HORNEY: PSYCHOANALYTIC

SOCIAL THEORY

BA Behavioral SciencesRetiban, Princess Joy Ann B.Rubio, Katrina Cyrille

KAREN HORNEY(KAREN DANIELSEN HORNEY)

Karen Horney’s life has several parallels with the life of Melanie Klein, who is known for the Object Relations Theory.

Both of them was born during the 1880’s. Youngest child of an old-aged father with his second wife. Each had wanted to become physicians. She died of cancer on December 4, 1952 at the age of 65.

Early Life: Horney had an unhappy family. She felt great hostility towards

his father. On the other hand, she really looks up to her mother. By the time she decided to become a physician, there was no

university in Germany who wants to admit women.Later on, that situation changed.

She then entered the gymnasium, an institution that would eventually lead him into a proper schooling and eventually to medical school.

Then, Horney become independent for the rest of her life. According to Paris (1994), her independence was mostly superficial. An initian sign of her compulsive need to merge with a great man is her series of relationships.

In Germany, Karen Horney is one of the first women who studied medicine.

In 1906, she met Oskar Horney. She married him and gave birth to three daughters.

Career:-Horney was a member of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. -In her book, “New Ways in Psychoanalysis”, this calls for abandoning the instinct theory and placing more emphasis on ego and social influences.-She helped form the (AAP) or the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. Later on was named as Karen Horney Psychoanalytic Instutute. - Karen Horney’s important work is the Neurosis and Human Growth

PSYCHOANALYTIC

SOCIAL THEORY Social and cultural conditions, especially childhood exxperiences, are greatly influential for shaping personality. Either towards a healthy or neurotic human personality. Social rather than biological forces are paramount in personality development.

HORNEY’S VIEW ON FREUD:

Strict adherence to orthodox psychoanalysis would lead to stagnation in both theoretical thought and therapeutic practice. (Horney, 1937)

Horney obected on Freud’s idea on feminine pyschology. (Horney, 1939)

“Man is ruled not by the pleasure principle alone but by two guiding principles: safety and satisfaction” (Horney, 1939)

Her main issue with Freud’s work was not on the accuracy of his observation but on the validity of Freud’s interpretations.

Horney also claimed that neuroses are not the results of instincts but rather of the person’s “Attempts to find paths through a wilderness full of unknown dangers”.

In contrast, her view of humanity is an optimistic one and is centered on cultural forces that are amenable to change. (Horney, 1950)

IMPACT OF CULTURE

Horney repeatedly emphasized cultural influences as the primary bases for both neurotic and normal development of personality. Modern culture is based on competition among

individuals. Competitiveness and basic hostility bring forth the

feelings of isolation.A feeling leads to an intensified needs for affection, which in turn causes people to overvalue love.

Genuine Love is a healthy and growth-producing experience. While, the desperate need for love provides a fertile ground for the development of neurosis.

Childhood is the age from which vast majority of problems arise. However, neurotic conflict may arise from almost any stage of development. It is also the primary responsible for personality development.

Neurotic needs become powerful because they are the child’s only means of gaining feelings of safety.

Horney said, “the sum total of childhood experiences brings about certain character structure, or rather, starts its development

CHILDHOOD EXPERIENCES

PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT

COMPULSIVE DRIVES Both normal and neurotic individuals experience the same problems, the only difference is the degree.

Neurotic people cannot change their behavior by free will but must continually and compulsively protect themselves against anxiety.

In facing problems, normal individuals are able to use a variety of defensive maneuvers in a useful way. On the other hand, neurotics compulsively repeat the same strategy in an unproductive manner.

NEUROTIC NEEDS

1. Neurotic need for affection and approval- Always try to please other people and live up to to their expectations.- Fear self-assertion- Uncomfortable with the hostility of others and within themselves

2. Neurotic need for a powerful partner

- Lack of Self-confidence

- Fear of being alone or deserted

- Overvaluation of love

are the 10 classified defenses in attempt to combat basic anxiety.

3. Neurotic need to restrict one’s life within narrow borders• Dread making demands on others• Tendency to degrade one’s abilities• They try to remain discreet

4. Neurotic need for power• Two greatest neurotic nees: Power and Affection• Need for power is combined with the need for prestige and

possession.• The need to control others and avoid feelings of weakness

or stupidity.

