Your Continuous Controversy

Sigmund Freud hypothesized that the human personality consists of 3 main "agencies" that interact with one another harmoniously. The first agency, ID, contains our most primitive ideologies such as sexual drive, aggression, and anything that is driven by the goal of pleasure. The ID is completely unconscious meaning we have no control or awareness of its effects on our personality. Another agency, the Superego, contains our sense of morality (most of us have one) and since many of our morals go against our sexual desires, aggression, etc., the Superego is constantly going against our ID and vice versa. So which agency wins? That decision is left up to the Ego, the third and perhaps most important agency. The Ego is the most conscious part of our personality. It comes into play when decisions have to be made. It acts as the "boss" of our personality, meaning it makes the final decisions based on what our ID and Superego tells us. For example, your ID tells you to cheat on your spouse with an attractive woman but your Superego (which hopefully is stronger in this case) tells you that the benefits aren't worth the cost. Your Ego then makes the final decision, whether it's the right one or not. To be fair, most decisions aren't as big or perhaps as costly as cheating on a spouse. Maybe it's deciding to eat a fatty cheeseburger or maybe it's whether to hit the snooze or not.
It's a little worrisome to think that your mind is constantly fighting itself. But then if you really consider the situation, this is the beauty of the human mind. Our ability to conflict against our primitive instincts is what sets us apart from other animals. It also allows for a very broad range of personalities ranging from compulsive killers to devout Christians. So next time you make a decision stop and try to identify your ID and Superego; it just might help you make the right decision.