BA Behavioral Sciences

Retiban, Princess Joy Ann B. Rubio, Katrina Cyrille

    

Karen Horneys life has several parallels with the life of Melanie Klein, who is known for the Object Relations Theory. Both of them was born during the 1880s. Youngest child of an old-aged father with his second wife. Each had wanted to become physicians. She died of cancer on December 4, 1952 at the age of 65.

Early Life:

Horney had an unhappy family. She felt great hostility towards his father. On the other hand, she really looks up to her mother. By the time she decided to become a physician, there was no university in Germany who wants to admit women.Later on, that situation changed. She then entered the gymnasium, an institution that would eventually lead him into a proper schooling and eventually to medical school.

Then, Horney become independent for the rest of her life. According to Paris (1994), her independence was mostly superficial. An initian sign of her compulsive need to merge with a great man is her series of relationships. In Germany, Karen Horney is one of the first women who studied medicine. In 1906, she met Oskar Horney. She married him and gave birth to three daughters.

Career:
-Horney was a member of the New York Psychoanalytic Institute. -In her book, New Ways in Psychoanalysis, this calls for abandoning the instinct theory and placing more emphasis on ego and social influences. -She helped form the (AAP) or the Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. Later on was named as Karen Horney Psychoanalytic Instutute. - Karen Horneys important work is the Neurosis and Human Growth

Strict adherence to orthodox psychoanalysis would lead to stagnation in both theoretical thought and therapeutic practice. (Horney, 1937) Horney obected on Freuds idea on feminine pyschology. (Horney, 1939) Man is ruled not by the pleasure principle alone but by two guiding principles: safety and satisfaction (Horney, 1939) Her main issue with Freuds work was not on the accuracy of his observation but on the validity of Freuds interpretations. Horney also claimed that neuroses are not the results of instincts but rather of the persons Attempts to find paths through a wilderness full of unknown dangers. In contrast, her view of humanity is an optimistic one and is centered on cultural forces that are amenable to change. (Horney, 1950)

Horney repeatedly emphasized cultural influences as the primary bases for both neurotic and normal development of personality. Modern culture is based on competition among individuals. Competitiveness and basic hostility bring forth the feelings of isolation.A feeling leads to an intensified needs for affection, which in turn causes people to overvalue love. Genuine Love is a healthy and growth-producing experience. While, the desperate need for love provides a fertile ground for the development of neurosis.

Childhood is the age from which vast majority of problems arise. However, neurotic conflict may arise from almost any stage of development. It is also the primary responsible for personality development.

Neurotic

needs become powerful because they are the childs only means of gaining feelings of safety. said, the sum total of childhood experiences brings about certain character structure, or rather, starts its development
Horney

 Both normal and neurotic individuals experience the same problems, the only difference is the degree. Neurotic people cannot change their behavior by free will but must continually and compulsively protect themselves against anxiety.  In facing problems, normal individuals are able to use a variety of defensive maneuvers in a useful way. On the other hand, neurotics compulsively repeat the same strategy in an unproductive manner.

 are the 10 classified defenses in attempt to combat basic anxiety.

1. Neurotic need for affection and approval - Always try to please other people and live up to to their expectations. - Fear self-assertion - Uncomfortable with the hostility of others and within themselves 2. Neurotic need for a powerful partner

- Lack of Self-confidence - Fear of being alone or deserted - Overvaluation of love

3. Neurotic need to restrict ones life within narrow borders

Dread making demands on others Tendency to degrade one s abilities They try to remain discreet

4. Neurotic need for power

Two greatest neurotic nees: Power and Affection Need for power is combined with the need for prestige and possession. The need to control others and avoid feelings of weakness or stupidity.

5. Neurotic need to exploit others

Fear of being exploited They tend to evaluate others on how they can be exploited.

6. Neurotic need for social recognition or prestige

They want to be: Famous The First Center of attention IMPORTANT

7. Neurotic need for personal admiration

To be admired for what they are rather than for what they have. Continually fed with compliments and approval

8. Neurotic need for ambition and personal achievement

Strong drive to be The Best! Superiority to other people

9. Neurotic need for self-efficiency and independence

xHas the strong need to move away from people

10. Neurotic need for perfection and unassailability

Fear of making mistakes Desperately hide their weaknesses from others Dread of having personal flaws

Horneys term for the three basic attitude towards self and others. The general category of all the her neurotic needs.

I. Moving Toward People II. Moving Against People III. Moving Away From People

NORMAL ATTITUDE
Conscious of their strategies toward other people. Free to choose actions Experience mild conflict Has variety of strategies to choose from

NEUROTIC ATTITUDE
Unaware of their basic attitude Forced to act Experience severe and insoluble conflict Limited to a single trend

Compliant People

It refers to a neurotic need to protect oneself against feelings of helplessness. They engage in either or both of the first two neurotic needs. That is, the need for affection and approval and the need for a powerful partner. referred by Horney as morbid dependency that anticipates the term codependency(1937)

Also called by Horney as a philosophy of life

People who use this trend tend to appear in a posture of submissiveness and dependence. willing to subordinate themselves to others to see others as more intelligent or attractive than them to rate themselves according to what others think of them to assume that everyone is nice

Likely to see themselves as:

Loving
Generous   

Unselfish Humble

Sensitive to other peoples feelings.

Aggressive People

They take for granted that everyone is hostile- that everyone is a potential enemy. They move against others by being rough or ruthless. They dont find pleasure or enjoyment in doing things. Their basic motivation is for power, prestige and personal ambition. Five of the 10 neurotic needs are applicable here: - to be powerful - to exploit others - to receive recognition and prestige - to be admired - to achieve

Seldom admit mistakes.

Compulsively

driven to appear perfect, powerful and superior. others as a protection against real or imagined hostility

Use

IN SUMMARY:

Moving Toward People

BOTH NEED OTHER PEOPLE

Moving Against from People

 The Loner/ Detached"

To solve basic conflict of isolation. It is an expression of needs for privacy, independence, and self-sufficiency. Putting emotional distance between themselves and other people. They prefer that their hidden greatness be recognized with out exerting any effort. They value freedom and self-sufficiency and often appear to be aloof and unapproachable.

They frequently build a world of their own.

Refuse

to allow anyone to get close to them.

Their

greatest fear is to need other people.

1. NEUROTIC CLAIMS

2. Neurotic Search for Glory

3. NEUROTIC PRIDE

Recognition of threats Neuroticism

MOOD

Successful
(Robinson et al., 2007)

Neurotic sensitivity to threat would serve a purpose in that such people could recognize problems, and presumably avoid them, and that successful avoidance would make them feel better. They are constantly drawn toward avoidance of goals and dealing with anxiety most of the time.  It also shows that there is something in our personality that is in our control. Thus, having neuroticism in a positive thing.  They discovered that those who are prediposed toward being neurotic, their ability to read adaptively to errors while assessing threat was related to experiencing less negative mood in daily life. (Robinson et al., 2007)

 The prime difference between a healthy person and a neurotic individual is the degree of compulsivity with which each moves toward, against or away from people.  Horneys view of human personality is deterministic. However, a healthy person would have a large element of free choice.

 People possess inherent curative powers that lead them toward selfrealization. On the dimension of causality versus teleology, Horney proposed that the natural goal for people is to achive self-realization, but she also believed that childhood experiences can block that movement.

 In conscious versus unconscious

motivation, Horney believed that most of the people have only limited awareness of their motives.

 Her concept of personality strongly

emphasized social influences more than biological ones.  Horneys theories tends to highlight similarities among people more than uniqueness. The three basic types of neurotics are the helpless, the hostile, and the detached.