Superegos

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A psychological construct representing the part of the mind that acts as a self-critical conscience, reflecting social standards learned from parents and society
2. A component of the human psyche in psychoanalysis that upholds moral standards and aims to control desires and urges
3. The mental aspect that internalizes ethical principles and societal expectations, influencing behavior and decision-making

Etymology: "Superegos" is simply the plural of "superego," so it follows the usual English pattern of adding -s to a noun. The base term has a more interesting backstory than its plural. "Superego" is a calque of the German "Über-Ich," which Sigmund Freud used in his psychoanalytic theory. The German combines "über" ("over" or "above") with "Ich" ("I"), which is the ordinary German word for "ego." English took the Latin-derived "super" and "ego" to render the same idea, so the term reads like Latin but was built by translating German. The literal sense is therefore "over-I" or "above the self," a fitting image for a part of the mind that watches and judges the rest. Freud's choice of "Ich" was itself ordinary speech, not technical jargon, which is part of why the translated term sounds so clinical in English: the German original was a plain pronoun joined to a preposition.

Synonyms: consciences, morals, ethics