<P> The super-ego works in contradiction to the id . The super-ego strives to act in a socially appropriate manner, whereas the id just wants instant self - gratification . The super-ego controls our sense of right and wrong and guilt . It helps us fit into society by getting us to act in socially acceptable ways . </P> <P> The super-ego's demands often oppose the id's, so the ego sometimes has a hard time in reconciling the two . </P> <P> Freud's theory implies that the super-ego is a symbolic internalisation of the father figure and cultural regulations . The super-ego tends to stand in opposition to the desires of the id because of their conflicting objectives, and its aggressiveness towards the ego . The super-ego acts as the conscience, maintaining our sense of morality and proscription from taboos . The super-ego and the ego are the product of two key factors: the state of helplessness of the child and the Oedipus complex . Its formation takes place during the dissolution of the Oedipus complex and is formed by an identification with and internalisation of the father figure after the little boy cannot successfully hold the mother as a love - object out of fear of castration . Freud described the super-ego and its relationship to the father figure and Oedipus complex thus: </P> <P> The super-ego retains the character of the father, while the more powerful the Oedipus complex was and the more rapidly it succumbed to repression (under the influence of authority, religious teaching, schooling and reading), the stricter will be the domination of the super-ego over the ego later on--in the form of conscience or perhaps of an unconscious sense of guilt . </P>

When do the id ego and superego develop