The Evolution of Psychoanalysis: Gazing Across Three Centuries 121Id: Present at birth.Ego: Age 2; develops as a result
of imperfect parenting and
the child’s need to develop
independent coping strategies.
Superego: Age 5; develops when the child
becomes capable of internalizing
abstract rules and principles
as communicated by parents and
others.Figure 5.1 Development of the id, ego, and superego in classical psycho-
analytic theory.TABLE 5.2 Conceptions of Personality Within Classical
Psychoanalytic Theory
Model Conception of Personality
Drive Personality traits as drive (instinct) derivatives.
Topographic Unconscious (repressed) material is a primary
determinant of personality.
Psychosexual Fixation at a particular psychosexual stage
leads to an associated character type.
Structural Id-ego-superego dynamics determine personality
traits and coping strategies.competitiveness, and a concern with status and influence
(Fisher & Greenberg, 1996; Juni, 1992).
Empirical studies have yielded mixed results with respect
to the anal and Oedipal stages. Studies support the existence
of an anal triad, but they do not support the critical role of
toilet training in the ontogenesis of these traits (Kline, 1981).
Similarly, research offers only mixed support for the concept
of an Oedipal personality type and offers little evidence for the
Oedipal dynamic as Freud conceived it (Fisher & Greenberg,
1996; Masling & Schwartz, 1979).
The Structural Model
Ultimately, Freud recognized certain explanatory limitations
in the topographic model (e.g., the model’s inability to ac-
count for certain forms of psychopathology), and as a result
he developed an alternative, complementary framework to
explain normal and abnormal personality development. Al-
though the structural modelevolved over a number of years,
the theoretical shift from topography to structure is most
clearly demarcated by Freud’s (1923/1961) publication of
The Ego and the Id,wherein he described in detail the central
hypothesis underlying the structural model: the notion that
intrapsychic dynamics could be understood with reference
to three interacting mental structures called the id, ego, and
superego. The idwas defined as the seat of drives and in-
stincts (a throwback to the original drive model), whereas the
egorepresented the logical, reality-oriented part of the mind,
and the superegowas akin to a conscience, or set of moral
guidelines and prohibitions (Brenner, 1973). Figure 5.1 illus-
trates the sequence of development of the id, ego, and super-
ego in Freud’s structural model.
According to the structural model, personality is derived
from the interplay of these three psychic structures, which
differ in terms of power and influence (Freud, 1933/1964a,
1940/1964b). When the id predominates, an impulsive,
stimulation-seeking personality style results. When the
superego is strongest, moral prohibitions inhibit impulses,
and a restrained, overcontrolled personality ensues. When
the ego (which serves in part to mediate id impulses and
superego prohibitions) is dominant, a more balanced set of
personality traits develop. Table 5.2 summarizes the psycho-
dynamic conceptualization of personality in Freud’s struc-
tural model, as well as within the drive, topographic, and
psychosexual stage models.
From 1923 until his death in 1939, Freud spent much of
his time elaborating the key principles and corollaries of the
structural model, and he extended the model to various areas
of individual and social life (e.g., humor, mental errors, cul-
tural dynamics, religious belief). He also made numerous
efforts to link the structural model to his earlier work in order
to form a more cohesive psychodynamic framework. For
example, Freud (and other psychoanalysts) hypothesized
that oral fixation was characterized in part by a prominent,
powerful id, whereas Oedipal fixation was characterized by
strong investment in superego activities. At the time of his
death, Freud was actively revising aspects of the structural
model (Fancher, 1973; Gay, 1988), and it is impossible to
know how the model would have developed had Freud con-
tinued his work. This much is certain, however: During the
decades wherein Freud explicated details of the structural
model of the mind, he altered it in myriad ways, and in doing
so he laid the foundation for several concepts that—many
years later—became key elements of modern psychoanalytic
theory.