The Spock in question is not Dr. Spock but Mr. Spock of the television Star Trek series. The author, after giving a summary of superego development and of the instinctual conflicts prevalent in adolescence, tries to explain the intense, virtually universal appeal of the character, Mr. Spock. Adolescents (and perhaps the rest of us as well) identify with his "alien" status, half Vulcan and half human. Spock feels a part of both worlds, yet belongs to neither. He, as alien (like the adolescent who is neither child nor adult), openly criticizes the discrepancies in the "adult" world around him. With his extraordinary self-discipline, unselfishness, loyalty, and courage, he represents an ego ideal, a "superhuman" who still has internal struggles and who has assimilated aspects of both his mother's and his father's characters.