An outline of psycho-analysis / Sigmund Freud ; authorized translation by James Strachey.
- Sigmund Freud
- Date:
- 1949
Licence: In copyright
Credit: An outline of psycho-analysis / Sigmund Freud ; authorized translation by James Strachey. Source: Wellcome Collection.
16/104 page 2
![We have arrived at our knowledge of this psychical apparatus by studying the individual development of human beings. To the oldest of these mental provinces or agencies we give the name of id. It contains everything that is inherited, that is present at birth, that is fixed in the constitution—above all, therefore, the instincts, which originate in the somatic organization and which find their first mental expression in the id in forms unknown to us.2 Under the influence of the real external world which surrounds us, one portion of the id has undergone a special development. From what was originally a cortical layer, provided with organs for receiving stimuli and with apparatus for protection against excessive stimula¬ tion, a special organization has arisen which hencefor¬ ward acts as an intermediary between the id and the external world. This region of our mental life has been given the name of ego. The principal characteristics of the ego are these. In consequence of the relation which was already established between sensory perception and muscular action, the ego is in control of voluntary movement. It has the task of self-preservation. As regards external events, it performs that task by becoming aware of the stimuli from without, by storing up experiences of them (in the memory), by avoiding excessive stimuli (through flight), by dealing with moderate stimuli (through adaptation) and, finally, by learning to bring about appropriate modifications in 2 This oldest portion of the mental apparatus remains the most important throughout life, and it was the first subject of the inves¬ tigations of psycho-analysis. [Throughout this book the English word ‘ instinct ’ is, with some misgivings, used to render the German ‘ Trieb ’. The sense in which Freud uses the term is, in any case, made clear in the following pages.—Trans.]](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b2981487x_0016.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
