Reggie works in an office with about 50 other attorneys. The environment is fiercely competitive because many of them want to be made a partner in the firm. In an effort to gain some ground, Reggie began spreading harmful rumors about two of his coworkers. Even though Reggie knew that the rumors could ultimately impact their career in a negative manner, he still chose to engage in the rumor-spreading behavior. Which of the following, according to Freud’s theory, would likely be the cause of Reggie’s malicious acts?
a) the death instinctb) an unsuccessful resolution of the latency stagec) the ego ideald) the superego