In the third section of “On Narcissism: An Introduction,” Freud poses the concept of
“ideal ego” or “ego ideal” which later is developed into the components of the superego. The ego ideal refers to the idealized image which is created by the self and it is an ideal self which signifies one would like to be. Freud does not give the precise definition of the ideal ego in this paper. Freud first uses the term “ideal ego” and later he writes it as “ego ideal” in the same passage of this paper. Some analysts consider that “ideal ego” or “ego ideal” has subtle difference. However, James Strachey notes in his introduction to “The Ego and the Id,” “Freud
began by suggesting that the narcissism of infancy is replaced in the adult by devotion to an ideal ego set up within himself. He then put forward the notion that there may be ‘a special psychical agency’ whose task it is to watch the actual ego and measure it by the ideal ego or ego ideal—he seemed to use the terms indiscriminately” (9). Thus, I will follow Strachey’s interpretation and employ the most common usage of the “ego ideal” to discuss Freud’s ideas.
Strachey’s comments on the ego ideal seem to sum up Freud’s concept of it. An individual builds an ego ideal to substitute the narcissism of infancy and this ego ideal becomes the standards to measure his actual ego. Freud contends,
This ideal ego is now the target of the self-love which was enjoyed in childhood by the actual ego. The subject’s narcissism makes its appearance displaced on to this new ideal ego, which, like the infantile ego, finds itself possessed of every perfection that is of value. As always where the libido is concerned, man has here again shown himself incapable of giving up a satisfaction he had once enjoyed. He is not willing to forgo the narcissistic perfection of his childhood. (“On Narcissism: An
Introduction” 94)
The infantile primary narcissism means the infant’s megalomaniacal thoughts, namely, he is perfect and omnipotent. As the infant is in the mother’s womb, all of his needs are
automatically and securely satisfied. The infant believes that he is the center of the universe and he is in the omnipotent state. After the infant comes to the world, his needs will be satisfied by his caregivers (usually his mother) and everything caters to his needs so he still believes that he is the center of his world. If he feels hungry and cries, his mother will come to him and take care of his needs. Yet, this infantile narcissism will soon clash with the reality principle. The infant cries but finds that his mother does not immediately come to him and even delays her attentions to the baby. The infant realizes that everything is not completely under his control and he is not the center of the universe. The infant’s sense of omnipotence is destroyed by the reality principle. This can be the first narcissistic injury in one’s life which
impairs the perfect sense of the self, that is, the primary narcissism. In the same paragraph, Freud continues to state that “as he grows up, he is disturbed by the admonitions of others and by the awakening of his own critical judgement, so that he can no longer retain that perfection, he seeks to recover it in the new form of an ego ideal. What he projects before him as his ideal is the substitute for the lost narcissism of his childhood in which he was his own ideal” (94). When one grows up, the reality will intervene and keep clashing with this narcissistic belief in one’s perfection. The imaginary narcissistic perfection will be
“reminded” and shaken by others’ criticism and one’ own critical judgment. Due to the reality principle, one is unable to maintain this sense of narcissistic perfection anymore. However, he will never give up this narcissistic and imaginary perfection of his childhood. Thus, he creates an ego ideal onto which he projects this narcissistic perfection and this ego ideal becomes the target of the self-love. This ego ideal represents the substitute for the lost narcissism of his childhood in which he believes that he is omnipotent and he is his own ideal. Freud later defines in “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego,” the ego ideal is “heir to the original narcissism in which the childish ego enjoyed self-sufficiency” (69). The ego ideal is the revival of one’s primary narcissism in which the infantile ego enjoys his self-sufficient and omnipotent state.
Besides, Freud claims that there exists “a special psychical agency” which is responsible for monitoring the narcissistic satisfaction from the ego ideal. This psychical agency’s task is to constantly monitor the actual ego and measure it according to the standards of the ego ideal.
Freud calls this agency “conscience” which possesses the above-mentioned characteristics.
Freud recognizes this monitoring agency via his observations on the symptoms of the paranoids, that is, the “delusions of being noticed or watched.” The paranoids keep
complaining that their thoughts and actions are being watched and overseen through the voices of a third person. The recognition of this monitoring agency expounds these feelings of being noticed and watched. Conscience, the third person agency, continues monitoring and
examining all of our thoughts and behaviors through the criterions of the ego ideal. Freud asserts, “A power of this kind, watching, discovering and criticizing all our intentions, does really exist. Indeed, it exists in every one of us in normal life” (95). In ““On Narcissism: An Introduction”: Text and Context,” Etchegoyen remarks that the conscience is “a special psychic agency responsible for ensuring the narcissistic satisfaction of the ideal ego, watching the actual ego and comparing the two” (68).
Freud further discusses the origin of the ego ideal and conscience. Freud explains, For what prompted the subject to form an ego ideal, on whose behalf his conscience acts as watchman, arose from the critical influence of his parents (conveyed to him by the medium of the voice), to whom were added, as time went on, those who trained and taught him and the innumerable and indefinable host of all the other people in his environment—his fellow-men—and public opinion. (“On Narcissism: An Introduction” 96)
It is the parents’ criticism that causes an individual to form the ego ideal and his conscience on his parents’ behalf oversees his ego like a watchman. Later, the authorities who instruct him, the innumerable multitude, and even the public opinions will also form this kind of critical influences from his parents. The formation of one’s conscience is “an embodiment, first of parental criticism, and subsequently of that of society” (96). Freud believes that the parents have a huge impact on their children’s formation of this “censoring agency” and later the children’s educators and the whole society also perform the same function. Afterward, an individual will desire to rebel against this censoring agency. The revolt against this censoring power is an attempt to emancipate oneself from all the influences of the parents and other authority figures. In “Narcissism in the Novels of Herman Melville,” Susan K. Dyer gives a clear interpretation of Freud’s theories of the ego ideal. Dyer argues that the infant’s
awareness of his imperfection and weakness causes the “devastating consequences” to primary narcissism. The first solution to this narcissistic injury is merely to transfer his focus
to his mother. Although he is imperfect, the infant turns to his mother and believes that his mother is omnipotent and all-powerful. As Dyer states, “The infant need only relate himself indissolubly to her and all will be well” (18). However, the reality is consistently challenging and shaking his unrealistic narcissistic perception of his world. The infant is soon aware that his separateness from his mother who is not always available to him. His mother is not perfect and omnipotent, either. This prompts him to seek another solution to this
disillusionment. He then creates an ideal of what he wants to be, namely the ego ideal to deny his imperfection and limitations. The ego ideal is the “better possibility of self” which
compensates for the primary narcissistic injury. The ego ideal may undergo vicissitudes but will never be wiped out by the cruel reality principle from one’s infancy to adulthood.
