ABSTRACT
Ego psychology is the aspect of psychoanalytic theory concerned with how people adapt to the demands and possibilities of their worlds in accordance with their inner requirements. All substantial theories of personality refer to adaptation, but there are several features special to ego psychology. It offers by far the most elaborate picture of the adaptive apparatus and of the varied devices humans have for negotiating among their drives and their life situations. More than any other theory of psychology, it emphasizes the complicated transactions that go on in people’s minds, of which many are outside conscious awareness. Ego psychology lays bare how much the adaptation is to oneself. Indeed, it shows how large a share of present mental activity has to be devoted to dealing with marks left on the person from past efforts at adaptation.