5. Neurotic need to exploit others• Fear of being exploited• They tend to evaluate others on how they can be exploited.

6. Neurotic need for social recognition or prestigeThey want to be:• Famous• The First• Center of attention• IMPORTANT

7. Neurotic need for personal admiration• To be admired for what they are rather than for what they

have.• Continually fed with compliments and approval

8. Neurotic need for ambition and personal achievement• Strong drive to be “The Best!”• Superiority to other people

9. Neurotic need for self-efficiency and independenceHas the strong need to move away from people

10. Neurotic need for perfection and unassailability• Fear of making mistakes• Desperately hide their weaknesses from others• Dread of having personal flaws

Horney’s term for the three basic attitude towards self and others. The general category of all the her neurotic needs.

NEU

RO

TIC

TR

EN

DS

I. Moving Toward People

II. Moving Against People

III. Moving Away From People

NORMAL ATTITUDE NEUROTIC ATTITUDE

Conscious of their strategies toward other people.

Free to choose actions

Experience mild conflict

Has variety of strategies to choose from

Unaware of their basic attitude

Forced to act Experience severe

and insoluble conflict

Limited to a single trend

MOVING TOWARD PEOPLE“Compliant People”

It refers to a neurotic need to protect oneself against feelings of helplessness.

They engage in either or both of the first two neurotic needs. That is, the need for affection and approval and the need for a powerful partner.

referred by Horney as “morbid dependency” that anticipates the term “codependency”(1937)

Also called by Horney as a philosophy of life

People who use this trend tend to appear in a posture of submissiveness and dependence.

willing to subordinate themselves to others

to see others as more intelligent or attractive than them

to rate themselves according to what others think of them

to assume that everyone is nice

MOVING TOWARD PEOPLE

Likely to see themselves as: Loving

Generous

Unselfish

Humble

Sensitive to other people’s feelings.

MOVING AGAINST PEOPLE“Aggressive People”

They take for granted that everyone is hostile- that everyone is a potential enemy.

They move against others by being rough or ruthless.

They don’t find pleasure or enjoyment in doing things. Their basic motivation is for power, prestige and personal ambition.

Five of the 10 neurotic needs are applicable here:

- to be powerful

- to exploit others

- to receive recognition and prestige

- to be admired

- to achieve

MOVING AGAINST PEOPLE

Seldom admit mistakes.

Compulsively driven to appear perfect, powerful and superior.

Use others as a protection against real or imagined hostility

Moving Toward People

Moving

Against from People

BOTH NEED OTHE

R PEOPL

E

IN SUMMARY:

MOVING AWAY FROM PEOPLE“ The Loner/ Detached"

To solve basic conflict of isolation. It is an expression of needs for privacy,

independence, and self-sufficiency. Putting emotional distance between

themselves and other people. They prefer that their hidden greatness be

recognized with out exerting any effort. They value freedom and self-sufficiency and

often appear to be aloof and unapproachable.

MOVING AWAY FROM PEOPLE

They frequently build a world of their own.

Refuse to allow anyone to get close to them.

Their greatest fear is to need other people.

SELF

TH

EO

RY

Intrapsychic

Conflicts

I. Idealized Self-Image

1. NEUROTIC CLAIMS

2. Neurotic Search for Glory

3. NEUROTIC PRIDE

II. Self-Hatred

FEM

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PS

YC

HO

LO

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PS

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HO

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CAN NEUROTICISM EVER BE A GOOD THING?

RELATED

R

ES

EA

RC

H

YES!

Successful

MOOD

Neuroticism

Recognition of threats

(Robinson et al., 2007)

They are constantly drawn toward avoidance of goals and dealing with anxiety most of the time.

It also shows that there is something in our personality that is in our control. Thus, having neuroticism in a positive thing.

They discovered that those who are prediposed toward being neurotic, their ability to read adaptively to errors while assessing threat was related to experiencing less negative mood in daily life. (Robinson et al., 2007)

Neurotic sensitivity to threat would serve a purpose in that such people could recognize problems, and presumably avoid them, and that successful avoidance would make them feel better.

CO

NC

EP

T

OF

HU

MA

NIT

Y The prime difference between a healthy person and a neurotic individual is the degree of compulsivity with which each moves toward, against or away from people.

Horney’s view of human personality is deterministic. However, a healthy person would have a large element of free choice.

People possess inherent curative powers that lead them toward self-realization.

On the dimension of causality versus teleology, Horney proposed that the natural goal for people is to achive self-realization, but she also believed that childhood experiences can block that movement.

In conscious versus unconscious motivation, Horney believed that most of the people have only limited awareness of their motives.

Her concept of personality strongly emphasized social influences more than biological ones. Horney’s theories tends to highlight similarities among people more than uniqueness. The three basic types of neurotics are “the helpless”, “the hostile”, and the “detached”.