Psychology · Self and personality

Ego (Psychology)

Reference entry · last updated October 8, 2026

Ego has two main senses in English. In everyday use, it is a person's opinion of themselves, especially their feeling of their own importance and ability. In psychoanalysis, it is the part of the mind that tries to match the hidden desires of the id with the demands of the real world.[1]

First principles and definitions

• Everyday ego is a self-judgment. A large ego means a strong feeling of one's own importance. To boost someone's ego is to give them confidence.[1]
• Psychoanalytic ego is a mental function. It is one of three parts in Sigmund Freud's model of the mind, with the id and the superego.[2]

The everyday sense is close to self-esteem, a person's subjective evaluation of their worth.[3] The psychoanalytic sense is not a self-evaluation.

Freud's structural model

Freud introduced the three-part model of id, ego, and superego in The Ego and the Id (1923).[2] In Thornton's summary of the model:[2]

• the id holds instinctual drives that seek satisfaction;
• the superego holds the conscience, made of social controls first learned from parents;
• the ego reconciles the conflicting demands of the id and the superego with external reality.

Thornton notes that the model is a theoretical construction, not a description of observable structures. How literally Freud meant it remains debated.[2]

Defense mechanisms

In Freud's account, the mind uses defense mechanisms to keep inner conflict from becoming too acute. Examples include repression, sublimation, fixation, and regression. Repression is the central one: the ego pushes an unacceptable impulse into the unconscious to avoid conflict and pain.[2]

Everyday sense: self-importance

Research on self-importance mostly uses the terms self-esteem and narcissism. Baumeister and colleagues report that narcissism, not high self-esteem as such, leads to more aggression in retaliation for wounded pride.[4]

Crocker and Park report a related cost. When people invest their self-worth in a domain, they try to prove their abilities there. Their reactions to threats in that domain can then undermine learning and relationships.[5]

Ego depletion

Ego depletion is the hypothesis that self-control draws on a limited resource, so effort on one task weakens self-control on the next.[7]

Baumeister and colleagues proposed it in 1998. In one experiment, people who ate radishes instead of tempting chocolates later gave up sooner on unsolvable puzzles. The authors described the resource as the self's capacity for active volition.[6]

A preregistered replication in 2016 ran a standard protocol in 23 laboratories with 2,141 participants. The combined effect was small (d = 0.04), and its 95% confidence interval included zero.[7]

Reading a claim about ego

“Ego” can mean a self-judgment, a Freudian structure of the mind, or a proposed resource for self-control. Evidence for one sense does not carry over to the others.

This section is an editorial summary of the senses above.

See also

• Self-Esteem
• Lake Wobegon Effect

References

1. Cambridge Dictionary, “ego.” Cambridge University Press.
2. Stephen P. Thornton, “Freud, Sigmund,” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy. The article dates the model to Freud's The Ego and the Id (1923).
3. Ulrich Orth and Richard W. Robins, “Is High Self-Esteem Beneficial? Revisiting a Classic Question,” American Psychologist 77(1), 5–17 (2022). DOI: 10.1037/amp0000922. Free author manuscript at PubMed Central.
4. R. F. Baumeister, J. D. Campbell, J. I. Krueger, and K. D. Vohs, “Does High Self-Esteem Cause Better Performance, Interpersonal Success, Happiness, or Healthier Lifestyles?” Psychological Science in the Public Interest 4(1), 1–44 (2003). DOI: 10.1111/1529-1006.01431. PubMed record and abstract.
5. J. Crocker and L. E. Park, “The Costly Pursuit of Self-Esteem,” Psychological Bulletin 130(3), 392–414 (2004). DOI: 10.1037/0033-2909.130.3.392. PubMed record and abstract.
6. R. F. Baumeister, E. Bratslavsky, M. Muraven, and D. M. Tice, “Ego Depletion: Is the Active Self a Limited Resource?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 74(5), 1252–1265 (1998). DOI: 10.1037/0022-3514.74.5.1252. PubMed record and abstract.
7. M. S. Hagger, N. L. D. Chatzisarantis, et al., “A Multilab Preregistered Replication of the Ego-Depletion Effect,” Perspectives on Psychological Science 11(4), 546–573 (2016). DOI: 10.1177/1745691616652873. PubMed record and abstract.