ABSTRACT
In the present revised structural model, the term 'ego' has one determinate meaning: the relatively more contextualized part of the mind. Accordingly, the criterion the authors must use to distinguish the various systems in the mind is the degree of contextualization, which is equivalent to the suitability of the contents of the systems for conscious thinking. The notion of "depth" in "depth psychology" now ceases to be a mere spatial metaphor and can be assigned a definite meaning in line with the degree of contextualization of the contents of the mind. In Freud's structural model, the meaning of the term 'ego' was vague, so that at times it meant 'the part of the id that is modified by experience', and at other times it meant 'the part of the mind that attempts to exercise control over the drives', while at yet other times it meant 'the willing, perceiving, and deliberating subject'.
