TheoriesofPersonalityI
THEPSYCHODYNAMIC THEORIES: Chapter 6
Horney:
Psychoanalytic
SocialTheory
Presentation Prepared By: Bajao , N.,Rubio, A., Sevilla,
C.
Photo From: Horney
©Bettmann/Getty
Images
QUOTEOFTHETHEOR
Y
“Tolearnhowtolistentothedelicatevibrationsofmysoul,tobe
incorruptiblytruetomyselfandfairtoothers,tofindinthiswaytheright
measureofmyownworth.”
Karen Horney’s New Year’s Eve resolution in 1904 at the age of 18 (retrieved from: Adolescent
Diaries of Karen Horney)
Biography
ofKaren Horney
• September 15, 1885 died at December 4, 1952 (65 yrs of age)
• Eilbek, Hamburg, Germany
• Berndt (Wackels) Danielsen (sea captain)
• devoutly religious, but Karen regarded him as religious hypocrite
• earlier marriage - 4 children
• 4 children turned against their father’s 2nd wife (created basic hostility towards
them
• Clothilda van Ronzelen Danielsen (second wife, 18 year-gap with husband)
• Karen regarded her as supportive and protective
• Life at age 16
• Horney’s independence was mostly superficial, she retained a compulsive
need to merge with a great man.
• She had many love affairs, (Oskar Horney, Erich Fromm)
NotableDates
• 1906 - Entered Uni of Freiburg, one of the first women in Germany to study medicine.
Met Oskar Horney
• 1909 - Marriage, Oskar with PhD, Karen with ongoing MD (specialization in psychiatry)
• 1910 - began an analysis with Karl Abraham
• 1915 - Got MD (5 years of psychoanalysis)
• 1917 - written first paper on psychoanalysis, “The Technique of Psychoanalytic Therapy”
• 1923 - Inflation, economic disorder caused Oskar to lose his job. Family was forced to
move back to an apartment in Berlin.
• 1926 - Couple separated
• 1932 - Horney left Germany for a position as associate director of the newly established
Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute.
Notable Dates
continued
• 32-’34 - new acquaintances (Margaret Mead and John Dollard), renewed acquaintances
(Erich Fromm, Frieda Fromm-Reichmann) Erich and Karen become lovers
• 1938 - Couple officially Divorced
• 1939 - her book New Ways in Psychoanalysis (1939) made her the leader of an
opposition group.
• 1941 - resigned from the institute, helped form a rival organization—the Association
for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis
• 1943 - strongest members resigned (including Fromm).
• 1950 - published her most important work, Neurosis and Human Growth
• 1952 - association continued, but under a new name—the Karen Horney Psychoanalytic
Institute. died of cancer on December 4.
OVERVIEW
KarenHorney’sPremisesonPsychoanalyticSocial Theory
ConceptofBasic Anxiety& Basic Hostility
MainFactorsthat Horney’sConcept
People who do not have their needs for love and affection ofNeuroticism
satisfied during childhood develop b
shapepersonality
Horney’s concept of Basic
The psychoanalytic social
Anxiety & Hostility concerned with neurotic perso
theory was built on the
self-image.
assumption that social and
cultural conditions, especially
childhood experiences, are
largely responsible for
shaping personality.
Introduction
Psychoanalytic Social Theory
The early writings of Karen Horney, like those of Adler, Jung, and
Klein, have a distinctive Freudian flavor.
Although Horney wrote nearly exclusively about neuroses and neurotic personalities,
her works suggest much that is appropriate to normal, healthy development. Culture,
especially early childhood experiences, plays a leading role in shaping human
personality, either neurotic or healthy. Horney, then, agreed with Freud that early
childhood traumas are important, but she differed from him in her insistence that
social rather than biological forces are paramount in personality development.
Horneyand
Freud
Compared
• Horney criticized Freud’s theories on 3 several accounts.
