Karen Horney

By: AshLee Knapp Educational Technology April 9, 2008

Who is Karen Horney?Born September 16, 1885 Died December 4, 1952 German Freudian psychoanalyst Specialized in sexuality Graduated from University of Berlin in 1913 as a medical student Taught psychoanalysis at University of Berlin and New York Medical College Founded a journal, American Journal of Psychoanalysis

What is Karen famous for?Karen is well known for her Theory of Neurosis, including compliance, aggression, detachment and mature theory. She is also well known for her neoFreudianism and theory of the self. Karen is also very well known for her feminism psychology.

What does this mean for education?Karen made major impacts for woman in the world of psychology. She pioneered and governed feminine psychology that changed the way people thought about woman. Karen brought a better understanding to feminine trends and womans view on life. She often challenged what Sigmund Freud taught. Karen is also the first woman to write self help books on marriage and child rearing.

How does this effect teaching?Most theorists at this time believed that abuse and neglect as a child provides a direct link to neurosis in adult hood. Karen thought this idea was absurd. Karen named parental indifference as the culprit. In education, this bring a new light onto our students. By realizing that a student is not doomed because of his/her parents, it better enables teachers to understand students and to assist them. The more teachers understand, the better they can help their students learn and grow.

My own experience

Being a daughter and a mother, reading Karen Horneys work brings insight into my life and into my daughters life. Karen stressed self-awareness. My daughters biological father is not around and I found it very interesting to read about how this may or may not affect my daughters life, according to Horney. By applying her ideas I have found more ways to help myself and my daughter become better, stronger, richer human beings. If I can apply Karen Horneys findings to my life to improve my daughters life, I will do absolutely anything!

References(N/A). (2008). Karen Horney. Retrieved from the WWW on April 8, 2008 from http://www.webster.edu/~woolflm/horney.html Horney, K. (1942). The collected works of Karen Horney (volume II). New York: W.W. Norton Company.