The concept of "ego" in psychology

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Baku Girls' University

The concept of “ego” in psychology

Nahmatova U.A.

Abstract

The interest in the ego or the reason for the emergence of man as an important thesis in philosophy has been relevant for many years as its main component. The entry of the ego problem into psychology as a main subject coincides with the second half of the 19th century. In the history of philosophy and psychology, the nature of the Ego is approached from different points of view. The only meaning of this phenomenon does not exist even today. Many psychologists who touch on the subject of the ego also refer to it as polymodality. The next modality is always perceived as the real and true (I am now) Ego. The true Ego must be sought by consciously addressing the various layers of the subconscious. Just as a broken mirror can show a fragmented image of the truth, the real Ego transcends the farthest limits of human understanding and invades the deepest layers of consciousness. In the first half of the 20th century, various concepts of self-consciousness or human Ego appeared, seeking answers to practical questions such as the treatment of mental illnesses, psychotherapy, etc. Psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud is the author of the most consistent pattern that emerged in the first decade of this century. A psychoanalytical approach to the concept of ego is presented as a control center for adaptation perceived through the communication of the organization of mental processes in a personality. This Ego is directly related to perception, provides the origin of movement and plays the role of awakening in connection with the external world. In the article, issues such as psychoanalytical approach to the concept of Ego, control of adaptation understood through the communication of the organization of mental processes in a personality are investigated.

Key words: concept; ego; social ego, psychology; psychoanalysis.

Анотація

Нахматова У.А. ПОНЯТТЯ «ЕГО» В ПСИХОЛОГІЇ

Інтерес до Его або причина появи людини як важлива теза у філософії вже багато років залишається актуальною як її основна складова. Поява проблеми его в психології як основного предмета збігається з другою половиною 19 століття. В історії філософії та психології природа Его розглядається з різних точок зору. Єдиного сенсу цього явища немає навіть сьогодні. Багато психологів, які торкаються теми его, також називають його полімодальністю. Наступна модальність завжди сприймається як справжнє і справжнє (Я зараз) Его. Справжнє Его слід шукати, свідомо звертаючись до різних шарів підсвідомості. Подібно до того, як розбите дзеркало може показати фрагментарне зображення істини, справжнє Его виходить за найдальші межі людського розуміння і вторгається в найглибші шари свідомості. У першій половині 20-го століття з'явилися різні концепції самосвідомості або людського Его, які шукали відповіді на практичні питання, такі як лікування психічних захворювань, психотерапія тощо. Психоаналітик Зигмунд Фрейд є автором найбільш послідовної моделі, яка виникла в першому десятилітті цього століття. Психоаналітичний підхід до поняття Его представлено як центр управління адаптацією, що сприймається через комунікацію організації психічних процесів в особистості. Це Его безпосередньо пов'язане зі сприйняттям, забезпечує походження руху і відіграє роль пробудження у зв'язку із зовнішнім світом. У статті досліджуються такі питання, як психоаналітичний підхід до поняття Его, контроль адаптації, що розуміється через зв'язок організації психічних процесів особистості.

Ключові слова: концепція; его; соціальне его, психологія; психоаналіз.

Introduction

I, Ego, and personality are often relevant. It can be said that most humanities focus on used interchangeably. It makes a person that person, it describes the organized integrity of emotions, attitudes and behaviors that distinguishes a person from others. The concept of ego is defined as a way of perceiving and comprehending one's own self. It tells how the person sees himself and how he values himself. "I" or "Ego" can be considered as the center of communication. The body structure of the person is the layer where the messages coming from the communication he has established with his spiritual and social functions are resolved and interpreted. The most important of the ego's functions are: to control and regulate the motives arising from the instincts and impulses; connect with the environment; to know the truth, to try, to understand; adapt to reality; limiting, ordering stimuli from the environment; perceiving, hiding, judging, combining concepts; setting expectations and goals for the future, arranging anti-anxiety defenses.

The ego, the consciousness that the individual has about himself, is the layer that provides the control of the impulses that are open to the direct effects of the outside world. Personality and its psychology have deep roots. In modern conditions, the human factor and the concept of personality have become especially the problem of identity. The further actualization of this process in recent history should be interpreted as the demand of the modern era. Just as the science of psychology has a short history and a long past, so the study of personality and human problems in the scientific sphere has a short history and a long past. That is, theoretical studies in personality psychology took their basis from the works of prominent scientists of the BC era. However, the consideration of personality psychology as an experimental science began at the beginning of the 20th century. In order to clarify personality and its functions, it is necessary to first explain its essence. A prerequisite for clarifying the functions of personality is to determine how this problem is approached in the sciences of sociology and psychology.

