1. The most important is repression - in which anxietyprovoking behaviours or thoughts are totally dismissed by the unconscious. 2. The best way to characterise the superego is to think of it as the moral branch of mental functioning. 3. The superego tells the id and the ego whether gratification in a particular instance is ethical. 4. It helps control the id by internalising the parental authority through the process of socialisation. 5. For example - if a boy sees and wants an ice-cream cone and asks his mother for it - his superego will indicate that his behaviour is morally correct.