Theories of Personality: Chapter 5 - Life of Karen Horney: Neurotic Trends and Needs

Karen Horney has faced…

family challenges in her life.

Karen Horney was a … in her life.

neglected second born

Horney’s Father was…

religious, domineering, imperious, and morose.

Horney’s Mother was…

attractive, spirited, and freethinking.

Karen Horney envied her brother because…

he was a male.

How does Karen Horney feel about her parents?

she felt rejected.

Karen Horney then became…

successful in her career.

What did Karen Horney do in life?

she began to undergo Freudian psychoanalysis but later turned to self-analysis.

Horney agreed with Freud on the importance of the early years of childhood in shaping the adult personality. Is this True or False?

True

Safety Need

a high level need for security and freedom from fear, ways in which parents undermine a child’s security. It’s obvious preference for a sibling, its unfair punishment and erratic behavior, breaking promises, ridicule, humiliation, and isolation.

Karen Horney viewed Freud’s concept of penis envy as…

a misinterpretation of women’s feelings of inferiority.

Basic Anxiety

a persuasive feeling of loneliness and helplessness, it’s the foundation of neurosis.

Basic Anxiety’s Self-Protective Mechanisms

motivate a person to seek security and reassurance, they are powerful and intense.

Securing Affection

a self-protective mechanisms against anxiety; if you love me, you will not hurt me.

Being Submissive

a self-protective mechanisms against anxiety; complying with the wishes of others.

Attaining Power

a self-protective mechanisms against anxiety; by attaining power, a person can compensate for helplessness.

Withdrawing

a self-protective mechanisms against anxiety; become independent of others.

Neurotic Needs

irrational defenses that became a permanent part of personality.

Neurotic Trends

a revision of neurotic needs, there are categories of behaviors and attitudes towards oneself and others that express a persons needs.

• Moving toward, against, or away from people.

Movement Toward other People

known as the compliment personality, their components needs are affection and approval, and a dominant partner.

Movement Against other People

known as the aggressive personality, their components needs are power, exploitation, prestige, admiration and achievement.

Movement Away from other People

known as the detached personality, their components needs are self-sufficiency, perfection, and narrow limits to life.

The Compliant Personality

a type of personality that displays thoughts, feelings, and behaviors that reflect a desire to move forward other people.

The Aggressive Personality

a type of personality that moves against other people.

The Detached Personality

a type of personality that driven to move away from other people and to maintain an emotional distance.

With those three personalities, with neurosis, one of those three trends is

dominant.

Conflict

is the basic incompatibility of the neurotic trends.

A person experiencing neurosis has…

one dominant trend.

Idealized Self-Image

idealized picture of oneself, self image of a normal person, built on a flexible, realistic assessment of one’s abilities.

Neurotic Self-Image

based on an inflexible and unrealistic self-appraisal, unsatisfactory substitute for self-worth.

Tyranny of the Shoulds

an attempt to realize an unattainable idealized self-image. Involves denial of the true self and behaving in terms of what one thinks they should be doing.

Externalization

way of defending against conflict caused by the discrepancy between an idealized and a real self-image. Projects conflict onto the outside world.

Revision of Psychoanalysis

encompasses psychological conflicts inherent in womanhood and women’s roles.

Womb Envy

male envy toward women due to her capacity for motherhood.

Flight from womanhood

feelings of inferiority lead women to deny their femininity, this causes sexual inhibitions.

Oedipus Complex

Horney removed sex, reinterpreted the situation as a neurotic conflict between dependence and hostility toward parents.

Feminine Psychology

Book by Karen Horney, it views on female psychology and challenges Freudian theories.

Horney Argued that woman must…

seek their identity by developing their abilities and pursuing careers.

It remains as troublesome for some women in the 21st century to…

balance marriage, motherhood, and career.

Horney expressed concern about the psychological conflicts inherent defining…

women’s roles.

Horney’s feminist reaction to Freud

directly challenged Freud’s theories, arguing that his ideas were biased and rooted in male dominated culture that viewed woman as defective.

Free Will

we can all shape our lives and achieve self-realization.

Horney was more … than Freud

optimistic

Horney Highlighted…

the influence of nurture.

Horney’s work focused on

the past and the present.

Horney believed in…

growth and flexibility.

Horney Emphasized…

uniqueness.

Horney noted…

our ability to help resolve our own problems.

The role of society in woman’s inferiority

plays a role with gender roles, cultural norms, patriarchal structures, internalized sexism, and discrimination.

Horney’s Importance of love for children

it is a primarily need for children to develop a healthy personality, this prevents basic anxiety and fostering growth toward their real-self.