Karen Horney: Psychoanalytic social theory Flashcards
What are the key areas in which Horney differed from Freud? (3)
-Horney believed male and females are similar and equal whereas Freud believed genders were different and men were superior
-believed primary motive is sociocultural influence whereas Freud said it was biological instinct
-neurosis from sociocultural stressors and Freud said neurosis from unconscious conflict
Personality is the primary result of what according to Horney?
-social and cultural factors
Which branch of psychology is Horney within?
-psychoanalytics
What does neuroses come from? (2)
-deficient love, especially in childhood (social)
-competitive societal systems (cultural)
Why is the competitive society according to Horney bad? Does it ever end? (2)
-prevailing values of competition, aggression and success clash with prosocial ideals
-no, we strive for never-ending goals, we are never happy enough
Does Horney believe that Western society is sick? Does Horney believe everyone is neurotic? (2)
-yes
-yes, to some degree everyone is
Describe the ‘human condition’ or the theory behind how a child develops and gets neurosis. (6)
- Born with potential for healthy development
- Healthy development requires love; need of satisfaction and need of safety
- Unmet needs result in basic hostility which is repressed
- Repressed basic hostility produces basic anxiety
- Basic hostility and basic anxiety form a vicious circle
- Defensive strategies are used to counter basic anxiety
How do we feel satisfaction as children?
-through affection, (satisfied emotionally)
How do we feel safety as children?
-from discipline (boundaries)
What’s a big difference between Freud and Horney’s view of how humans are born?
-Freud says you are born out of control with just an id and Horney says you’re born healthy
What is basic anxiety?
-feelings of isolation and helplessness in a hostile world
What is the basic evil?
-a lack of genuine warmth and affection, not enough warm love
Who is the basic hostility towards and what happens as a result? (2)
-towards our parents
-since we require parents to survive, we repress it
What is the “nutritive soil out of which a definite neurosis may develop at any time?
-basic anxiety and basic hostility
What are the good defense strategies called and the bad?
-good are called adaptive and the bad are called neurotic
Why does everyone use one of these defenses?
-because everyone has basic anxiety
What does a normal person experience when they’re out in the normal world? (as compared to neurotic)
-can experience moderate distress, but are mostly aware of their anxiety and are adaptive
What does a neurotic person experience when they’re out in the world?
-significant distress, mostly unaware of anxiety and inflexible
What are the three basic defences (trends)? (3)
-moving toward people
-moving against people
-moving away from people
Describe the diagram which shows the summary of Horney’s theory of personality.
-basic hostility which is at the top results from childhood feelings of rejection or neglect by parents or from a defence against basic anxiety and this goes and is influenced by basic anxiety
-basic anxiety which results from parental threats or from a defence against hostility and this goes to defences against anxiety
-defences against anxiety goes to either normal defences or *neurotic** trend
Describe the three version of normal defences (toward, against and away) (3)
Toward: friendly, loving personality
Against: assertive, resilient
Away: autonomous, serene personality
Describe the three version of neurotic trends (toward, against and away) (3)
Toward: compliant personality
Against: aggressive and competitive personality
Away: detached personality
What did Karen Horney mean by “love in our civilization is so rarely a genuine affection”?
-true love is rare, and relationships are often driven by insecurity or need, leading to mistreatment and betrayal.
What does Horney’s idea of the intrapsychic conflicts arise from? What do they become? (2)
-interpersonal conflicts
-beliefs about the self
What are the two intrapsychic conflicts? (2)
-idealized self
-self hatred
Describe the conflict that occurs for the idealized self and what the purpose of is. What eventually happens? (2)
-In response to the basic anxiety that arises from not feeling secure or loved, people create an idealized image of themselves
-lose touch with real self
What is the real self?
-the true core of one’s being
What are Horney’s neurotic search for glory, neurotic pride, and claims? What do they stem from (4)
Neurotic search for glory: Unrealistic pursuit of success
Neurotic pride: Superficial self-esteem based on validation
Claims: Demands for recognition from others.
-All stem from idealized self
Describe the self-hatred intrapsychic conflicts.
-the real self is hated because it falls far short of the idealized self
What did Horney say about psychological gender differences?
-critiqued Freud and said lots of women do have inferiority thinking but it is not because of penis envy rather the male-dominated and misogynstic society that women internalize
What did Horney say about the oedipus complex?
-she says that it exists but is not universal (unlike Freud) and that normal people don’t go through it but rather arises from neurotic needs for affection and aggression.
What did Horney say about penis envy? (2)
-says there is penis envy and that it is women want to be able to pee like boys and men do
-says women want the power and position that men have
What did Horney say about masculinity vs femininity?
-that these concepts are made up, scientific differences exist, but they only will be clear if we forget the differences and study it neutrally.
What does Horney say is the structure of personality?
-real self perception
What does Horney say causes development? (2)
-early social factors
-cultural systems and expectations
What does Horney say is the cause of a disorder? (2)
-basic hostility and anxiety from unmet needs
-competitive society
Determinism vs. Free choice for Horney?
-slightly more free choice than deterministic
Pessimistic or optimistic for Horney?
-slightly more optimistic than pessimistic
Past or future for Horney?
-both, childhood conflicts are important but the real self is pushing you to a better future
Conscious or unconscious for Horney?
-unconscious
Does Horney believe more biological or social influences?
-social
Consistent or variable in their behaviour according to Horney?
-consistent
Does Horney believe people are more similar or unique?
-similar
How good of a scientific theory is Horney’s? (6)
Generate research: little research
Allow falsifiability: (difficult to test) low
Organize Knowledge: High for neurotics/low for people who are normal
Guide practical action: moderately practical
Maintain internal consistency: high, her terms were precise and consistent in how she used them
Maintain parsimony: (simplicity) high
Why do the intrapsychic conflicts arise according to Horney?
-They emerge as internal mechanisms for dealing with basic anxiety and hostility
