Repsonse to Yvonne

So, this blog discusses family. When looking for potential partners, do we look for traits that our parents have? And how does this apply to people who grow up with one parent?

First of all, I think it would depend on how you were raised. If you grow up with abusive parents or hate your parents, I think even subconsciously you would be turned against anyone who is like them. However, if you like your parents and relatively get along with them, then you know that you are comfortable around those kinds of people and might manage to find yourself dating someone like your parents. I don't think it is always the case, however. If we like how we were raised, we may find flaws in it and try to turn away from people like our parents, even if we appreciate them.

If you grow up with one parent, then all of this applies to the one parent that you grew up with.

How would this concept affect children who have been moved to and from multiple foster homes?

Response to Alex

Just thinking about the Superego and animals. In class, we determined that some animals have a quasi-Superego. One of the examples of this that I thought of was my friend's cat. When his owner is out of the house, even if there are other humans present to give him treats, he will pace around the house meowing, looking into his owners room and sniffing around her bed, trying desperately to find her. Now, if the cat only had an ego and an id, he wouldn't have a reason to look for his owner. He has the needs of the id covered (with shelter and food) and the feelings of the ego keeping the id in check (getting toys for behaving). So why would the cat feel loneliness when the owner leaves?

Another example of the quasi-Superego in animals would be horses. I heard a story of something that happened at a barn I used to help out at (though I was not there when the incident occurred). A girl was riding around on her horse, a very well behaved creature that she had owned for a long time. Supposedly, the horse had seemed nervous about something but was keeping itself relatively calm. Suddenly, the horse reared up and fell backwards, landing almost entirely on top of the girl. The girl was, amazingly, relatively unhurt, which was determined by X-rays taken at the hospital. However, the X-ray revealed a tumor that the girl had (one that nobody knew about), and she was immediately given surgery to remove the tumor. If she hadn't gotten the surgery then, or if the tumor was not detected, it would have killed her. Now, some people would argue this as coincidence, but why would a horse who knows that behaving badly (such as rearing) means punishment, but rear up anyway? It was a very well trained horse. I believe that horses (and other animals) have the ability to sense things that humans simply can't. Whether intentionally or not, the horse saved the girl's life.

Any thoughts on these stories?