Main Part

The ego is the experience of identifying oneself as a separate individual. A person needs positive reactions from people in order to maintain the value s/he gives to himself/herself. Ego psychology emphasizes the importance of this. The ego is formed as a result of social interactions and takes place in a social position, so it is a social product. This is what separates the ego from the personality. How a person perceives himself/herself and his/her awareness of himself/herself is the self. The ego has been seen as an entity consisting of individual characteristics that include the individual's needs, abilities, motives and rights. The structure of the ego determines how the individual sees and perceives the world, others and himself/herself, and affects all kinds of emotions, thoughts and behaviors.

Ego, which constitutes the whole of our inner being, is a complex concept like personality. If we analyze this Complex concept, the ego perhaps contains the answers to the following questions:

a) Who am I? Some people may answer this question as "I am incompetent, stupid, ugly". Another person may have a more positive opinion about him/her, "I am smart, beautiful, resourceful, cute".

What can I do? What qualifications do I have? Our beliefs about what talents we have in ourselves, such as "I speak well, I paint well, I understand music, I have a talent for mathematics", form a part of the self. This aspect of the ego may also be evaluated positively or negatively by the individual himself.

What is valuable to me? What should I do and what should I not do? For example, "I must help others", "I must earn money", "I must not cheat", or "There is no harm in cheating as long as I don't get caught", "I should think about myself first of all", etc. There is a system of values that consists of negative judgments. This is an important aspect of the ego.

What do I want in life? Various aspirations and ideals, such as being a doctor, engineer, teacher, craftsman, a good housewife or a household head, and a well-dressed socialite, also form a side of the self.

Lecky drew attention to the importance of a good harmony and consistency between ego design and especially ideal ego (value judgments about what an individual should be, how s/he should behave) and real life for good mental health. The more a person can act in accordance with his/her ego design, the more comfortable s/he will feel, the more s/he is under the influence of experiences that go against his ideal ego, the more s/he is at peace and worried. Acting in accordance with one's own values and ideals increases one's self-esteem, confidence and happiness. A mentally healthy person is someone who can be more or less sensitive to his/her own ego design. ego mental illnesses psychotherapy

We can mention four basic ego concepts. These:

The "holistic self-concept", which is the ego value, roles and abilities of the person,

The "variable ego concept", which changes according to the situation affected by irregular and temporary events such as success or failure,

The "social ego concept", which depends on others' acceptance of the person and the person's social competence,

It is the "ideal ego" that expresses the ego structure that the person wants to be.

The concept of ego is defined as the whole of perceptions, feelings and thoughts that are at the base of human personality and are very important for the individual. The concept of ego is an expression of what the individual is as he perceives, what he wants to do and why. It reveals the similarities and differences between people.

When we look at the ego theories, the general characteristics of the ego can be listed as follows:

Optimistic approaches: One of the most important features of ego theories is their optimistic view of human nature. While Freud sees man as an aggressive and evil being who is constantly dragged in the hands of inner impulses, learning psychologists as a prisoner of environmental conditions, ego theorists believe that man constantly seeks happiness and makes conscious choices to live in harmony with himself/herself and his/her nature [1]. They are nonmechanical approaches: Freud's and learning theories' approach to humans is quite mechanical. Ego theory argues that the individual makes a constant choice to lead his/her life to fulfillment. The individual is an extremely complex organism and has the power to decide his/her own destiny. The individual makes decisions to improve, develop and reach happiness. The "here and now" approach: Ego theorists do not care about past events and do not accept that events in childhood determine the behavior of individuals in adulthood. At the moment, they give importance to how the individual perceives himself and his environment and how s/he makes his choices. James [21] divides the ego in two. One aspect of the self is considered the "ego", which is the subject, and the other, the "ego," the object. The subjective aspect of the ego is that which actively perceives, feels, experiences, dreams, remembers, chooses and plans. The "ego", which is the object, is the object of experience and practice. The object is the ego, the passive and the affected. The object "ego" has three aspects: the physical ego, the social ego, and the spiritual ego. Physical ego; includes body, clothing, family, home, property, and production. Social ego; includes reputation, recognition, fame, and dignity in the eyes of others. The spiritual ego includes metacognitive activities, affect, belief system and behaviors in this direction. According to Rogers, the ego includes thoughts, perceptions, and convictions about one's self. Ego consciousness summarizes how a person sees himself. Ego consciousness can be good or bad. According to Rogers, people have a real ego and an ideal ego. If the ideal self of the person is high or low, but the real ego can reach the ideal ego, then a harmonious ego harmony is seen. It is argued that otherwise, problems will arise. Rogers states that the ego consists of all the ideas, perceptions and values that define the "I". It involves being aware of 'who am I' or 'what can I do'. This perceived ego influences one's perception of both the world and one's own behavior. The concept of ego need not reflect reality. The person may be very successful, but s/he may see himself/herself as a failure. Rogers places emphasis on ego awareness. An individual's ego consciousness includes his/her thoughts, perceptions and convictions about himself/ herself. Ego consciousness summarizes how we see ourselves. In order for us to develop a positive ego consciousness, we need to grow up in unconditional love [6].

