Karen Horney Flashcards
competitiveness and basic hostility leads to__
feelings of isolation
the feeling of isolation or being alone in the hostile world leads to__
intensified needs for affection–which causes people to overvalue love
the desperate need for love provides___
development of neuroses
the striving force in psychoanalytic social theory
love <3
why is a difficult childhood primarily responsible for neurotic needs
they are the child’s only means of gaining feelings of safety
basic hostility
if the parents do not satisfy the child’s needs for safety and satisfaction
basic anxiety
- repressed hostility leads to profound feelings of insecurity and apprehension
- “a feeling of being isolated and helpless in a world conceived as potentially hostile”
(first) list if defenses against basic anxiety
affection: purchase love with self-effacing compliance, material goods, or sexual favors
submissiveness: submit to people/orgs/religion to gain affection
power: defense against real/imagined hostility; tendency to dominate others
prestige: protection against humiliation by humiliating others
possession: buffer against poverty; manifests as tendency to deprive others
withdrawal: developing independence from others; emotional detach from them
compulsion
salient characteristic of all neurotic drives
neurotic needs
characterizes neurotics in their attempts to combat basic anxiety
three neurotic trends
moving toward people, moving against people, moving away from people
moving toward people
- neurotic need to protect oneself from helplessness
- desperately strive for the affection, and approval of others, or they will seek a powerful partner who will take responsibility for their lives
- morbid dependency–codependency
- compliant personality
moving against people
- takes for granted that everyone is hostile
- appear tough and ruthless; motivated by a strong need to exploit others and to use them for their own benefit
- basic motivation is power, prestige, and personal ambition
- aggressive personality
moving toward people and moving against people are the same in what way?
“the center of gravity lies outside the person”
moving away from people
- solves the basic conflict of isolation
- behave in a detached manner and expresses the need for privacy, independence, and self-sufficiency
- shun social commitments, but their greatest fear is to need other people
- detached personality
origin of intrapsychic processes
from interpersonal experiences but as they become part of a person’s belief system, they develop a life of their own
the idealized self-image
- feeling alienated from themselves, ppl need desperately to acquire a stable sense of identity. solved by creating an idealized self-image
- extravagantly positive views of themselves that exists only in their belief system
- neurotics lose their touch with the real self and becomes a standard of sel-evaluation
the idealized self-image
- feeling alienated from themselves, ppl need desperately to acquire a stable sense of identity. solved by creating an idealized self-image
- extravagantly positive views of themselves that exist only in their belief system
- neurotics lose their touch with the real self and become a standard of self-evaluation
neurotic search for glory
- comprehensive drive toward actualizing the ideal self
- three other elements: need for perfection, neurotic ambition, drive toward vindictive triumph
need for perfection
- drive to mold the whole personality into the idealized self
- tyranny of the should: achieve perfection by erecting a complex set of “shoulds” and “should nots”
neurotic ambition
- the compulsive drive toward superiority
- exaggerated need to excel in everything
- may also take a less materialistic form, such as being the most saintly or most charitable person in the community
drive toward a vindictive triumph
- most destructive element of them all
- disguised as a drive for achievement or success, but “its chief aim is to put others to shame or defeat them through one’s very success”
- inflict suffering on them–mostly of a humiliating kind
- grows out of the childhood desire to take revenge for real or imagined humiliations
neurotic claims
- neurotic build a fantasy world that is out of sync with the real world
- believing that something is wrong with the outside world, they proclaim that they are special and therefore entitles to be treated in accordance to their idealized view
- fail to see that their claims of special privilege are unreasonable
neurotic pride
- a false pride based not on a realistic view of the true self but on a spurious image of the idealized self
- usually loudly proclaimed in order to protect and support a glorified view of the self
self-hatred
people with a neurotic search for glory can never be happy with themselves because they would realize that their real self does not match the insatiable demands of their idealized self
relentless demands on the self
- caused by self-hatred which are exemplified by the tyranny of the shoulds
- some people make demands on themselves that don’t stop even when they achieve a measure of success
merciless self-accusation
neurotics constantly berate themselves
self-contempt
- belittling, doubting, discrediting oneself
- prevents people from striving for improvement or achievement
self-frustration
- stems from self-hatred and is designed to actualize an inflated self-image
- neurotics are frequently shackled by taboos against enjoyment
self-torment or torture
- ppl’s main intention is to inflict harm or suffering on themselves
- some attain masochistic satisfaction by anguishing over a decision
self-destructive actions and impulses
- physical, psychological, conscious, unconscious…
- overeating, abusing alcohol and drugs, working too hard, driving recklessly, suicide
the two greatest neurotic needs
power and affection
