Chapter Brief Summary of The Ego and The Id - Study Guide by Sigmund Freud

Brief Summary

In this book, Freud revises his account of the structure of the mind (from the Interpretation of Dreams and Metapsychological Papers), which involved the hypothesis of repression as a mental function and in turn a topographical hypothesis, of a picture of the mind as including two portions, one repressed and the other repressing. Here the quality 'consciousness' is investigated further, and two types of 'unconsciousness' identified (Ucs. and Pcs.) Having established his new account of the structure of the mind, Freud examines its implications - the relation between the divisions of the mind and the two classes of instincts, and the interrelations between the divisions of the mind themselves, with special reference to the sense of guilt.