ego

noun pl. egos

1. the self; the individual as self-aware
2. 1. egotism; conceit
   2. self-esteem; self-respect
3. Philos. the self, variously conceived as a spiritual substance on which experience is superimposed, the series of acts and mental states introspectively recognized, etc.
4. Psychoanalysis that part of the psyche which experiences the external world, or reality, through the senses, organizes the thought processes rationally, and governs action: it mediates between the impulses of the id, the demands of the environment, and the standards of the superego