Rosenberg explains the concept of ego as the sum of the feelings and thoughts directed towards oneself. The concept of ego defines one's social identity [15]. Cooley says that the emotions that a person accepts as "me" are more dominant than those that he accepts as "non-me". According to him, the ego cannot be isolated from its environment. He defined the individual's perception of himself as others perceive him as the "Mirror Ego". According to this, how the person perceives himself/herself, the reaction s/he creates and his/her personal feelings about his/her ego are three basic elements. [18] One of the most important theories affecting the development of the concept of ego is the psychoanalytic theory. In this theory, the word "I" is used to mean "ego". Freud made no explicit mention of the 'I'. According to Freud, the "ego" encompasses a function that serves one's primary desires (id) or that, by the pacification of the "superego," enables one to interact with reality. Ego here; Thinking includes cognitive processes such as perception, reasoning, attention, and remembering [1]. According to Freud, the primitive ego (id) forms the basis of the personality, since the pleasure principle determines the essence of man. Therefore, the task of the ego is to fulfill the purposes of the pleasure principle. The ego is a more comprehensive construct than the ego. It represents both the conscious and unconscious side of personality [1]. According to Jung, the "I" organizes the personality. In order for a person to realize himself, the ego must cooperate. If the ego does not comply with the calls of the ego and does not allow the unconscious content to reach the ego, the person will be deprived of the opportunity to know himself/her- self. According to Jung, the self is the purpose of life and the true expression of individuality. The concept of ego has an important place in the "Phenomenological Ego Theory" developed by C. Rogers [6]. According to this theory, every individual lives in a universe in which he is the center. There are no definitive facts that affect everyone. Everyone has their own unique facts. Individuals behave according to how they perceive their environment. The perceived environment is the real environment for the individual. Truth for everyone is "his own" [14, p. 406]. Individuals react differently from each other because they perceive and interpret their environment differently, and they have different personalities and egos. According to Adler [9], personality develops as a product of the attitudes that an individual develops towards himself/herself, other people, and society. Interpersonal relations and other social factors are the main determinants of the image that a person develops about himself/herself. Adler considers the attitudes of the parents, especially the mother, and the quality of the relations between siblings to be very important on personality development. Adler was the first theorist to draw attention to the importance of the existence of other children in the family and the order of their birth on personality. Adler argues that as a result of interactions in childhood, a person realizes a unique behavior pattern and calls this a lifestyle. Lifestyle; It is formed up to the ages and includes the goals, value judgments of the individual, his/her views about himself/herself and his/her world, and the behaviors s/he has developed to reach his/her goals. A person gradually develops a general reaction pattern against many situations in which s/he lives, which is synonymous with concepts such as self, ego or id. Horney argued that defective ego development emerges as a result of disruptions in family relationships during childhood, and that sociocultural factors also affect this process significantly [13]. Expressing that there must be an environment in which love, support and understanding can be provided for the child to develop a healthy personality, otherwise anxiety may occur, Horney criticizes Freud's view that the ego is constantly trying to reach perfection and states that the part of the personality that Freud calls ego is only in neurotic people. He states that ego development can continue not only in the early childhood years, but also in middle age and adulthood. According to Coopersmith, the concept of ego is a one-dimensional construct. [20, p. 87-88] According to Piers and Harris, the concept of ego is a combination of unidimensional and multidimensional approaches. According to Kohut's "self-psychology" theory, the entities that are important in an individual's life take place as an extension of the self [11]. These people are important for calming the anxiety of the person and ensuring its continuity by sharing the pleasure. In self psychology, social relations are important for the protection of the self-worth and integrity of the individual. Kohut states that object relations and ego elevation are two important pathways for development. Self psychology, which is one of the contemporary psychoanalytic theories, developed under the leadership of Kohut [11], thought of self as a self-representation within the ego, the way of perceiving oneself and the images about oneself. In his second theory, the self is characterized as an upper organization, "the core of personality, the center of perceptions and initiatives" and aims to explain the whole field of psychopathology. A person who receives positive stimuli about himself during the development of the ego sees himself as valuable and respects himself. The development, harmony and continuity of the ego depend on one's self-respect. The existence of the ego depends on being accepted, valued and respected by the environment and the person. Therefore, ego respect is the most important part of the ego concept.

