Feist−Feist: Theories of
Personality, Seventh
EditionII. Psychodynamic
Theories(^34) 2. Freud: Psychoanalysis © The McGraw−Hill
Companies, 2009
sucking a nurturing nipple, it continues to suck because its id is not in contact with
reality. The infant fails to realize that thumb-sucking behavior cannot sustain life.
Because the id has no direct contact with reality, it is not altered by the passage of
time or by the experiences of the person. Childhood wish impulses remain un-
changed in the id for decades (Freud, 1933/1964).
Besides being unrealistic and pleasure seeking, the id is illogical and can si-
multaneously entertain incompatible ideas. For example, a woman may show con-
scious love for her mother while unconsciously wishing to destroy her. These op-
posing desires are possible because the id has no morality; that is, it cannot make
value judgments or distinguish between good and evil. However, the id is not im-
moral, merely amoral. All of the id’s energy is spent for one purpose—to seek plea-
sure without regard for what is proper or just (Freud, 1923/1961a, 1933/1964).
In review, the id is primitive, chaotic, inaccessible to consciousness, un-
changeable, amoral, illogical, unorganized, and filled with energy received from
basic drives and discharged for the satisfaction of the pleasure principle.
28 Part II Psychodynamic Theories
FIGURE 2.2 Levels of Mental Life and Provinces of the Mind.
Eye of consciousness
Final censorship
Preconscious
Censorship
Unconscious
Id
Ego
Superego
Open to
somatic influences