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Conscience vs Superego - What's the difference?

conscience | superego |

As nouns the difference between conscience and superego

is that conscience is the moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects one's own behaviour while superego is the part of the mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting social standards that have been learnt.

conscience

Noun

(en noun)
  • The moral sense of right and wrong, chiefly as it affects one's own behaviour.
  • * 1949 , , as quoted by Virgil Henshaw in Albert Einstein: Philosopher Scientist ,
  • Never do anything against conscience , even if the state demands it.
  • * 1951 , (Isaac Asimov), publication), part V: “The Merchant Princes”, chapter 14, page 175, ¶ 7
  • [“]Twer is not a friend of mine testifying against me reluctantly and for conscience ’ sake, as the prosecution would have you believe. He is a spy, performing his paid job.[”]
  • * {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham), title=(The China Governess)
  • , chapter=18 citation , passage=‘Then the father has a great fight with his terrible conscience ,’ said Munday with granite seriousness. ‘Should he make a row with the police […]? Or should he say nothing about it and condone brutality for fear of appearing in the newspapers?}}
  • (chiefly fiction) A personification of the moral sense of right and wrong, usually in the form of a person, a being or merely a voice that gives moral lessons and advices.
  • (obsolete) Consciousness; thinking; awareness, especially self-awareness.
  • * 1603 , (William Shakespeare), (Hamlet) , act 3, scene 1,
  • Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
    And thus the native hue of resolution
    Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought.

    Usage notes

    * Adjectives often used with "conscience": good, bad, guilty. * Phrases: To make conscience of, To make a matter of conscience, to act according to the dictates of conscience concerning (any matter), or to scruple to act contrary to its dictates.

    Derived terms

    * consciencelike * conscience money * conscience vote * conscientious * make conscience * pang of conscience

    See also

    * synteresis

    superego

    Alternative forms

    * super-ego

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (psychoanalysis) The part of the mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting social standards that have been learnt.
  • * '>citation
  • Still, it would be an error to believe that psychoanalytic
    theory makes no contribution to describing and assessing
    different types of ethical conduct. The crucial notion in this
    connection is the relative rigidity or flexibility of the superego'.
    The childish, immature, or neurotic '''superego''' is rigid; it is
    characterized by slavish adherence to rules which, moreover,
    may not be clearly understood. The mature or normal '''super-
    ego''', on the other hand, is flexible; it can evaluate the situation
    at hand and modify the rules accordingly. Thus, in an early,
    classic paper, Strachey suggested that the basic aim of psycho-
    analytic treatment is to make such "mutative interpretations"
    as would help to render the patient's "rigid '''superego'''" more
    "flexible".8 Like the psychoanalytic theory of the '
    superego
    , on
    which it is based, this view suffers from the limitation of being
    silent on what sort of rigidity is considered bad or undesirable
    and what sort of flexibility is considered good or desirable. In
    short, Freud and other psychoanalysts have persistently
    dallied with normative systems without ever committing them-
    selves on normative standards.

    See also

    * ego * id English calques ----