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In [[Freud]]'s writings , it is difficult to discern any systematic [[distinction ]] between the [[three ]] related [[terms ]] "[[ego-ideal]]" (''[[Ich-ideal]]''), "[[ideal ego]]" (''[[Ideal Ich]]''), and [[superego]] (''[[Superego|Über-Ich]]''), although neither are the terms simply used interchangeably.

[[Lacan]], however, argues that these three "[[ego-ideal|formations of the ego]]" are each quite distinct [[concepts ]] which must not be confused with one [[another]].

Although both the [[ego-ideal]] and the [[superego]] are linked with the decline of the [[Oedipus complex]], and both are products of [[identification]] with the [[father]], [[Lacan]] argues that they [[represent ]] different aspects of the [[father]]'s [[dual ]] [[role]].

The [[superego]] is an [[unconscious]] [[agency]] whose function is to [[repression|repress]] [[sexuality|sexual]] [[desire]] for the [[mother]], whereas the [[ego-ideal]] exerts a [[conscious]] pressure towards [[sublimation]] and provides the coordinates which enable the [[subject]] to take up a [[sexual difference|sexual position]] as a [[man]] or [[woman]].<ref>{{L}} ''[[Works of Jacques Lacan|Les complexes familiaux dans la formation de l'individu. Essai d'analyse d'une fonction en psychologie]]'', [[Paris]]: Navarin, 1984. p. 59-62</ref>

In his post-war writings [[Lacan]] pays more attention to distinguishing the [[ego-ideal]] from the [[ideal ego]] ([[Fr]]. ''[[moi idéal]]'').   Thus in the 1953-4 [[seminar]], he develops the [[optical model]] to distinguish between these two [[formation]]s.

The [[ego-ideal]] is the [[signifier]] operating as [[idealism|ideal]], an internalized plan of the [[law]], the [[guide ]] governing the [[subject]]'s [[position ]] in the [[symbolic]] [[order]], and hence anticipates secondary ([[Oedipal]]) [[identification]] or is a product of that [[identification]].<ref>{{S1}} p. 141</ref>

The [[ideal ego]], on the other hand, originates in the [[specular image]] of the [[mirror stage]]; it is a promise of [[future ]] [[dialectic|synthesis]] towards which the [[ego]] tends, the [[illusion]] of [[autonomy|unity]] on which the [[ego]] is built. The [[ideal ego]] always accompanies the [[ego]], as an ever-present attempt to regain the omnipotence of the [[preoedipal]] [[dual relation]].

The [[ideal ego]] always accompanies the [[ego]], as an ever-[[present]] attempt to regain the omnipotence of the [[preoedipal]] [[dual relation]]. Though formed in [[primary identification]], the [[ideal ego]] continues to play a role as the source of all [[secondary identification]]s.<ref>{{E}} p. 2</ref>.

The [[ideal ego]] is written [[Image:I(a).gif]] -- or '''<i>i(a)</i>''' -- in [[Lacan]]ian [[algebra]], and the [[ego-ideal]] is written '''I(A)'''.

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