Ego, Superego and Id Freudian Concepts of the Psyche

In his theory of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud sought to explain how the unconscious mind operates
by proposing that it has a particular structure. He proposed that the self was divided into three parts: the
Ego, the Superego and the Id.
The general claim that the mind is not a monolithic or homogeneous thing continues to have an
enormous influence on people outside of psychology. Many, however, have questioned or rejected the
specific claim that the mind is divided into these three components.
The ancient Greeks also divided the soul into three parts of their own, with only one part in common.
The Greek parts were the desiring part (which is like what we call the id, but without so much implication of
suppressed deviant sexuality), the spirited part, and the reasoning part.

The Id
The Id (Latin, "it" in English, "Es" in the original German) represented primary process thinking -- our
most primitive need gratification type thoughts. The Id, Freud stated, constitutes part of one's unconscious
mind. It acts on primitive instinctual urges (sex, hunger, anger, etc.).

The Superego
The Superego ("Über-ich" in the original German) represented our conscience and counteracted the Id
with moral and ethical thoughts. The Superego, Freud stated, is the moral agent that links both our conscious
and unconscious minds. The Superego stands in opposition to the desires of the Id. The Superego is itself
part of the unconscious mind; it is the internalization of the world view and norms and mores a child absorbs
from parents and peers. As the conscience, it is knowledge of right and wrong; as world view it is knowledge
of what is real.
The Superego comes from parents; there are complex explanations of how/why and some involve the
concept of the Oedipal complex.
Freud is theorized that the development of the Superego followed the development of society; he used
the famous phrase, “Ontogeny (individual development) recapitulates Phylogeny (development of species),”
to make that assertion (jeez he was wordy!).

The Ego
In Freud's view the Ego stands in between the Id and the Superego to balance our primitive needs and
our moral/ethical beliefs. ("Ego" means "I" in Latin; the original German word Freud coined was "Ich".) He
stated that the Ego resides almost entirely in our conscious mind. Relying on experience, a healthy Ego
provides the ability to adapt to reality and interact with the outside world in a way that accommodates both Id
and Superego.
One of the Ego’s defensive behaviors is anxiety.

Mask, Lower Self, and Higher Self

A more modern version of psychology uses the above three terms. How do you think they relate to
Frued’s terms?

Much of the above is taken from http://www.fact-index.com/e/eg/ego__superego_and_id.html