A conception of the ego has various elements. Consciousness and activity are necessary for its existence, although part of the ego is unconscious. The ego is a subject which relates to objects. It is capable of identifications and projections. Objects

other than the self contribute to operation of the ego. But the ego is not a knower or a doer in the sense of an agent with its own instincts. The author suggests that ego psychology could be clarified by viewing the relationships of the ego and its objects as determining the activity of the ego. The objects and the ego through their relationships produce consciousness and movement. The relationships thus described are said to remove the difficulties of 'object overemphasis of stimulus-response and the ego instinct ambiguities of psychoanalysis'.