Concept
Ego ideal
The standard of perfection against which the ego measures itself. Freud introduced it in Zur Einführung des Narzißmus (1914) as the heir of infantile narcissism: the child, unable to keep its own sense of perfection, projects it ahead as an ideal and seeks to regain it by living up to that ideal. In Massenpsychologie und Ich-Analyse (1921) a group forms when its members put one and the same leader in place of their ego ideal. In 1923 Freud treated it as another name for the super-ego; later writers often distinguish the ideal aspect from the punishing one.
- Introduced by
- Sigmund Freud
- Key works
- 3
- Related
- Super-ego
introduced by
- Sigmund Freud 1914 In 'On Narcissism' Freud introduces the ego ideal as the heir of infantile narcissism: what the subject projects before him as his ideal is the substitute for the lost perfection of childhood, watched over by an agency of self-observation. In 1921 he explains the bond of a group by its members putting the leader in place of their ego ideal.
gave rise to
- Super-ego 1923 The super-ego grows out of the ego ideal and the agency of self-observation Freud had described in 1914; in 1923 he uses the two names interchangeably, and only later, in the New Introductory Lectures, treats the ego ideal as one function of the super-ego.