ABSTRACT
The notion of a special part of the mind that had a self-observing, self-judging, and especially self-critical function was present in Freud’s early theoretical speculations. For example, in his discussion of defence, repression, and resistance, he describes that an idea is presented to the mind is forced and kept out of consciousness and out of memory. The process by means of which this threatening idea is kept away from consciousness is referred to as “censorship and censoring”. This chapter discusses that Freud first introduced the term ego ideal, a concept that foreshadowed the superego. He also introduced the concept of identification, which he defines as "the earliest expression of an emotional tie with another person". In the penultimate section of the chapter, he describes a "differentiating grade in the ego" and suggests that each individual, in addition to his independence and originality, constructs his ego ideal upon various models.
