Freud (1856–1939), a Viennese physician, sought a cure for emotionally troubled adults by having them talk freely about painful events of their childhoods. Working with these recollections, he examined his patients’ unconscious motivations and constructed his psychosexual theory, which emphasizes that how parents manage their child’s sexual and aggressive drives in the first few years is crucial for healthy personality development.
In Freud’s theory, three parts of the personality—id, ego, and superego—become integrated during five stages.The id, the largest portion of the mind, is the source of basic biological needs and desires. The ego, the conscious, rational part of personality, emerges in early infancy to redirect the id’s impulses so they are discharged in acceptable ways. Between 3 and 6 years of age, the superego, or conscience, develops as parents insist that children conform to the values of society. Now the ego faces the increasingly complex task of reconciling the demands of the id, the external world, and conscience—for example, the id impulse to grab an attractive toy from a playmate versus the superego’s warning that such behavior is wrong. According to Freud, the relations established between id, ego, and superego during the preschool years determine the individual’s basic personality.