ABSTRACT
An internal structure or part of the self that, as the internal authority, re¯ects on the self, makes judgements, exerts moral pressure and is the seat of conscience, guilt and self-esteem. In Kleinian thinking the superego is composed of a split-off part of the ego into which is projected death instinct fused with life instinct and good and bad aspects of the primary and also later objects. It acquires both protective and threatening qualities. The superego and the ego share different aspects of the same objects; they develop in parallel through the process of introjection and projection. If all goes well the internal objects in both ego and superego, which are initially extreme, become less so and the two structures become increasingly reconciled.
