ego ideal


noun Psychoanalysis.

a more or less conscious ideal of personal excellence derived from a composite image of the characteristics of persons, initially those of the parents, with whom the individual identifies.

Origin of ego ideal

First recorded in 1920–25

British Dictionary definitions for ego ideal

ego ideal

noun

psychoanal an internal ideal of personal perfection that represents what one wants to be rather than what one ought to be and is derived from one's early relationship with one's parents See also superego

Medical definitions for ego ideal

ego ideal

n.

In psychoanalytic theory, the part of one's ego that contains an idealized self based on those people, especially parents and peers, one admires and wishes to emulate.