CONSCIENCE AND SUPEREGO 439 



determination for all men, e.g., decisions in marriages and 

 careers, with the result that the same children as adults will 

 rebel against norms as such, and this in virtue of the natural 

 law! 



Finally the corruption can occur when the norms themselves 

 are wrong, and this can be taught both by word and example. 

 If, for example, children are shown that lying and cheating 

 are useful, that revenge is a family matter, that kindness is 

 weakness, that race prejudice is an acceptable attitude, the 

 norms themselves which they imbibe will sooner or later, to a 

 greater or lesser degree, conflict with what experience teaches 

 them, and lead them into personal conflicts. ^^ 



But an inquiry into the reasons why a man fails to develop 

 a mature and reasonable sense of morality must consider the 

 individual too. Defects, as has been said, originate from the 

 individual's own psychological make-up, under the best of 

 training. Some, for example, are by temperament more timid 

 and diffident, inviting protection and submitting to it; others 

 are more agressive, looking for weaknesses and taking advan- 

 tage of them. Some are by temperament more placid; some 

 are more restless and invite restraint. Some might, even as 

 infants, need more food, and, if not satisfied, develop a disposi- 

 tion to ' greed.' Some might be friendlier, inviting gentle 

 treatment. In infancy, dispositions might be present to all 

 kinds of attitudes, to greed, spite, hostility, diffidence, distrust 

 submissiveness, friendliness, arrogance, and these dispositions 

 and their ramifications and the reactions to them may explain 

 in many cases the form of a deficient sense of morality. 



How can all this be applied to understanding the formation 

 of conscience, and what has Freud contributed to this under- 

 standing.f' Whether the formation of conscience norms is ad- 

 versely affected because of some deficiency on the part of the 

 child in whom the conscience is formed, or because of a defect 

 on the part of the parents, the essence of the trouble will be 

 the failure of reason to form reasonable dispositions in the 



^^ Cf. Summa theologiae, II-II, q. 104, a. 5. 



