Karen Horney - Psychoanalytic Social Theory

Psychoanalytic Social Theory Main ideas

Social and Cultural conditions During Childhood shape personality, needs for love, affection, and structure must be met by parents

Basic Hostility and Anxiety

First reaction to parental indifference is anger and hostility which is repressed because of the power struggle, continued indifference and mistreatment lead to basic anxiety of isolation helplessness and abandonment

Culture and Needs Contradictions

contractions and messaging shape personality as neurotic or healthy. ex: society stressed the importance of kinship and humility but also promoting the rive to win/be superior;

preventing neurotic personality in light of societal contradictions

receiving love and affection

Protection Against Basic Anxiety

Affection, Submission, Power, Withdrawal

What is Neurosis

an attempt to make life bearable through irrational defenses against anxiety which become permanent parts of personality and affect behavior

the ten Neurotic needs

affection and approval, partner, narrow borders, power, exploiting others, social recognition and prestige, personal admiration, ambition and personal achievement, self-sufficiency and independence, perfection and unassailability

Neurotic Trends

Basic Hostility leads to basic anxiety, leads to either normal (spontaneous) or neurotic (compulsive) denfenses

neurotic moving toward people

compliant - employ affection/approval and need for partner, seek affection from all as mean to determine worth, morbid codependence and willing to be submissive

Neurotic Moving Against People

Aggressive - employs desire for power recognition prestige admiration achievement, prompted by basic anxiety to be tough and ruthless, motivated to exploit others, dont admit to mistakes

Neurotic Moving Away from people

Detached - employs needs for privacy, independence, and self sufficiency, desire for isolation makes them believe they are perfect beyond criticism, they hate competition and want to be acknowledge as great effortlessly

The Self

core of being, having a accurate idea of who you are = healthy

Intrapsychic processes

original from interpersonal experiences, but develop a life of their own as they become part of a person’s belief system separate from the interpersonal conflicts that they arose from; idealized or hated self image

Aspects of Idealized Image

Neurotic glory: self idealization, need for perfection, neurotic ambition, vindictive triumph; neurotic claims of special privilege unreasonable

Aspects of Self Hatred

Relentless demands on self = tyranny of the should, merciless self accusation, self-contempt, self-frustration, self-torment, self-destructive actions and impulses

Feminine Psychology

Psychological differences between men an women are a result of culture and society, not biology

Oedipal Complex

stems from basic anxiety and neurotic need for love and is therefore not universal; there is no womb envy, no penis envy although there is masculine protest

Methods of Psychotherapy

built on self analysis through dream interpretation and free association to recognize true intentions and feelingsC

critique of Horneye

strong contributions on neuroses, but theory built on clinical experiences for not generalizable, some issues with falsifiability