The Adventures of Id, Ego, and Superego

It is a truth universally acknowledged that I cannot get out the door of Casa De Paw Print (after all the rain and the perpetually soggy ground, this is the new name of my house) at a reasonable time.  The wiping of the paws after the dogs do their morning constitutional simply takes time.  That and the fact that Daylight Savings Time STILL hasn’t gone away, it’s still pitch black when I get up, meaning it takes a while to actually get out of bed and get moving.

My boss is supposed to be back today, so I’m jumping right in (well after this post) to try and finish the lecture on Freud I spent all yesterday working on. I should point out that I was supposed to write TWO lectures yesterday.  This does not bode well and means I probably should come up and work this weekend, which I am less than enthused about.  But I need to catch back up.  I’m 2 weeks behind on writing lectures.  I’m not sure why I’m having such trouble writing this one.  Part of it is that I simply know way too much about Freud and it’s hard to narrow down.  I mean, we talk about this man in ALMOST every psychology class I have ever had or taught.  And while I can appreciate his contribution to modern psychology, I think he was mostly a product of his repressed Victorian Jewish upbringing–and probably was a dirty old man.  But that doesn’t necessarily make it easier to discuss his theory of personality in a coherent manner.

I did actually learn something new, or something I’d forgotten, as I was going through the book chapter for this lecture.  Freud was born in Moravia–in an area that’s now part of the Czech Republic.  And what did that information spark in my brain?  A snarky, Katie MacAlister style spoof in which Freud stars as a sexually frustrated vampire.  Hardly productive.  The insanity didn’t stop there.  Oh no.  I ultimately wrote a very brief flash fiction story to explain how Id (played by Taz) , Ego (played by Velma from Scooby Doo), and Superego (played by Jimminy Cricket) work together to help Taz get laid.

And I used it in my lecture.  It’s not an outstanding piece of fiction, but I thought it was an amusing example, so I’m sharing it with you.

So let’s look at an example of how the id, ego, and superego work together.

Taz meets a girl.  Immediately his instincts kick in and Taz’s id says “Me want sex!”

At this point his ego pipes in and says “Hey, hang on buddy, you can’t just throw down on the floor, you’ll probably get punched.  You should ask her out on a date.”

Id grumbles but agrees to delay gratification and ego asks her out.  She says yes.  Hurray!

Then superego gets in on the action.  “You can’t just take her out and expect to get lucky.  She’s a person for heaven’s sake.  You have to woo her.  Be a nice guy.”

Id looks over at ego and says “He’s kidding, right?”

Ego, ever the realist, considers.  “Well, it would improve your chances.”

So Taz buys flowers.  He makes reservations at a nice restaurant.  He bought chocolates too, but id devoured those while superego wasn’t looking.

The night of the date comes up. He’s groomed his fur and even put on a tie. He picks her up and gives her the flowers he bought.  They go, they have a nice dinner.  He takes her dancing.  Superego is congratulating him on a date well done.  Taz takes her home, walks her to the door, where she says she had a great time and plants a big, smacking kiss on his cheek, says “I hope we do this again sometime,” and shuts the door.

Before id can throw a fit, ego’s already jumping in.  “This isn’t a defeat.  It’s a step in the right direction.”

And on it goes with the plotting to woo the girl.

The Ego functions to find realistic objects (and methods) of gratification for the ID that are morally acceptable to the Superego.

See, I actually had a point to that story.  It either makes me insane or a teacher with a sense of humor.  I hope my students appreciate it.

On a Novel PI note, today marks the last day of Week 2!  I’ve been having some issues with my spreadsheet and I am needing some wordcounts from the following people!

  • Merrilee for the 13th
  • Rachel Blackbirdsong for the 12th and 13th
  • Leanne S. for the 13th
  • Stace for the 8th-13th
  • Magda for the 11th
  • Deniz for the 9th, 12th, and 13th
  • Danniele for the 13th
  • Rene for the 13th
  • Emma for the 11th-13th
  • Keri for the 13th

And of course I’ll need wordcounts for everybody at the end of today (the 14th)

One thought on “The Adventures of Id, Ego, and Superego

  1. 500 words tonight and, boy, were they tough to get! I tried not to lift the pen from the paper, cos the couple of times I did, I caught myself staring into space, bereft of ideas. Forcing myself to stay in character and keep describing what she was seeing (you can always cut later! I kept repeating) finally led to something – still not sure it’s the right sort of action, but it did move people around and wreak havoc, and have my protagonist *act* instead of watching, so it’s better than nothing!

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