According to Freud, if a person experiences excessive guilt due to rigid moral standards, what is likely happening?

• A. Her Id is dominating
• B. Her Ego is underdeveloped
• C. Her superego has become too powerful.
• D. Repression is the sole cause

Answer: (C)

Freud’s structure of personality includes the id (drives), the ego (reality), and the superego (morals and values). When someone internalizes rigid moral standards, the superego acts as a stringent conscience, constantly judging actions as right or wrong. If the superego becomes too powerful, these moral judgments are applied with excessive severity, producing persistent feelings of guilt even for minor transgressions. The ego then has to constant mediate between reality and this harsh internal moral demand, but the dominant force behind the guilt is the inflated superego.

So the scenario points to a superego that has become too powerful. Repression is a defense mechanism that can play a role in how impulses are managed, but it isn’t the primary source of the guilt described. An overbearing id would lead to acting on impulses, not guilt from moral standards, and an underdeveloped ego would disrupt reality testing rather than specifically amplify moral guilt.