Conscience

Conscience is our inner ability for distinguishing right from wrong, guiding moral behavior, and eliciting feelings of guilt or remorse when we act against our moral values. Conscience develops over time and is heavily influenced by our upbringing, cultural background, and society’s moral standards, like an internalized moral compass to make good decisions and encourage prosocial behavior. For Freud, the conscience is part of the superego, with its internalized societal/parental authority and moral code that keeps the ego in check. Moral judgment is our conscience’s intuitive, internal evaluation of actions, intentions, or character, assessing their moral quality. When faced with a decision or after an action, the conscience evaluates the situation based on this learned moral framework. It provides guidance for future actions and may even cause a bad feeling, or “bad vibe,” about a potential action, influencing the person to choose otherwise.