EGO

in psychoanalytic theory, that portion of the human personality which is experienced as the self or I and is in contact with the external world through perception. It is the part which remembers, evaluates, plans, and in other ways is responsive to and acts in the surrounding physical and social world. The ego coexists, in psychoanalytic theory, with the id and superego (qq.v.), as one of three agencies proposed by Sigmund Freud in attempting to describe the dynamics of the human mind. Ego (Latin for I) comprises, in Freud's term, the executive functions of personality; it is the integrator between the outer and inner worlds, as well as between the id and the superego. The ego gives continuity and consistency to behaviour by providing a personal point of reference, which relates the events of the past (retained in memory) and actions of the present and of the future (represented in anticipation and imagination). The ego is not coextensive with either the personality or the body, although body concepts form the core of early experiences of self. The ego, once developed, is capable of change throughout life, particularly under conditions of threat, illness, and changes in life circumstances.