Some Observations on the Superego in China and in the United States

I would like to say a few words about my conscious motivation to write this paper. I came to the United States from China to study psychotherapy two years ago. I had become interested in the psychoanalytic perspective on human behavior in my late teens, when I was in college for medical science. I took some classes related to the theory and techniques of psychoanalytic therapy. After a brief review of ego psychology, we discussed mainly contemporary object-relations theory, self psychology, and the recent relational movement in the field. In these theories, the Freudian concept of the superego is infrequently discussed or even neglected. It seems to me that this contemporary psychoanalytic emphasis—or lack of it—fits the American culture, which fosters and values individualism. The individualized self and its relationships comprise the main units of analysis. Even in the relational and intersubjective movements, individualistic assumptions dominate current psychoanalytic discourse. It is assumed, for example, that whenever a person makes a decision, the initial motivation is the satisfaction of personal needs and desires, especially instant needs. Possible outcomes of efforts to realize one's individual aims, especially outcomes that affect others, might not be considered carefully until the need-satisfying action has occurred.

Chinese people, in contrast, value collectivism and tend to think constantly about possible outcomes, especially those that would affect others. Before even conceptualizing, much less pursuing, individual satisfactions that would have a direct or indirect impact on others, they would think collectively. Their strong superego would prevent a lot of impulsive acting out and would also inhibit some decisions that might lead to individual benefits. It seems to me that Freud's structural theory can be usefully applied to Chinese behavior, perhaps at least partly because social constraints in China are not entirely different from the very structured