Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Verified for the 2026 exam
Verified for the 2026 exam•Written by the Fiveable Content Team • Last updated September 2025
Definition
Psychic energy refers to the emotional and mental energy that fuels our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. According to Freud, it's a limited resource that is distributed among different parts of the psyche.
In Freud's theory, the id represents our unconscious desires and instincts seeking immediate gratification. It operates based on pleasure-seeking principles without considering moral rules or social norms.
The ego is the rational part of our personality that mediates between the id's demands for pleasure and the superego's moral standards. It balances our desires with reality and tries to find socially acceptable ways to satisfy them.
The superego represents our internalized moral conscience or sense of right and wrong. It develops through socialization and enforces society's standards by creating guilt or shame when we violate them.