- Reflects the internalisation of cultural rules, mainly absorbed from parents, but also other authority figures and general cultural ethos
- The super-ego can be described as “a successful instance of identification with the parental agency”, and as development proceeds it also absorbs the influence of those who have “stepped into the place of parents — educators, teachers, people chosen as ideal models”
- The super-ego aims for perfection
- It is part of the personality structure that includes ideals, goals, and psychic agency commonly called “conscience” that criticises and prohibits the expression of drives, fantasies, feelings, and actions
- It is an internalised mechanism that operates to confine the Ego to socially acceptable behaviour, whereas the Id merely seeks instant self-gratification
- The super-ego and the Ego are the product of the state of helplessness of the child and the Oedipus Complex