Karen Horney

Biography

Born “Karen Danielson” in Hamburg, Germany, in 1885Father was a stern, authoritarian sea captain (age 50 when she was born)Mother was a sophisticated, attractive woman named Clotilde, who was 18 years youngerHad a son Berndt and finally Karen, who was the youngest in a family of stepsiblings.Did not have a good bond with father but was close to mother.

Biography cont.

Decided to become a physician because she knew she wasn’t pretty and decided she needed to compensate by being intelligent.Married Oskar Horney, a political science student, and had three daughters.Struggled with depression throughout life and had several affairs.Family went bankrupt in 1923, and both Karen and Oskar fell into a deep depression. They separated in 1926 and divorced in 1939.

Psychoanalytic Social Theory

Horney believed, as Adler did, that a child’s discovery of his own helplessness and ensuing struggle for individuality and control molds much of the self.Believed strongly in the importance of self-realization and growth of each individuals.Like Adler, she was focused on the social world and viewed disturbed interpersonal conflicts as the core of both healthy and unhealthy (neurotic) development.

Women's feelings of inferiority

Disagreed with Freud’s notion of penis envy as the source of women’s feelings of inferiorityIt is women’s treatment in society and overemphasis on the woman’s need to secure the love of a man that causes feelings of inferiority.Women desire “masculine” things in order to gain power; they want the autonomy and control associated with maleness (not a penis itself…just the power associated with it).

Basic anxietyParental indifference—the basic evil—is the root cause of basic anxiety, which is the child’s fear of being alone, helpless, and insecure arising from lack of warmth, stability, respect, and involvement of parents. Children feel powerless and must repress any basic hostility toward the powerful adults in their world. Agreed with Freud that unconscious, irrational motives that develop in childhood drive people, but she thought that these motives arise from social conflicts within the family and within society.Basic anxiety can turn both outward toward everyone and inward toward self. Neurosis results.

Aspects of the Self

Despised Self—results when basic anxiety and hostility towards parents turns inward toward selfIdeal Self—created in the attempt to restructure the despised self. “Tyranny of the Should”Real Self—the inner core of personality that we perceive about ourselves, including our potential for self-realization.

The Despised Self

Consists of feelings of inferiority and shortcomingsOften based on others’ negative evaluations of us and our resulting feelings of helplessnessCreates relentless demands on self Merciless self-accusationSelf-contempt Self-frustrationSelf-torment Self-destructive actions & impulses

The Ideal Self

What one views as perfection and hopes to achieveMolded by perceived inadequaciesTyranny of the should—the litany of things we should’ve done differently and which we torment ourselvesThe composite of all of our “shoulds”Drive toward actualizing the ideal self is called the neurotic search for glory.

Neurotic Search for Glory

Manifests itself in 3 ways:Need for perfection (attempt to mold whole personality into the ideal self)Neurotic ambition (compulsive drive toward superiority; desire to excel at everything, often channeled into area in which one is most likely to succeed)Drive toward a vindictive triumph (“its chief aim is to put others to shame or defeat them through one’s very success; or to attain the power…to inflict suffering on them—mostly of a humiliating kind”)

Most destructive of the three

Goal of Psychoanalysis

NOT to help someone achieve his or her real self but to accept the Real Self.

Real self is the true core of one’s being.It contains all the potential of growth and health (possible self)It’s damaged by parental indifference.The alienation from this and adoption of the idealized self is called the core neurotic conflict.Someone who is alienated from her real self becomes neurotic and develops an interpersonal coping strategy to “solve” this conflict.

Neurotic Coping Strategies

People develop one of three basic styles:Moving Toward people: Compliant PersonalityMoving Against People: Aggressive PersonalityMoving Away from people: Detached Personality

"Moving Toward"Horney called this “self-effacing solution”Qualities of martyrdom, helplessness, & sufferingAlways attempting to make others happyAlways trying to gain love and secure affection and approval from othersOveridentification with Despised Self; Ideal Self is the Despised SelfThey try to disguise what they believe to be true of themselves in order to get others to love themMay mask a need to compete, excel or dominateMay mask feelings of rage, anger, and hostility.

Moving AgainstThe “expansive solution”—the ultimate attempt to actualize the ideal selfStriving for power, recognition, and admiration of others to protect against feelings of helplessnessOveridentification with Ideal SelfSimilar to superiority complex—believe that everything they wished they were is really who they are, and they’re trying to get others to see that so they can reaffirm it for themselves.Success and prestige are measures of self-worth.Driven by anxiety, hostility, and insecurity.

Moving AwayThe solution of resignation—resigned to emotionally flat lifeWithdrawal of any emotional investment from interpersonal relationships to avoid being hurtWant to overcome the Despised Self but feel incapable of ever becoming the Ideal SelfSee themselves as unworthy of love and attention from others but feel unable to achieve anything greater.Causes them to hide behind independence and solitude; intense need for self-sufficiency and perfection.

Combination of Strategies

Horney thought that psychologically healthy people are a mixture of all three of these self-protective approaches.For neurotics, a single type will dominate, though the other two will remain influential in the unconscious.The focus on a single coping strategy is known as the neurotic trend—a predominant strategy by which a neurotic person defends against anxiety.

Summary

Helped move psychoanalytic theory away from the purely biological, anatomical, and individualistic emphasesEmphasized the importance of a warm, stable family and the larger impact of society and culture; influenced child-rearing practices even todayRejected that women are weak & submissiveEmphasized the distress of the “tyranny of the shoulds” and insisted people could overcome their unconscious demons.

Types of Neurotic Trends

Creation of blind spotsType of denialRefusal to see discrepancy between behaviors and idealized self

CompartmentalizationLife compartmentalized with different rules for eachWhat happens in one has no effect or link to anotherSituational ethics

More Neurotic Trends

RationalizationUsing logical, plausible, but inaccurate excuses to justify one’s perceived weaknesses, failures, or inconsistencies

Excessive self-controlAvoidance of emotions (good or bad)

Arbitrary rightnessBecause of difficulty in taking action, will appear to arbitrarily make decisions (showing one is arbitrarily right or in charge)Dogmatism

And more neurotic trends

ElusivenessPostpones making any decisions or voicing opinionsIf I’m not committed to anything, then I can’t be wrong. If I’m not wrong, I can’t be criticized.

CynicismDoesn’t believe in anythingBy not believing in anything, I am immune to the disappointment of being committed to something shown to be false.

Horney's Ten Neurotic NeedsMoving Toward Moving Against Moving Away

1. Affection and approval

2. A domineering partner

3. Power

4. Exploitation

5. Recognition and Prestige

6. Admiration

7. Ambition and achievement

8. Self-sufficiency

9. Perfection

10. Narrow limits