Do you have to have an ego (or a lot of ego) in order to have confidence?

[Sambo]

and if you know that you have confidence does it make it redundant?  In that having something isn't necessarily the same as being?

[jazmunda]

and if you know that you have confidence does it make it redundant?  In that having something isn't necessarily the same as being?

I don't think you necessarily need an ego to be confident. I don't have an ego but if I know a subject or people well then I'm very confident. If I am in an unfamiliar surrounding with people I don't know or topic I'm not well versed in then I am very shy. Ego and confidence don't necessarily go together. Having said that I've never met an egotistic person who wasn't confident but I have met confident people who aren't egocentric.

[Sambo]

In the true sense of the word I'm not sure if one cannot have ego. At its core isn't it what makes us react out of impulse, emotion, or habit?   That's why I qualified with "or a lot of ego" in parentheses. I don't have my 101 with me. I know the superego is sort of the morality drive.

[b_dubb]

Ego is merely a sense of self. Who you THINK you are.

[Sambo]

Ego is merely a sense of self. Who you THINK you are.

I think there's an agency component to ego as well as it interacts/reacts to people/things

[onan]

This is one of those "is it the mind or brain" conversations. The Id, Ego, and Super Ego are concepts that describe the mind. In essence the Ego is the part of thinking that rules common sense. Mostly by balancing the desires of the Id and the training and beliefs of society in the Super-Ego. In essence the Id pushes the Ego and the Ego restrains the Super Ego.

So when the question is asked "does someone have too big of an ego?" The answer in an academic class depends on how well those three "structures" interact. Unless there is something pathological the question really considers not only the objective subject, but also, the person(s) that are interacting.

If the interpretation of one's behavior demonstrates grandiosity, then it may fall not only on the mind but also the brain.

Are Ego and confidence the same? no. One may be capable of above average competence and out perform peers on one to many tasks. There may be an arrogant presentation. But that begs the question of over compensation for feelings of inferiority. Or it may be an over reaction by someone feeling slighted. Then again it may be both.

There are too many real life variations to come to a full understanding of the Id, Ego and Super Ego to fully understand Freud's construct in a post on a forum. I can say, that how one person sees another's ego has as much to do with the observer as it does the other's.

[eddie dean]

this is one of those conversations where there are so many variables its almost impossible to get a definitave answer.  it always ends with, " well, it depends".  onans answer is no doubt astute, acurate and comes from experience in the medical field. each time I try to learn about what makes us do, think and behave a certain way and the id, ego, s ego are mentioned, I walk away with more questions than I started with. My eyes glaze over.