• “Man is ruled not by the pleasure principle alone but by two
guiding principles: safety and satisfaction”
• neuroses are not the result of instincts but rather of the person’s
“attempt to find paths through a wilderness full of unknown
dangers” with wilderness created by society and not by instincts
or anatomy.
• Her main quarrel with Freud was not so much the accuracy of his
observations but the validity of his interpretations.
• Freud’s pessimistic concept based on innate instincts and the
stagnation of personality vs Horney’s optimistic one and is
centered on cultural forces that are amenable to change.
TheImpactof
Culture
• Modern culture is based on competition among
individuals. “Everyone is a real or potential competitor
of everyone else”
• Domino Effect: Competitiveness and the basic hostility ->
feelings of isolation -> intensified needs for affection
(overvalue love) -> fertile ground for the development of
neuroses.
• Western society
• Concept of “Utang na Loob”
• Children as Retirement Plans
Importance of
Childhood
Experiences
• A variety of traumatic events, such as sexual abuse,
beatings, open rejection, or pervasive neglect, may leave
their impressions on a child’s future development; but
Horney insisted that these debilitating experiences can
almost invariably be traced to lack of genuine warmth and
affection.
• Horney (1939) hypothesized that a difficult childhood is
primarily responsible for neurotic needs.
• the totality of early relationships molds personality
development. “Later attitudes to others, then, are
not repetitions of infantile ones but emanate from the
character structure, the basis of which is laid in childhood.”
BasicHostility
Horney (1950) believed that each person begins life with the potential for healthy development, but people need
favorable conditions for growth. Unfortunately, a multitude of adverse influences may interfere with these
favorable conditions.
If parents do not satisfy the child’s needs for safety and satisfaction, the child develops feelings of basic hostility
toward the parents.
BasicAnxiety
Horney (1950) defined as “a feeling of being isolated and helpless in a world
conceived as potentially hostile”
This anxiety, according to Horney, originates from various childhood
experiences
Managing
BasicAnxiety
Horney (1937) originally identified
four general ways that people protect
themselves against this feeling of being
alone in a potentially hostile world.
• Affection
• Submissiveness
• Power, Prestige, or Possession
• Withdrawal
Compulsive Drives
NeuroticNeeds
To cope with basic anxiety, individuals develop ten (10) neurotic needs, which are irrational demands
that individuals make on themselves and others.
Horney tentatively identified 10 categories of neurotic needs that characterize neurotics in their
attempts to combatbasic anxiety.
The Neurotic need for: The Neurotic need to:
• affection and approval.
9. restrict one’s life within narrow borders.
• a powerful partner.
10. exploit others.
• power.
• social recognition or prestige.
• personal admiration.
• ambition and personal achievement.
• self-sufficiency and independence.
• perfection and unassailability.
NeuroticTrends
Defensesagainstanxiety
01 02 03
Moving Toward People Moving Against People Moving Away From People
IntrapsychicConflicts
The neurotic trends flow from basic anxiety, which in turn, stems from a child’s
relation with other people.
Has 2 important intrapsychic conflicts: the idealized self-image and self-hatred.
As people build an idealized image of their self, their real self lags farther and
farther behind. of their self, their real self lags farther and farther behind.
TheIdealized Self-Image
•An Idealized Self Image is an attempt to solve
conflicts by painting a godlike picture of • People with Idealized Self Image would bless
oneself. themselves with infinitepowers.
•Early negative influences often impede
• Neuroticsworshipthemselvesindifferentways.
people’s natural tendency toward self-
realization, a situation that leaves them with
feelings of isolation and inferiority.
• Compliant people see them selves as good and saintly;
aggressive people build an idealized image of themselves
• They are alienated with themselves. as strong, heroic, and omnipotent; and detached neurotics
People need desperately to acquire a stable paint theirself-portraitsaswise,self-sufficient,
sense of identity. andindependent.
•They also see themselves as the hero, a • 3 aspects of the idealized image: The neurotic
genius, search for glory,
a saint and a god. neuroticclaimsandneuroticpride.