According to Dyer, “The ego ideal represents one’s highest aspirations” (19). The ego ideal tends to change or modify throughout one’s whole life but will never be abandoned by an individual. An individual’s formation of the ego ideal will first identify with the parental figures. Later the ego ideal will undergo the modifications under the influences of people around him or the admired figures. Yet, all the later formation and modifications of the ego ideal will base on the early identification with the parental figures.
To be precise, the ego ideal which is one component of the superego represents the ideals, values, and ideas which one would like to be. Another component of the superego, the conscience which refers to “the internalized critical voice of parental prohibition, creates the subjective experience of “thou shalt not”” according to The Freud Encyclopedia: Theory, Therapy, and Culture. The conscience functions as a censor to judge the thinking and behaviors of an individual. In ““On Narcissism: An Introduction”: Text and Context,”
Etchegoyen comments that Freud already completely depicts all his ideas about the superego in “On Narcissism: An Introduction.” The characteristics of the conscience which Freud describes can be viewed as the precursor of the superego. Later Freud integrates the ideas of the ego ideal and conscience into the structure of the superego. Although Freud once refers
the ego ideal as the superego in “The Ego and the Id,” the concept of the ego ideal differs from that of the superego. Freud mentions again in “New Introductory Lectures on
Psychoanalysis” that the superego is “the vehicle of the ego ideal by which the ego measures itself, towards which it strives, and whose demands for ever-increasing perfection it is always striving to fulfill” (65). The superego will watch and measure the ego according to the
standards of the ego ideal. The superego will force the ego to fulfill the demands or the aspirations set forth by the ego ideal. In other words, the ego ideal represents what one would like to be and the superego what one should be. In “Some Comments on the Concept of the Ego-Ideal,” Gurmeet Kanwal contends that “we should not think of it only in terms of the id, ego, and superego, but that we should also keep in mind a fourth dimension—the ego ideal”
(10). Furthermore, if one fails to live up to the ego ideal, this will produce the feelings of guilt and shame in an individual according to Freud. The frustration of the satisfaction at the ego ideal will impair one’s sense of self-esteem. Dyer also argues that “[a] person’s sense of self-esteem is determined by the distance between his actual self and his ego ideal” (19). The fulfillment of the ego ideal will enhance one’s sense of self-esteem but the frustration of it will produce the sense of shame. According to The Freud Encyclopedia: Theory, Therapy, and Culture, “Failure to live up to the ego ideal engenders shame, while disobedience of a moral prohibition produces guilt” (347). That is to say, the failure in fulfillment of the ego ideal will trigger one’s shameful feelings and disobedience to the superego will provoke the feelings of guilt. As Freud asserts in “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego,” “There is always a feeling of triumph when something in the ego coincides with the ego ideal3. And the sense of guilt (as well as the sense of inferiority) can also be understood as an expression of tension between the ego and the ego ideal” (106).
Finally, Freud extends his ideas of the ego ideal from the mind structure of an individual to that of a group at the end part of “On Narcissism: An Introduction.” As Freud indicates,
3 Freud refers the ego ideal as superego in “Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego.”
“The ego ideal opens up an important avenue for the understanding of group psychology. In addition to its individual side, this ideal has a social side; it is also the common ideal of a family, a class or a nation” (101). Through observing the content of an individual’s ego ideal, it is possible for us to understand the structure of the ego ideal in one group to which this individual belongs. The ideal of an individual reflects the ideal of the family, the class, the society, and the nation which the individual is part of. As mentioned above, the ego ideal is the remnant of one’s primary narcissism, that is to say, the basis or the root of the ego ideal at bottom is one’s narcissism. Consequently, the ego ideal of one group may reflect the
narcissism of that group.
In conclusion, an individual was born with the imaginary perfect sense of the self which actually never exists and can never be achieved. After his arrival in the world, this unrealistic imagination of the perfect self will be shaken by the reality principle. The individual will produce an ego ideal to deny his imperfection and compensate for this lost primary
narcissism, the perfect and omnipotent sense of the self. Later this sense of perfection will be constantly challenged by the reality principle. This created ego ideal or perfect standards will be modified and adjusted to meet the demands of the reality principle. Human beings will strive to fulfill the standards of the ego ideal and achieve the state of perfection through the whole life. This reflects the desire of human beings to return to the original perfect and omnipotent state. However, one’s striving to achieve the perfect state is based on the
unrealistic imagination of the perfect self which essentially never exists. As a matter of fact, the ego ideal is an artificial image or imaginary self which is disconnected from the true self.
However, Dyrer says that “we love not ourselves but the ideal self that we desire to become”
(18). In other words, the self-love is projected or built on the ideal self or an illusion which never comes true. Accordingly, each one of us just like Narcissus loves the ideal image or the artificial self reflected in the water but not the innermost true self.