Psychoanalytic Social

Theory
Horney
Karen Horney (1885-1952)
• Born Hamburg
• Entered University of Freiburg in
1906. One of the first women in
Germany admitted to a medical
school, where she specialized in
psychiatry
• Analyzed in 1910 by Karl Abraham,
one of Freud’s close associates
• Moved to New York in 1932
• Increasingly abandoned the
instinct theory in favor of a more
socially oriented theory
• Published Neurosis and Human
Growth in 1950
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…
• Social and cultural conditions are largely responsible for
shaping personality
• Horney’s criticisms of Freud’s Theories
• Strict adherence to psychoanalysis leads to stagnation
(inactivity) in theory and practice
• Objected to Freud’s beliefs about women’s psyche
(feminine psychology). Culture -not anatomy- was
responsible for the psychic differences between men
and women
• Psychoanalysis should move beyond instinct theory and
emphasize the importance of cultural influences in
shaping personality

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The Impact of Culture

• Culture emphasized competition among individuals

• Competitiveness, basic hostility, feeling of isolation,
intensified needs for affection: provide a ground for the
development of neuroses
• Cultural influences serve to influence the nature of
personality development in the manner individuals seek
social security
• Cultural influences, rather than biological ones provide
intrapsychic conflicts

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The Importance of Childhood Experiences

«the sum total of childhood experiences brings about a

certain character structure, or rather, starts its
development»

• Childhood is where the extensive majority of life and

neurotic problems arise
• Lack of genuine warmth and affection
• The nature of the social relationship of the child with the
parent serves to influence the nature of personality in
adulthood
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Basic Concepts
In order for children to develop normally they need to experience
both genuine love and discipline.
Basic hostility
• Arises when parents do not satisfy the child’s needs for safety and
satisfaction
• The sense of hostility children feel towards their parents when they
fail to create a secure environment
Basic anxiety
• Repressed hostility leads to feelings of insecurity and a vague sense of
apprehension
• The sense of restlessness children experience when they are in a
threatening environment
«basic hostility and basic anxiety are inextricably (inseparably) interwoven
(mixed)»

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…
• Horney identified four ways of protecting themselves
against feelings of being alone in a hostile world:
• Affection
• Submissiveness
• Power / Prestige / Possession
• Withdrawal
• These protective devices are not normally a sign of neurosis
but when they become unhealthy (people feel obliged to rely
on them) people employ some strategies.

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Neurosis
• Neurosis «psychic disturbance brought by fears and
defenses against these fears, and by attempts to find
compromise solutions for conflicting tendencies»

• Neurotic individuals repeat the same unproductive strategy

to guard against the rejection, hostility and competitiveness
of others

• Horney identified 10 categories of «Neurotic Needs» that

characterize neurotic individuals to fight against basic
anxiety

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Neurotic needs
• Neurotic needs
• for affection and approval
• for a powerful partner
• to restrict one’s life within narrow borders
• for power
• to exploit (take advantage of) others
• for social recognition or prestige
• for personal admiration
• for ambition and personal achievement
• for self-sufficiency and independence
• for perfection and unassailability (undeniable, indisputable)

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Neurotic Trends
• Neurotic needs can be grouped to three neurotic trends
each relating to a person’s basic attitudes

• Attitudes toward self and others:

• Moving toward people (needs 1 & 2)
• Moving against people (needs 4,5,6,7 & 8)
• Moving away from people (needs 3, 9 & 10)

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• Healthy Use of Flexibility and variation in the use of the strategies
the Strategies as defined by the nature of the situation

• Maladaptive Rigidity in the predominant use of a single strategy

Use of the regardless of the nature of the situation
Strategies

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…
.
Basic hostility

Basic anxiety

Defenses against anxiety

Normal defenses
Neurotic defenses
Spontaneous movement
Compulsive movement
• toward people (friendly)
• toward people (compliant personality)
• against people (survive in a
• against people (aggressive personality)
competitive society)
• away from people (detached personality)
• away from people (autonomous)

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Intrapsychic Conflicts
• Originate from interpersonal experiences

• Two important intrapsychic conflicts

• Idealized self-image: How an individual would like to perceive
himself/herself as being

• Self-hatred (severe dislike): tendency to despise (detest) one’s

real self

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Idealized Self-Image
• Includes Three Aspects
• Neurotic search for glory
• Need for perfection (should’s and should nots)
• Drive toward a vindictive (hateful) triumph: put others to
shame…humiliating others
• Neurotic claims (requests): sense of being privileged
• Neurotic pride: false pride based on false image of
idealized self

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Self-Hatred

• Neurotic individuals dislike themselves because their real

self does not match the insistent demands of their
idealized view of self
• Ways to express self-hatred
• Relentless demands on the self
• Merciless (unforgiven) self-accusation
• Self destructive actions and impulses

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Horney’s Conceptualization of Personality Adjustment
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Feminine Psychology

• A reinterpretation challenging Freud’s views of the female

personality based on the phallic stage and penis envy
• Psychological differences between men and women were due
to cultural and social expectations rather than anatomy
• Freud’s views of women were influenced by the normative
constraints of the cultural time period

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Feminine Psychology
• Feelings of hostility for same-sex parent are based on a
sense of perceived threat to the child’s sense of safety
and security as well as a source of competition
• Recognized the existence of Oedipus complex and said that
it was due to certain environmental conditions and not to
biology
• Penis envy was based on Freud’s contact with his emotionally
troubled female patients
• If “penis envy” existed, “womb envy” would exist as well
• Womb envy emphasized the admiration males have for the
superiority of women due to their ability to give birth

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Feminine Psychology
• Motherhood or career
• Argued that women must seek their identity by developing their
abilities and pursuing careers
• Contradicts traditional roles and creates conflicts in women
• Recognized the impact of social and cultural forces on
personality

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Psychotherapy
• Help patients move toward self-realization
• Have a deeper understanding of their feelings, beliefs, and
wishes
• Relate to others with genuine feelings
• Successful when patients can assume responsibility for
their psychological development
• Take a greater interest in the self-realization process
rather than seeing it as a means to perpetuate a neurotic
search for glory

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