Psychoanalytic Social

Theory
Karen Horney
Karen Horney, née Karen Danielsen, (born
September 16, 1885, Blankenese, near Hamburg,
Germany—died December 4, 1952, New York, New
York, U.S.), German-born American psychoanalyst
who, departing from some of the basic principles
of Sigmund Freud, suggested an environmental and
social basis for the personality and its disorders.
 Key Terms
Founded Feminist psychology

Disagreed with Freud’s Penis envy

Neo-Freudian

Neurotic

Basic Anxiety/ Basic Hostility

Horney and Freud Compared
Horney criticized Freudian theory on at least three accounts: (1) its rigidity toward new
ideas, (2) its skewed view of feminine psychology, and (3) its overemphasis on biology
and the pleasure principle.
Her Theory
The Impact of Culture
Horney insisted that modern culture is too competitive
and that competition leads to hostility and feelings of
isolation. These conditions lead to exaggerated needs
for affection and cause people to overvalue love.
Her Theory
The Importance of Childhood Experiences
Neurotic conflict stems largely from childhood
traumas, most of which are traced to a lack of genuine
love.
Children who do not receive genuine affection feel
threatened and adopt rigid behavioral patterns in an
attempt to gain love.
Basic Hostility and Basic Anxiety

All children need feelings of safety and

security, but these can be gained only by love
from parents. Unfortunately, parents often
neglect, dominate, reject, or overindulge
their children, conditions that lead to the
child's feelings of basic hostility toward
parents.
If children repress feelings of basic hostility,
they will develop feelings of insecurity and a
pervasive sense of apprehension called basic
anxiety.
People can protect themselves from basic
anxiety through a number of protective devices,
including
• affection
• submissiveness
• power, prestige, or possession
• withdrawal
Normal people have the flexibility to use any or
all of these approaches, but neurotics are
compelled to rely rigidly on only one.
Neurotic Needs

1. The neurotic need for affection and approval, the indiscriminate

need to please others and be liked by them.
2. The neurotic need for a partner, for someone who will take over
one's life.
3. The neurotic need to restrict one's life to narrow borders, to be
undemanding, satisfied with little, to be inconspicuous.
4. The neurotic need for power, for control over others, for a facade
of omnipotence.
5. The neurotic need to exploit others and get the better of them.
Neurotic Needs

6. The neurotic need for social recognition or prestige.

7. The neurotic need for personal admiration.
8. The neurotic need for personal achievement.
9. The neurotic need for self-sufficiency and independence.
10. The neurotic need for perfection and unassailability.
 Neurotic Trends
As her theory evolved, Horney began to see that the list of 10 neurotic needs could be
grouped into three general categories, each relating to a person’s basic attitude toward
self and others. In 1945, she identified the three basic attitudes, or neurotic trends, as:

• Moving toward people

• Moving against people
• Moving away from people
"I should be sweet, self- "I should be powerful, "I should be independent,
sacrificing, saintly." recognized, a winner." aloof, perfect."
 Neurotic Trends

There are, of course, important differences between normal and neurotic attitudes.
• normal people are mostly or completely conscious of their strategies toward other
people, neurotics are unaware of their basic attitude;
• normal people are free to choose their actions, neurotics are forced to act;
• normal people experience mild conflict, neurotics experience severe and insoluble
conflict;
• normal people can choose from a variety of strategies, neurotics are limited to a
single trend.
 Neurotic Trends
People can use each of the neurotic trends to solve basic conflict, but unfortunately,
these solutions are essentially nonproductive or neurotic. Horney used the term basic
conflict because very young children are driven in all three directions—toward, against,
and away from people.

Some children move toward people by behaving in a compliant manner as a protection

against feelings of helplessness; other children move against people with acts of
aggression in order to circumvent the hostility of others; and still other children move
away from people by adopting a detached manner, thus alleviating feelings of isolation.
 Intrapsychic Conflicts

People also experience inner tensions or intrapsychic

conflicts that become part of their belief system and
take on a life of their own, separate from the
interpersonal conflicts that created them.
 Intrapsychic Conflicts
• A. The Idealized Self-Image
People who do not receive love and affection during childhood are blocked in
their attempt to acquire a stable sense of identity. Horney recognized three
aspects of the idealized self-image:
(1) the neurotic search for glory, or a comprehensive drive toward actualizing the
ideal self
(2) neurotic claims, or a belief that they are entitled to special privileges
(3) neurotic pride, or a false pride based not on reality but on a distorted and
idealized view of self
 Intrapsychic Conflicts
B. Self-Hatred
Neurotics dislike themselves because reality always falls short of their idealized
view of self. Therefore, they learn self-hatred, which can be expressed as:
1.relentless demands on the self
2.merciless self-accusation
3.self-contempt
4.self-frustration,
5.self-torment or self-torture
6.self-destructive actions and impulses
 Feminine Psychology
• Psychic differences between men and women are not the result of anatomy
but rather of cultural and social expectations.
• Although Horney recognized the existence of the Oedipus complex, she
insisted that it was due to certain environmental conditions and not to
biology.
• Horney found the concept of penis envy even less tenable. She contended
that here is no more anatomical reason why girls should be envious of the
penis than boys should desire a breast or a womb. In fact, boys sometimes
do express a desire to have a baby, but this desire is not the result of a
universal male “womb envy”.
• Horney agreed with Adler that many women possess a masculine protest;
that is, they have a pathological belief that men are superior to women.
This perception easily leads to the neurotic desire to be a man. The desire,
however, is not an expression of penis envy but rather “a wish for all those
qualities or privileges which in our culture are regarded as masculine”.
Critiques
Her theory falls short on its power both to generate research and to submit to
the criterion of falsifiability. Speculations from the theory do not easily yield
testable hypotheses and therefore lack both verifiability and falsifiability.
High on its ability to organize knowledge of neurotics but very low on its capacity
to explain what is known about people in general.
As a guide to action, Horney’s theory fares somewhat better. Teachers,
therapists, and especially parents can use her assumptions concerning the
development of neurotic trends.
Inconsistencies with the usage of terms render her entire work somewhat
inconsistent, but again, her final theory is a model of lucidity and consistency.
Another criterion of a useful theory is parsimony, and Horney’s final theory,
would receive a high mark on this standard. This chapter, which provides a useful
and concise introduction to Horney’s theory of neurotic development, is
relatively simple, straightforward, and clearly written.
Activity 1 - Midterm
A Woman Who Inspires Me
Choose a woman that you know or learned of that you think has a
significant impact on your life or belief and complete the
worksheet.
1. Draw a picture of her on the box provided (do not use photo)
2. List down 3 words that best describe her
3. In not less than 5 sentences, express how she inspires you or
what makes her awesome