In a scenario where a person refrains from cheating due to guilt, Freud would say this is prevented by which component?

In a scenario where a person refrains from cheating due to guilt, Freud would say this is prevented by which component?

• A. Ego
• B. Id
• C. Reality principle
• D. Superego

Answer: (D)

The superego is at work here, acting as the conscience that internalizes societal and parental rules and exerts moral pressure on behavior. When someone refrains from cheating because they feel guilty, that guilt comes from the superego evaluating the temptation against those internalized standards. It works to inhibit impulses that violate moral codes, producing feelings of shame or guilt to deter immoral actions. The ego would mediate between the impulse to cheat (driven by the id) and the moral constraints of the superego, but the force preventing the cheating is the superego's moral authority. The reality principle, tied to the ego, concerns delaying gratification to cope with real-world constraints, not directly with guilt or moral prohibition.

The superego is at work here, acting as the conscience that internalizes societal and parental rules and exerts moral pressure on behavior. When someone refrains from cheating because they feel guilty, that guilt comes from the superego evaluating the temptation against those internalized standards. It works to inhibit impulses that violate moral codes, producing feelings of shame or guilt to deter immoral actions. The ego would mediate between the impulse to cheat (driven by the id) and the moral constraints of the superego, but the force preventing the cheating is the superego's moral authority. The reality principle, tied to the ego, concerns delaying gratification to cope with real-world constraints, not directly with guilt or moral prohibition.