NEUROTICSEARCHFORGLORY
• As neurotics believe in the reality of their idealized self they incorporate it in every
aspect of their lives-their goals, their self-concept and their relation with others.
• The neurotic search for glory has 3 elements: The need for perfection,
neurotic ambition and the drive towards vindictive triumph.
• The need for perfection refers to the drive to mold the whole personality into the
idealized self.
• In order to achieve perfection neurotics erect complex sets of “should and “should
not” and Horney referred it as Tyranny of Should.
NEUROTICSEARCHFORGLORY
• The second key element of the neurotic search for glory is the Neurotic Ambition.
• Neurotic Ambition is the compulsive drive towards superiority.
• Neurotics have an exaggerated feeling to excel at everything. The channel
their energies into activities that will likely bring success.
• The third key element of the neurotic search for glory is The Drive Towards Vindictive
Triumph.
• The Drive Towards Vindictive Triumph is the most destructive element of all. It
may be disguised as a drive to achieve success but it’s chief aim is to put others in
shame by your own success
Neurotic Claims
• It is the second aspect of the idealized self image.
• In search for glory, neurotics build a fantasy world. A world that is out of sync with
the real world.
• Neurotics believed there is something wrong in the outside world, they proclaim that
they are special and therefore entitled to be treated with their idealized view of
themselves.
Neurotic pride
• The third aspect of an idealized image is neurotic pride.
• Neurotic pride is a false pride that is not based on realistic view of the self but on a
fake image of the idealized self.
• Neurotic pride is different from healthy pride or realistic self-esteem.
• Genuine self-esteem is based on realistic attributes and accomplishments and is
expressed with quiet dignity. Neurotic pride, on the other hand is based on the
idealized image of self an is loudly proclaimed to support a glorified view of one’s
self
SelfHatred
People who has neurotic search for glory can never be happy with themselves
because their true self of can never reach the demands of the idealized image, so
they hate and despise themselves. Horney (1950) recognized six major ways in
which people express self-hatred.
• First, self-hatred may result in relentless demands on the self. It is
exemplified by the Tyranny of Should.
• The second mode of expressing self-hatred is merciless self-accusation.
Neurotics berate or criticize themselves.
• Third, self-hatred may take the form of self-contempt. It is expressed as
belittling, disparaging, doubting, discrediting, and ridiculing oneself. Self-
contempt prevents people to strive for improvement.
• Fourth expression is self-frustration. Horney (1950) distinguished between
healthy self-discipline and neurotic self-frustration. The former involves
postponing or forgoing pleasurable activities in order to achieve reasonable goals
Self-frustration stems from self-hatred and is designed to actualize an inflated
self-image.
• Fifth, self-hatred may be manifested as self-torment, or self-torture. Self
torment exist on other forms of self hatred. But it became separate because the
person’s main intention is to harm themselves. Some people attain
masochistic satisfaction by anguishing over a decision, exaggerating the pain of a
headache, cutting themselves with a knife, starting a fight that they are sure to
lose, or inviting physical abuse.
The sixth and final form of self-hatred is self-destructive actions and impulses,
which may be either physical or psychological, conscious or unconscious, acute or
chronic, carried out in action or enacted only in the imagination.
THEORYANALYSIS&
DISCUSSIONS
CONCEPT OF
PSYCHOTHERAPY HUMANITY
1 3 5
FEMININE 2 CRITIQUE OF 4 RELATED RESEARCH
& KEY TERMS AND
PSYCHOLOGY HORNEY
CONCEPTS
• For Horney, psychic differences of men and women are not the result
of anatomybut rather ofculturalandsocialexpectations.
Horney(1937) insisted that basic anxiety is at the core of men’s
need to subjugate women and women’swishtohumiliate men.
1 • Horney (1939) recognized the existence of the Oedipus complex, she
insisted that it was due to certain environmental conditions and
not to biology. In fact, boys sometimes do express a desire to have a
baby, but this desire is not the resultofauniversal
FEMININE male“penisenvy.”
