karen horney

Karen Horney

Psychoanalytic Social Theory and Feminine Psychology

Hamburg, Germany on Sept. 16 1885

Karen Horney was born in (place and date)

New York City

Karen Horney dies in

University of Berlin

Karen Horney received medical training in the

Karl Abraham and Hans Sachs

She was analyzed by — , two prominent analysts in Europe at the time

Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis and the American Institute of Psychoanalysis

Karen Horney founded the —

Creative’s Ego

• Horney’s primary theoretical concept

• the feeling a child has of being isolated and helpless in a potentially hostile world

• caused by Basic Evil

• domination

• indifference

• erratic behavior

• injustice

• discrimination

• lack of warmth

creative ego is typically manifested through the following:

basic evil

provokes basic hostility from child, which develops basic anxiety in the child

1. i have to repress my hostility because i need you

2. i have to repress my hostility because i’m afraid of you

3. i have to repress my hostility for fear of losing you

three strategies of the child

basic anxiety

the feeling a child has of being isolated and helpless in a potentially hostile world

1. moving toward people

2. moving away from people

3. moving against people

three solutions (primary adjustment techniques)

moving toward people

• compliance or self-effacing solution

• “if you love me, you wont hurt me”

• shows Helplessness

moving away from people

• withdrawal or resignation solution

• “if i withdraw, nothing can hurt me”

• shows isolation

moving against people

• aggression or expansive solution

• “if i have power, no one can hurt me”

• shows hostility

alienation

• this is when one is not in touch with one’s real self

• it is the consequences of the child’s attempt to cope with basic anxiety

1. blind spots/compartments

2. rationalization

3. cynicism

4. excessive self control

5. externalizing inner conflicts

auxiliary approaches in neurosis (secondary adjustment techniques)

blind spots/compartments

this is the process when they refuse to see the discrepancy between their behavior and their idealized self

rationalization

this is the giving of excuses for one’s shortcomings and flaws

cynicism

this is negative thinking and the lack of belief in the goodness of people and things

externalizing inner conflicts

this is the seeing one’s flaws in other people and things

1. optimism-positivism principle

2. society-culture principle

3. character-structure principle

4. complementation-conflict principle

5. self-analysis principle

6. self-concept principle

six principle of karen horney’s theory

optimism-positivism principle

this principle asserts that people have the capacity to change; personality is not permanent

society-culture principle

this principle claims that personality is a product of interaction with other people

character-structure principle

• this principle asserts that people create a structure character which may be changed

• instead of prescribing how an individual should behave, it sets the limits within which one has a free choice on how to behave

complementation-conflict principle

this refers to the major and minor adjustment techniques discussed above

self-analysis principle

this principle asserts that people have the capacity to analyze their own defects; they have the basic skills to solve many but not all their problems

self-concept principle

• awareness of oneself as a human being

• importance of oneself in the roles of life

• distinguishes the person’s self from all the other selves around