Horney: Psychoanalytic Social Theory Flashcards
Assumption that social and cultural conditions, Especially childhood experiences, are largely responsible for sharing personality.
largely responsible for shaping personality
social and cultural conditions
Childhood experiences
expressed as either self contempt or alienation from self
self hatred
resulted from basic anxiety caused by interpersonal relationships.
Neurosis
competitiveness and the basic hostility it spawns result in
feeling of isolation
feeling of being alone in a potentially hostile world leads to
intensified need for affection
is the age from which the vast majority of problem arise
Childhood
are primarily responsible for personality development
childhood experiences
if parents do not satisfy the child needs for safety and satisfaction, the child develop feelings of
Basic hostility
a feeling of being isolated and helpless in a world conceived as potentially hostile.
Basic Anxiety
defense against basic anxiety
Affection
Submissiveness
Striving for power, prestige, and possession
Withdrawal
does not always lead to authentic love
Affection
neurotics may submit themselves either to people or to institutions such as an organizations or a religion.
Submissiveness
defense against a real or imagined hostility of others and takes the form of a tendency to dominate others.
Power
protection against humiliation and is expressed as a tendency to humiliate others.
Prestige
act as a buffer against destitution and poverty and manifest itself as tendency to deprive others.
Possession
developing an independence from others or by becoming emotionally detached from them.
Withdrawal
neurotics attempt indiscriminatory to please others
need for affection and approval
this need includes an overvaluation of love and a dread of being alone or deserted.
need for powerful partner
they downgrade their own abilities and dread making demands on others.
need to restrict one’s life within narrow borders
need to control others and to avoid feelings of weakness or stupidity.
need for power
neurotics frequently evaluate others on the basis of how can be used or exploited
need to exploit others
trying to be first, to be important, or to attraction to themselves
need for social recognition or prestige
neurotics have a need to be admired for what they are, rather than for what they possess.
need for personal admiration
they must defeat other people in order to confirm their superiority.
need for ambition and personal achievement
proving that they can get along without others
need for self-sufficiency and independence
they dread making mistakes and having personal flaws, and they desperately attempt to hide their weaknesses from others.
need for perfection and unassailability
three basic attitudes/neurotic trends
moving toward, against, away from people
it refers to a neurotic need to protect oneself against feeling of helplessness.
Moving toward people
these people move against others by appearing tough or ruthless
Moving against people
this strategy is an expression of needs for privacy, independence, and self-efficiency
moving away from people
Moving toward people includes:
Neurotic need affection and approval
Powerful partner
Restrict one’s life within narrow border
Moving against people includes:
Neurotic need for power
exploit others
social recognition and prestige
personal admiration
ambition and personal achievement
Moving away from people includes:
self-sufficiency and independence
perfection and unassailability
process originate from interpersonal experiences
Intrapsychic
two important intrapsychic conflicts
idealized self image and self hatred
it is an attempt to solve conflicts by painting a godlike picture of one self.
The idealized self image
Is an interrelated yet equally irrational and powerful tendency to despise one’s real self.
Self hatred
three aspect of the idealized image
Neurotic search for glory
Neurotic Claims
Neurotic Pride
referred as the comprehensive drive toward actualizing the ideal self
Neurotic Search for glory
the neurotic search for glory includes three other elements:
The need for perfection
Neurotic Ambition
Drive toward a Vindictive Triumph
refers to the drive to mold the whole personality. (tyranny of the should)
The need for perfection
the compulsive drive toward superiority
Neurotic Ambition
the most destructive element of all. (to put others to shame or defeat them)
Drive toward a Vindictive Triumph
Neurotics build a fantasy world — A world that is out of sync with the real world.
Neurotic Claims
based on idealized image of self and is usually loudly proclaimed in order and support a glorified view of one’s self.
Neurotic Pride
when they realize that their real self does not match the insatiable demands of their idealized self, they will begin to hate and despise themselves.
Self hatred
six major ways people express self hatred:
- Relentless demands on the self
- Merciless self-accusation
- Self-Contempt
- Self-frustration
- Self-torment/torture
- Self-destructive actions and impulses
these people continue to push themselves toward perfection because they believe they should be perfect.
Relentless demands on the self
Neurotics constantly berate themselves.
Merciless self-accusation
prevents people from striving for improvement or achievement
self-contempt
stems from self hatred and is designed to actualize an inflated self image.(postponing or forgoing pleasurale activities in order to achieve reasonable goals)
self-frustration
main intention is to inflict harm or suffering on themselves.
self-torment/torture
which may be either physical or psychological, conscious or unconscious, acute or chronic, carried out in action or enacted only in the imagination. (Overeating, working too hard, suicide, quitting a job just when it begins to fulfilling)
Self-destructive actions and impulses
