Egot’s Birth: Maturity And Learning

We can explain the birth of the ego as a process of maturity and learning. It is done through the acquisition of our sensory and motor skills.

The birth and development of our ego is  notable because it is the core of our psychic apparatus. It is the core of our desires, activities and inhibitions.

When the ego appears, it begins to relate to its own objects. First, these external objects that the child feels are its own. Slowly but surely, internalization and mental structures are beginning to be established.

These in turn contribute to the cohesion of the I-feeling.

How the birth of the ego proceeds

When a child is born, he does not differentiate between himself and the world. Instead, he does not distinguish between the image of himself and the image of the object when he absorbs ideas and concepts.

Thanks to our emotional side, we begin to differentiate where we end and the world begins.

Between the first and second year of life, the cognitive capacity of the child increases. As a consequence, he begins to recognize the different roles in interpersonal interactions.

Slowly but surely, the identification and distinction of subjects and objects begins.

Self-identity is a product of the synthetic function. This is where objects are interconnected and integrated in a coherent way. This is the highest level of self-structure.

This happens in part thanks to the interaction between the self and objects.

The mirror stage as a shaper of the ego

A very important event in the birth of the ego occurs when the child is between 6 and 18 months old. During this stage, it experiments with trying to recognize itself in the mirror.

He becomes interested in the image and gets a certain pleasure from playing with these sensations.

The mirror is a metaphor that refers to a person’s relationship with the environment. Being able to recognize our body and a fictional space is a sign of healthy human development, without fragmentation of the self.

A father or mother who does not take care of the child, or harms it, maintains his image. But at the same time, fragmentation can occur, which can lead to psychotic problems.

At this stage, babies will not cling to anyone. When they do, they may become anxious because the image they expect does not reflect what they expect.

For example, when a six-month-old baby sees his mother instead of a stranger. The child does not recognize the mother, but rather recognizes himself through the mother.

The birth of the cohesive ego takes place through stable relations to objects. It is based on satisfying experiences that the child has at different times. In other words, the child is united with the image he sees of himself (initial alienation).

Individuation

The process by which a person becomes aware of himself in totality is called individuation. When this process is complete, the subconscious and conscious will integrate the ego into a broader personality.

It is a process of union, purification and discovery of oneself. This achievement shows up when the archetypal images of the self appear.

The three functions of the ego

Body and mind are united, intertwined and related to each other. As a result, the ego, or union of body and mind, fulfills three main functions:

• Control: the ego’s job is to control and regulate instinctive impulses. By gaining a sense of things, or inhibition, the ego establishes defenses against threatening stimuli.

• Adaptation: the  ego relates to the external and internal realities and tries to adapt to them.
• Integration:  this refers to the ego’s ability to integrate the various aspects of our lives.

To achieve the best adaptation to reality  , the self can defend itself against the great flow of motivating energy. Therefore, the ego seems autonomous, as if it were a synthesis of different functions.

Egot’s autonomy

Two structures make up the ego. The primary ego structure is a sphere of the ego that is free from conflicts with “Detet” (the seat of impulses).

Later it was called “the primary autonomous functions of the ego” which corresponds to memory, thought and language. These functions do not arise as a defense against impulses (Detet).

The conversion of instinctive and aggressive libidinal energies to non-instinctive energy neutralizes the energy from Detet (impulse).

Hartmann called the autonomous development that did not arise from the struggle between impulse and the desire “primary autonomy”.

On the other hand  , the secondary ego structure,  or secondary function of the ego, arises  from a change in function.

This change consists of the ego structure that is in conflict with motivation, reality or morality against a sphere without conflict.

Together with other researchers,  Freud (the psychology of the Det), Harmann (the psychology of the ego) and Kohut the psychology of the self) are the primary thinkers who have placed the “ego” at the core of the psychological universe.

From these different psychoanalytic points of view, we can better understand how the ego’s birth takes place.