Unpacking personality: The ego

It is quite evident that there is some form of awareness that accompanies our ability to make decisions. To be able to advocate for yourself as a reasonable person, there must be some base consciousness that directly influences your decision making process. This constituency of our personality that allows us to analyse reality and make sound decisions is regarded by Freud as the ego. The ego is the second of three elements of our personality. Unlike the id which I discussed previously the ego is conscious, meaning it is in a state of awareness and responds to physical surroundings.

Now, we’re all familiar with the little term “ego”. Everybody has subjective experience of it’s existence. We all know of the existence of some common sense. The phenomenon of having common sense is derived off the assumption that one has good judgement and is able to make decisions in a practical and sensible manner. That is what the ego is, common sense. The ego is a sense of reasoning that strikes a balance between reality and our innate urges, desires (id) and morality (superego) 

The ego develops from infancy stages, when a child is still very young and comes to realize the need to figure out a way to get what it wants instead of just crying for it. From this point the ego develops and is subject to changes throughout our lifespan as we experience reality. Therefore it functions according to the reality principle which impedes the id’s tendency to make us seek instant gratification.

Ego is the rationale that stops us from making decisions just to satisfy our deep urges and desires. The ego is common sense. It seeks for practical and socially acceptable ways of handling life by contemplating on the consequences and benefits of our actions before a decision is made. Understanding this constituent raises a deeper sense of self awareness and comprehension of how decisions are made.