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The abstract nature of the concept superego must be made more concrete by defining its specific functions. As listed by Freud these fall into two groups, those which prevent the expression of forbidden drives, and those which define ideals and values. Superego functions become manifest only through some recognizable ego functions. Thus such thought processes as memory, conceptualization, and judgment, and a certain level of intellectual development are necessary to distinguish moral values. Reality testing and object relationship play their part. The superego is an agency which increases the ego's capacity to recognize danger situations, more specifically certain kinds of danger situations. its hallmark is the accompanying affect of guilt, itself an ego function.
The functions of the superego pass through recognizable developmental stages. Social compliance in early childhood may be achieved as ego response to danger situations. Turning of aggression against the self and reaction formation may then be looked on as precursors of the superego. The sense of guilt though an ego function is the hallmark of an internalized superego. It should be distinguished from the need for punishment. In children it may be associated with precocious ego development. Early transient identifications which fluctuate between introjection and projection and can add to the introject the child's aggressive impulses are to be distinguished from the more permanent identifications which mark the later developmental stages. For the child to incorporate within his psychic structure an agency capable of independent functioning, that is a true superego, there must be a corresponding establishment of a separate identity. The replacement of magical thought by reality testing and the development of some degree of conceptualization are also essential. The degree of neutralization of instinctual energy is an important factor in the stability of identification, the permanence of its interna