There are three levels at which these psychological forces operate at. The first is the conscious level. Consciousness is when one is aware of all the thoughts, feelings, sensations, and actions. The next level is the preconscious level. This level contains the information one's not aware of, but is easily put into memory, such as a telephone number. The third level is the unconscious level. This makes up the majority of the psychological forces. One's not aware of any of these memories, wishes, or drives, but the unconsciousness plays a major part on ones current behavior. Freud believed that the unconscious thoughts slip into the conscious level in a disguised form, or by slips of the tongue or unintentional actions. He believed that unintentional actions are really not accidental, but instead are controlled by unconscious motives. .
Another idea of Freud's was that each person possesses a certain amount of psychological energy. This energy is also divided into three sections. The first section of personality is the id. The id is entirely unconscious and present at birth. It is ruled by the pleasure principal, which is the immediate satisfaction of instinctual urges. Freud saw that the pleasure principal is the most fundamental human motive. It strives to increase pleasure, reduce tension, and avoid pain. The id is the original source of the psychological energy. This source of psychological energy is further divided into two drives. The first instinct is the life instinct. In the life instinct, or Eros, biological urges occur, such as hunger, physical comfort, and sexuality. The other drive is the death instinct, or Thanatos. This is all of the body's destructive energy that accumulates from aggressiveness, recklessness, and life-threatening behaviors. The problem with the life and death instinct is that it is always a conflicting force. Both of these forces fill the id up with energy that must be released.