KAREN HORNEY

Born in Eilbek, near Hamburg, Germany

Unhappy family
She idolized and was encouraged to study medicine by her
mother
In 1906, she entered University of Freiburg where she is one
of the first female students to study medicine in Germany
Married to Oskar Horney, a political science student

 The Technique of Psychoanalytic Theory reflected

the Freudian view
She had several love affairs (Paris and Quinn)
After Oskar and Karen separated, she became more
productive in her life and her papers now showed
differences with Freudian view.
She believed that culture, not anatomy, was
responsible for psychic differences between men
and women

Moved to US for the associate director position of

Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute
Met Erich Fromm and his wife. And eventually,
Karen and Erich became lovers
She became a member of New York
Psychoanalytic Institute , but she seldom agreed
with the members
New Ways in Psychoanalysis she emphasized
more on ego and social influences.

 Helped in forming - Association for the

Advancement of Psychoanalysis (AAP)
Karen Horney Psychoanalytic Institute and she
also established her own Karen Horney Clinic
Neurosis and Human growth: her most important
work
Died because of cancer. 65 years old

Psychoanalytic
Social
Psychology

Psychoanalytic Social
Theory
is built on the assumption that social and
cultural conditions, especially childhood
experiences, are largely responsible for shaping
personality.

Basic Hostility and Basic

Anxiety
Horney believed that each person begins life
with the potential for healthy development, but
people need favorable conditions for growth
Basic evil- is a lack of genuine warmth and
affection for the child.
Basic Hostility- develops when people
encounters basic evil
Basic Anxiety- the feeling of being alone and
helpless in a potentially hostile world

 Defense attitudes
Developed to permit us to cope with the
world
Minimize feelings of anxiety

4 ways people protect themselves

Affection- strategy that does not always lead to
authentic love.
Submissiveness- people who submit themselves
to another person in order to gain affection
Striving for:
Power- takes the form of tendency to
dominate others
Prestige- protection against humiliation and is
expressed as a tendency to humiliate others
Possession- buffer against destitution

 Withdrawal- they develop independence

because they feel that they cant be hurt by
other people if theyre alone

Horney's 10 Neurotic Needs

1. The need for affection and approval
2. The need for a powerful partner
3. The need to restrict ones life within narrow
borders
4. The need for power
5. The need to exploit others

6. The need for social recognition or prestige

7. The need for personal admiration
8. The need for ambition and personal
achievement
9. The need for self-sufficiency and
independence
10. The need for perfection and unassailability

Neurotic Trends
- Defense attitudes that become exaggerated or
inappropriate strivings
Three types of coping strategies
Moving toward people
Moving against people
Moving away people

Intrapsychic Conflicts
Real self
Represents what we are, those things that
are true about us
Idealized self
Represents what we think we should be and
is used as a model to assist us in developing
our potential and achieving self-actualization
Alienation
Tyranny of the should

 Self-hatred
This will happen if the person realized that his real self
does not match the demands of his idealized self
He will begin to hate and despise himself.

6 ways in which people express hatred:

1. Relentless demands on the self
2. Merciless self-accusation
3. Self-contempt
4. Self-frustration
5. Self-torment
6. Self-destructive

Feminine Psychology
Horney insisted that basic anxiety is at the core of
mens need to subjugate women and womens wish to
humiliate men.
CRITIQUE IN OEDIPUS COMPLEX
Horney recognized the Oedipus Complex but for her it
was due to certain environmental conditions. If it
were the result of anatomy, then it would be universal
She held that it is found only in people with an
expression of the neurotic need of love
The childs main goal is security not sexual
intercourse

Feminine Psychology
Womb envy
Women have a superior role in sexual life
due to ability to bear and nurse children;
men experience intense envy
Impressive achievements of men in creative
fields may be seen as compensations for
inability to bear children

Psychotherapy
The general goal of Horneyian therapy is to help
patients gradually grow in the direction of selfrealization.