The development of ego plays a special role in the formation of a person as a personality. The formation of ego consciousness gives a person the opportunity to evaluate his/her ideas about himself/herself, his/her appearance, mental, spiritual and voluntary qualities. From this point of view, self-awareness is the process of recognizing and understanding oneself as a person [2; 19]. In psychological literature, "self-awareness" refers to a person's conscious attitude to his/her needs and abilities, thoughts and feelings, behavior and action motives. In the process of interaction and communication with other people, a person separates himself/herself from the environment, begins to understand himself/herself physically and mentally, somehow understands his/her ego. The subjective impression of one's ego is primarily expressed in the fact that a person understands his/her identity in the present, in the past and in the future. A person's discovery of his/her ego is the result of a long process of personality development. The basis for this is laid in a way from infancy. Even a three- year-old child begins to have an idea about himself/ herself. During this period, the child expresses his/her independence by using the word "I". In it, the primitive form of self-consciousness is observed. A child's discovery of his/her ego becomes more evident later in life - adolescence and early youth. A teenager's interest in himself/herself, his/her personal life, and personality traits creates a need for self-evaluation and a tendency to compare himself/herself with others. As a result, the teenager discovers a kind of ego for himself/herself. The sense of greatness rises in schoolchildren during their early youth. They begin to realize their growing potential [19; 21]. During this period, schoolchildren's self-awareness and their ideas about themselves change. In boys and girls, the content of their self-consciousness changes, and their ideas about themselves increase. They begin to perceive their appearance and faces in a completely new way. All this leads to the formation of an ego image in older schoolchildren. The basis of the ego image is a person's knowledge about himself/herself. A person's self-relation also occupies a special place in the image of the ego. A person can treat himself/ herself as s/he treats others, respect or hate, love or annoy him, even understand and not understand himself. Life facts show that "ego-image" in a person can be of different nature at the same time. These include the images of "real ego", "ideal ego" and "social ego". "Real ego" means how a person imagines himself/ herself at the moment, how he perceives his/her skills and abilities, roles, status, and what he imagines to be like in reality. At this time, a person looks at himself with his/her own eyes, evaluates himself objectively, as he is. Experience shows that sometimes a person can hide this image of himself from others. As for the "ideal ego", it means the image of a person with the qualities he wants to see in himself. The ideals of a person about himself have a special place here. The image of the "ideal ego" reflects the qualities that a person highly values. Man always strives to achieve his "ideal ego". "Social ego" differs from other ego-images. Here, a person always sees himself through the eyes of others. The image of "social ego" is created according to the following questions: how do other people see it? How does he want to present himself/herself to others? How can he win the sympathy of others? That is why a person acts from his/her "social ego" when communicating with other people. [18, p. 41-45] In psychosynthesis, which is used to clarify the current center of the psyche, the term "superego" is used in the study ofthe "personality hidden under the shell" (Roberto Assacioli) in the "spiritual heart of man". "The superego in psychosynthesis is defined as ontological reality. From its stable Center of Life as Existence proceeds in the form of its source of emanating energy. The modern method of studying ego-consistency is related to the differentiation of self-awareness process (Ego-subject) and its product (Ego-object) [17]. According to Sergey Rubinstein, the Ego is the driving "face". It manifests itself in connection with the differences between process (a non-figurative proposition of the type "Something is happening") and creativity ("a person is doing something now"). The second defines voluntary activity of a person or conscious control of what is happening. As the face of the subject of perception (conscious special theoretical activity), man determines the second direction; and in the first one, he is the subject of action in practical activity. So, Ego is a human being that can control and conquer consciousness, more precisely, it can understand the whole world, others and itself [18; 46]. Tamotsu Shibutani approaches the Ego from a moral and behavioral perspective. Ego-congruity can be seen as a driving force in healthy interactions between the person and the self. Legitimacy begins to arise in the characteristic features of a person himself/herself, such as self-influence. According to Shibutani, Ego-congruence is unique to each person and should perhaps be studied as the healthiest way to relate to one's self. Shibutani proposes 5 main criteria, which, according to social psychologists, distinguish the Ego of different people: degree of adaptation, level of understanding, stability, complacency and degree of agreement [16, p. 19-24]. According to Shibutani, the formation of the Ego-conformity unit serves the development of human experience and imagination by crossing the boundary and removing all personal points of view related to it. A person's sense of self-confidence develops as a result of the healthy response of encompassing others, and his/her Ego-legitimacy is maintained by supporting the regularity of these expected responses [6].

Conclusions

It became clear from the survey conducted by us that the assumption that personality traits will consistently lead to relevant Ego behavior has been repeatedly questioned. According to research conducted by Walter Michel, different situations lead to different behaviors. Our conclusion is that the concept of Ego is an individual's perception of the situation and evaluation within the framework of his/her reactions to different stimuli. In our opinion, we can suggest that the interpretation of Ego behavior patterns that will be formed in different situations with the determination of the personality type will not be adequate. Another conclusion is that many factors (including external factors) play a fundamental role in the response to the relevant stimulus. From here, we come to such a mental conclusion that personality shapes personality traits, not behavior. As we mentioned above, the identification and formation of personality traits is fundamentally the essence of personality.

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