Chapter 5: Karen Horney: Neurotic Needs and Trends.

 Her speculations that there is something wrong  Securing Affection and love – There are several
Karen Horney – her father was a religious hypocrite with this theory where it only focuses on human ways by which they may gain affections such as
- She has uneasy Childhood experience instincts. doing whatever the other person wants, trying to
- Youngest among the siblings  She objected on Freud’s ideas on Feminine bribe others or threatening other into providing the
- She was the first woman who studied Psychology “where women are a Penis envy.” desired affection.
medicine in Germany. The Impact of Culture  Being Submissive – To avoid doing anything that
- was a German Psychoanalyst who practiced in - Modern culture, she contended, is based on might antagonize others.
united states during her late career. She was among competition among individuals.  Attaining Power – It can compensate for
Freud’s Early students. She was an another - Competitiveness and the basic hostility it spawns a helplessness and achieve security through success
Defector from the orthodox Freudian Point of View. result in feelings of isolation. or through a sense of superiority.
Where she began to dispute Freud’s psychological - These feelings of being alone in a potentially  Withdrawing- It achieves independence with
portrayal of women. hostile world lead to intensified needs for affection, regard to internal or psychological needs by
- Where she argues that Freud’s Psychoanalysis was which, in turn, cause people to overvalue love. becoming aloof from others, no longer seeking them
focused on men’s development rather than women’s The Importance of Childhood Experience out to satisfy emotional needs.
- To Counter Freud’s contention were women are - It is a variety of traumatic events, such as sexual Compulsive Drives
driven by penis Envy, where she proposed that men abuse, beatings, open rejection or pervasive neglect, - Whereas normal individuals are able to use a variety
are envious of women’s ability to give birth. may leave their impressions on a child’s future of defensive maneuvers in a somewhat useful way,
- Where she quoted “I know just as many men with development. But Horney Insisted that these neurotics compulsively repeat the same strategy in
womb envy as women with penis envy”. debilitating experiences can almost invariably be an essentially unproductive manner.
Psychoanalytic Social Theory – it was built on the traced to lack of genuine warmth and affection. - This defensive strategy traps them in a vicious
Assumption that Social and Cultural conditions, Especially circle in which their compulsive needs to reduce
Childhood experiences are largely responsible for shaping Basic Anxiety and Basic Hostility: The Foundation of basic anxiety lead to behaviors that perpetuate low
personality. People who do not have their needs for love Neurosis self – esteem, generalized hostility, inappropriate
and affection satisfied during childhood developed basic Basic Anxiety – A pervasive feeling of loneliness and striving for power, inflated feelings of superiority,
hostility towards their parents and a consequence, suffer helplessness and the foundation of neurosis. and persistent apprehension, all of which result in
from basic anxiety. - Which later neuroses develop and it is inseparably more basic anxiety.
tied to feelings of Hostility, helplessness and fear. Neurotic Needs and Trends
HORNEY AND FREUD COMPARED Where How we express basic Anxiety feeling is Neurotic Needs – Ten irrational defenses against anxiety
 She figured out that Freud’s views on similar for all of us. that become a permanent part of personality and that affect
Psychoanalysis theory were strict that could lead to Basic Hostility - If parents do not satisfy the child’s needs behavior.
an orthodox psychoanalysis (Where it could lead for safety and satisfaction, the child develops feelings
into a Religion or a Cult). towards the parents. The 10 Neurotic Needs are as follows:
In Childhood we try to protect ourselves against 1. Affection and Approval
basic anxiety in four ways:
2. A dominant partner  Detached Personality – it is a behavior and 3. Neurotic Pride – is a false pride based not on a
3. Power Attitude associated with the trend of moving away realistic view of the true self but on a spurious
4. Exploitation from people, such as an intense need for privacy. image of the idealized self.
5. Prestige The Dominant Neurotic trend Self – Hatred – Relentless demands on the self,
6. Admiration - It is the one who determines the person’s behaviors which are exemplified by the “tyranny of the
7. Achievement or Ambition and attitudes toward others. should.”
8. Self – Sufficiency Conflict - It is defined as the basic Tyranny of the shoulds
9. Perfection incompatibility of 3 neurotic trends. - An attempt to realize an unattainable idealized self
10. Narrow Limits to life  Conflict is the core of neurosis. – image by denying the true self and behaving in
- These 10 neurotic need it encompasses the ways of Intrapsychic Conflict terms of what we think we should be doing.
protecting ourselves against anxiety. - As her theory evolved, she began to place greater o Externalization – a way to defend against
The Neurotic Trends - has 3 categories of emphasis on the inner conflicts that both normal the conflict caused by the discrepancy
directional Movement individuals experience. between an idealized and a real self – image
- Where the Neurotic trends evolved and elaborate on - Intrapsychic processes originated from interpersonal by projecting the conflict onto the outside
the self – protective mechanisms, so we can see the experiences: but they become part of a person’s world.
similarities with our earlier description. belief system, they develop a life of their own – an Feminine Psychology
The neurotic Trends are: existence separate from interpersonal conflicts that - To Horney, a revision of psychoanalysis to
o Movement toward other people. [The gave them life. encompass the psychological conflicts inherent in
Compliant Personality] The Idealized Self – Image the traditional ideal of womanhood and women’s
o Movement against other people. [ The - For Normal People, the self –image is an idealized roles.
Aggressive Personality] picture of oneself built on a flexible, realistic Womb Envy - The Envy a male feel toward a female
o Movement away from other people. [ The assessment of one’s abilities. For Neurotics, the self because she can bear children and he cannot. Womb
Detached Personality] –image is based on an inflexible, unrealistic self – envy was Horney’s response to Freud’s Concept of
 Compliant Personality - It is a behaviors and appraisal. penis envy in Females.
attitudes associated with the neurotic trend of 3 aspects of the idealized Image: - Where Horney’s Disputes Freud’s views on the
moving forward such as a need for affection and 1. Neurotic search for Glory – referred to this accepted sex stereotypes of men and women.
approval. comprehensive drive The Flight from Womanhood
 Aggressive Personality – It is a behavior and toward actualizing the ideal self - As a result of these feelings of Inferiority, women
attitude associated with the neurotic trend of 2. Neurotic Claims – They believed that something is may choose to deny their femininity and to wish,
moving against people such as a domineering and wrong with the outside world, they proclaim that unconsciously, that they were men. It is a condition
controlling manner. they are special and therefore entitled to be treated that can lead to sexual inhibitions.
in accordance with their idealized view of The Oedipus Complex
themselves.
- Horney disagreed with Freud about the nature of the
Oedipus complex. Where Horney did not deny the
existence of conflicts between children and parents
but she did not believe they had a sexual origin.
Motherhood or Career?
- Horney expressed concern about the psychological
conflicts in defining women’s roles, contrasting the
traditional ideal of womanhood with a more modern
view.
- In the traditional scheme, promoted and endorsed
by most men, the women’s roles were to love,
admire and server her man.