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The id, ego, and superego are three parts of the brain that drive personality, with the id representing instinctive behavior and simple needs. It can cause selfish or destructive behavior if not controlled by the ego and superego, which gradually assert morality. Children are initially driven by the id, but gradually learn to control it. Even well-adjusted people have id-driven moments, and addictive behavior is often id-driven. Treatment involves learning to control or ignore the id.
The id is a term developed by Sigmund Freud to describe a part of the brain. He also used the terms ego and superego to describe the other two parts of the brain, which together with the id drive the personality. They are specifically all of our simple needs for pleasure, food, and survival. For Freud it represented the instinctive behavior of each person.
According to Freud, the id doesn’t care whether its needs are rational or harmful. It’s a common undercurrent that sometimes causes us to behave in selfish or destructive ways when we don’t use our egos and superegos to control it. The id is not always good or bad, or has any moral value. It is amoral, rather than immoral, as it does not contain moral checks. Instead the superego has this job and gradually asserts morality on the id to make the ego behave.
Young children, especially babies, are driven by identification. Having very little moral notion and a tiny notion of society’s rules or the needs of others, they will ask for what they want pretty much all the time. This can be seen in their need to be fed, held, get enough sleep and have clean diapers.
As the child begins to grow, he acquires a sense of self, of ego, and a sense of the rules imposed by the society of his home and later by the society of his world, called the superego. But it takes a long time for children to move from that place where they are guided by the id to be able to control it, and some do not learn. This can be seen in a child who claims that everything in the house is “mine,” or in sudden tantrums when his wishes are thwarted.
Even well-adjusted people have their id-driven moments. An example of this is eating comfort foods. A sudden outburst of anger is another type of id response. It’s not rational and it’s not usually helpful, but it’s common.
Freud would look at addictive behavior, especially where there is no outward physical addiction, such as compulsive gambling, shopping, or sex addiction as very id-driven behavior. In these cases, treatment would mean learning to control it or at least ignore it.
