, EGO]

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In Freudian psychoanalytic theory, one of the three aspects of the human personality, along with the id and the ego.

The last of the three elements to develop, the superego is the ethical component of the personality, providing the moral standards by which the ego operates. The superego is formed during the first five years of life in response to parental punishment and approval; children internalize their parents' moral standards as well as those of the surrounding society, and the developing superego serves to control aggressive or other socially unacceptable impulses. Violation of the superego's standards gives rise to feelings of guilt or anxiety.

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      in the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud (Freud, Sigmund), latest developing of three agencies (with the id and ego; qq.v.) of the human personality. The superego is the ethical component of the personality and provides the moral standards by which the ego operates. The superego's criticisms, prohibitions, and inhibitions form a person's conscience, and its positive aspirations and ideals represent one's idealized self-image, or “ego ideal.”

      The superego develops during the first five years of life in response to parental punishment and approval. This development occurs as a result of the child's internalization of his parents' moral standards, a process greatly aided by a tendency to identify with the parents. The developing superego absorbs the traditions of the family and the surrounding society and serves to control aggressive or other socially unacceptable impulses. Violation of the superego's standards results in feelings of guilt or anxiety and a need to atone for one's actions. The superego continues to develop into young adulthood as a person encounters other admired role models and copes with the rules and regulations of the larger society. See also Oedipus complex.

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Universalium. 2010.

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