The id is a term developed by Sigmund Freud to describe a part of the brain. He also used the terms ego and superego to describe the two other part of the brain, that along with the id, drive the personality. The id is specifically all our uncomplicated needs for pleasure, food, and survival. To Freud the id represented the instinctual behavior of each person, or as Bill Murray puts it in the film What About Bob? the “I need, I need, I need,” that sets up a constant dialogue with the rest of the self.

According to Freud, the id cares not about whether its needs are rational or detrimental. It is a common undercurrent that sometimes causes us to behave in selfish or destructive ways when we are not using our egos and superegos to control the id. It’s not always that the id is bad or good, or has any kind of moral value. It is amoral, rather than immoral, since the id does not contain the moral controls. Instead the superego has this job and gradually asserts morality onto the id to make the ego behave.

Young children, especially babies are id-driven. Having very little moral concept, and miniscule concept of the rules of society or the needs of others, they’re going to ask for what they want pretty much all of the time. The baby’s need to be fed, held, get adequate sleep, and have clean diapers are all id driven. They are little need machines in cute packages, and can sometimes drive their parents nuts by their constant demands.

As the baby starts to grow, it gains a sense of self, the ego, and a sense of the rules imposed by the society of its home and later the society of its world, called the superego. But it takes a long time for children to move from that place of being driven by the id to being able to control the id, and some sadly don’t learn. You can see the id in operation in the two year old claiming that everything in the house is “mine,” or in the sudden temper tantrums of even older children when their wishes are thwarted.

Even well adjusted people have their id driven moments. If you’ve ever polished off a pint of ice cream on your own you know this well. Obviously you didn’t need the ice cream, but you responded to the id’s need for comfort derived from food, and particularly from sweet fattening things. Suddenly losing our tempers is another type of id response. It’s not rational and it’s usually not helpful, but then again, it is common.

Freud would look at addictive behavior, especially where there is no outward physical addiction, like compulsive gambling, shopping, or sex addiction as behavior driven very much by the id. In these cases, treatment would mean learning to control or at least ignore the id.

While some of Freud’s theories have certainly been disputed, the idea of the id is a good one, even if it can’t be scientifically proven. A repository of raw needs does seem to exist in all humans; long referred to far predating Freud. Biblical reference to the war between the spirit and flesh: “The mind is willing but the flesh is weak,” could very well reference that instinctual pull toward listening to the id and seeking only what we think we need.