Which of Freud's ideas is one of the most controversial personality theories?
1 Answer
The id
Explanation:
The id, the most primal part of us, is what we are born with - and animals never develop anything else. It is our primal urges, to eat, to mate, to compete.
Sociopaths are often controlled by their id more than others as someone who is ruled by their id would step over other people with no remorse at all. However, unlike sociopaths, they do not consider the repercussions of their actions and aim to achieve short term satisfaction.
It is controversial as it suggests that we are all born uncivil beasts and we only develop to be members of a community due to the ego (fear of repercussions) and the superego (which creates feelings of guilt and makes us feel bad for being selfish). The relation to animals was also controversial due to the fact that evolution linked humankind to apes as well - thus both ideas were rejected by religions.