PSYCHOLOGY
Horney agreed with Adler that many women possess amasculine protest;
that is, they have apathological belief that menare superior towomen.
The desire, however, isnot anexpression of penisenvy but rather “awish
forall thosequalities orprivileges which inourculture areregarded
asmasculine”
The aimsto have patients give up their idealized self-image, relinquish
their neurotic search for glory and accept who they really are.
Self understanding must go beyond information ;it must be accompanied
byan emotional experience. Patients mayunderstand their pride system,
PSYCHOTHERAPY their idealized image , their neurotic search for glory, their self hatred,
their should, their alienation from self and their conflicts.
Dream analysis and free association can beused to determine
2 apatient’s idealized self-image and basic conflicts.
When therapy issuccessful, patients gradually develop confidence intheir
ability to assume responsibility for their psychological development.
3 • Falsifiability isacourseproblem asitisbasedonpsychoanalysis.
• Thetheorydidnotgenerate muchresearch
• Organization of knowledge is almost only limited to neurotics/
abnormal personality
• Itguidesactionbutonlyalittle(neurotic-based theory)
CRITIQUE OF • Highinternal consistency andparsimony.
HORNEY
FREECHOICE or DETERMINISTIC?
OPTIMISTIC or
CONCEPT OF HUMANITY
PESSIMISTIC? CAUSAL or
TELEOLOGICAL?
4
CONSCIOUS or UNCONSCIOUSMOTIVATION?
SOCIAL or BIOLOGICALINFLUENCES?
Developing andValidating aNewMeasure
ofHorney’s Neurotic Trends
• Horney-Coolidge Tridimensional Inventory - measures Horney’s
personality dimensions in strict accordance with her theory, identifying
Compliance (Toward), Aggression (Against), and Detachment (Away) as the
5 primary dimensions, and three
facetsforeachofthosedimensions(Coolidgeetal.,2001).
• FortheCompliancescale,thethreefacetsareAltruism(desiretohelpothers),Needfor
Relationships (strong need/desire to be in a relationship), and Self-Abasement
ED RESEARCH & KEY TERMS AND
(subjugationofownneedstoothers’).
CONCEPTS
• For the Aggression scale, the three facets are Malevolence (malevolent view of
others’
motivations),Power(desiretobeincommand),andStrength(bravery,toughness).
• For the Detachment scale, the three facets are Need for Aloneness (preference
for being alone), Avoidance (resistance to personal interactions), and Self-
Sufficiency (enjoymentoflivingindependentlyoffamilyandfriends).
• Horney insisted that socialand culturalinfluences were more important than biological ones.
• Childrenwho lack warmth andaffection fail to meet their needsfor safetyand satisfaction.
• These feelings of isolation and helplessness trigger basic anxiety, or feelings of isolation and helplessness
in a potentially hostile world.
• The inability of people to use different tactics in their relationships with others generates
basic conflict: that is, the incompatible tendenciesto move toward, against, andawayfrom people.
5 • Horney called the tendencies to move toward, against, or awayfrom people the three neurotic
trends.
• Healthy people solve their basic conflict by using all three neurotic trends, whereas neurotics
compulsively
adopt only one of these trends.
• The three neurotic trends (moving toward, against, or away from people) are a combination of 10
ED RESEARCH & KEY TERMS ANDneurotic
CONCEPTS needs that Horney hadearlier identified.
• Both healthy and neurotic people experience intrapsychic conflicts that have become part of their
belief system. The two major intrapsychic conflicts are the idealizedself-image and self-hatred.
• The idealizedself-image results in neurotics’ attempts to build a godlike picture of themselves.
• Self-hatred is the tendency for neurotics to hate and despise their real self.
• Any psychological differences between men and women are due to cultural and social expectations
and not to biology.
• The goal of Horneyian psychotherapy is to bring aboutgrowth toward actualizationof the real self.
Thank
youvery
much!
