The id and the ego: A Developement Interpretation: Part IV

Introduction. In the preceding three Parts, we have attempted to describe in a broad and general way the processes by which various aspects of the mind

develop. And we have laid stress, in doing this, not so much on the ontogenetic development of the individual from infancy, but on development as it is related to biological, phylogenetic and psychological and cultural factors. Thus, we have shown that the id represents the non-verbal mind of both the animal world and of man; and that the ego represents a phylogenetic development of man, namely a verbal mind. In addition, we have shown how the development of the ego is affected by purely cultural factors and how it was only with the development of written language, in addition to spoken language, that man was able to overcome the barriers of his primitive ego (which functions very much like the id) to reach the heights of abstract thinking. Thus he attained an awareness of himself as a subject, an I, separated from the actions of the world and separated from his own actions.

In this part, we shall present some further generalizations and recapitulate some of these conclusions, viewing them from a slightly different point of view.

The defense mechanisms of the ego. We have already described how certain defense mechanisms of behavior develop at certain biological stages. For example, imitation is the basic muscle action of the animal world and of the id, and we find its counterpart in the ego in the mechanism called identification.

Introjection (the incorporation of the emotional reaction of an object choice into one's body), on the other hand, was shown to occur in man only with the development by the primitive ego of words used in a magic way.

We have pointed out how repression is absent in the animal world which uses only muscle inhibition, and it occurs only in the ego as a means of avoiding punishment. Also we have pointed out that, depending on whether repression occurs in the primitive ego or