The reward is parental approval. The word communication centres get their power to control the functions of the brain by the simultaneous repetition of the word with the impulse that causes the change in behaviour. The talking centre's trick is to give the other brain centres their initial stimulation, so that by reflex blood is directed to them. The word is thus the tool for waking up a brain centre. Talking and repression grow up hand in hand, and the power of the word comes from the emotional force associated with it.
Words become the strings by which the puppet is manipulated.
The ego is a conditioned reflex mechanism whereby mutual stimulation of the talking and listening centres forms a never-ending closed circuit that not only keeps these centres supplied with blood, but also, through the use of the word, stimulates the other centres into activity, thereby controlling behaviour. The ego is the mechanism that takes control of the system of rationing. Its existence and its strength as a constricting mechanism is the result of conditioning, as is the meaning given to the words. The establishment of the ego is the establishment of the chain of word associations, which comes about through the imitation of parents. Around the age of three, the ego is established - talking is continuous.