Karen Horney

The University of Tulsa

Alexis Bird
Kristi Ensor
Mark Grubbs
Precious Reagor

Hamburg Germany

Early Adulthood

Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud

Germanys World War I

Reparations

More severe limitations of

immigration to the United States

Britain & France at War with

Germany - 1939

Nazi troops march through Paris

Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor

America Declares War

Mans Inhumanity to Man

Nazi Concentration camps & Atomic bombs

McCarthyism
A list of 205 names

Karen Horney
September 16, 1885 December 4, 1952

Karen Horney
Major Theories
The Neurotic Personality of Our Time
Feminine Psychology

The Neurotic Personality of Our Time

Freuds
Mental

Theory
Problems Arise From:

Conflict

between the id, ego and superego

Fixation in Psychosocial Development

The Neurotic Personality of Our Time

Karens

Theory

Mental

Problems Arise From Environmental

Factors Specific to Culture and Time
Parenting Practices
Money, Food, Jobs, Providing for Family
Neuroses

Share Central Conflicts but are

Manifested Differently in Each Person

The Neurotic Personality of Our Time

Attitudes

of Anxious People

Affection
Evaluation

of the Self
Self-Assertion
Aggression

The Neurotic Personality of Our Time

Parent-Child
Basic

Social Interaction

Needs

Safety
Biological

Fulfilled

Needs

Healthy

Adult

Unfulfilled
Basic

Evil
Neurotic

Needs

The Neurotic Personality of Our Time

Basic

Evil

Hostile

or Indifferent Parents

Basic

Hostility in Child
Shapes Childs Worldview
Repressed

Hostility
Situational or Character
Basic Anxiety
Constant
Underlies

Everything

The Neurotic Personality of Our Time

Neurotic
Moving

Adjustments to Basic Anxiety

Toward People
Moving Against People
Moving Away From People

Neurotic Adjustments to Basic Anxiety

Moving

Toward

Affection
Submissiveness

Moving

Against

Power

Moving

Away

Withdrawal

Normal
Utilize

Adjustment Patterns
all three

Feminine Psychology
Psychoanalysis

is the creation of a male

genius, and almost all of those who have
developed his ideas have been men. It is
only right and reasonable that they should
evolve more easily a masculine
psychology and understand more of the
development of men than of women.
(Horney, 1967, p. 15)

Feminine Psychology
Goal:

Objective View
Freuds Conclusions:
Personality

is determined by gender
Childbirth is Womens only Pleasure
Women Envy Men

Feminine Psychology
Horneys

Conclusions

Personality

is Determined by Culture
Motherhood is Pleasurable
Men Envy Women
Women

Are Not Biologically Inferior, But

are Culturally Inferior
Women Characterized as Masculine are
Simply Seeking Equality

Karen Horneys Professional Struggles

Road

to Education
Road to Theories of Neurosis
Road to Fall-Out

Road to Education
Family

pressure not to attend Medical

School
Society and Universities did not reward
women for class work
Ability & Personality eventually earned her
respect from professors and colleagues

Road to Her Theories of Neurosis

Looked

at neurosis differently than others

Ones effort to make existence tolerable
Child perception Vs. Parents intentions

Road to Her Fall-Out

Motivated

by her discovery of a
discrepancy in Freuds theories of
psychoanalysis
Holistic concept of blockage in contrast to
Freuds mechanistic notion of resistance
Forced to resign

Research Data that Support Theories

Questioning

Previous Research
Influence of Philosophy in her Research

Questioning Previous Research

Men

were only analyzing other men

Freud believed his own theory was
unsatisfactory and incomplete
Philosophy and the Masculine Civilization

Influence of Philosophy in Her Research

New

Points of View by way of philosophy,

in essays by Georg Simmel
Whole Civilization is a Masculine
Civilization
Psychology of women strictly from the
point of view of men

Strengths of Horneys Theories and Ideas

Provided

optimism
Elaborated/Modified Freud's concepts

Ego-ideal
Defense mechanisms

Created

feminine complements to Freud's ideas

Acknowledged social, cultural, and
environmental factors play a role in development
Focused more on the present and future rather
than past experience

Weakness of Horneys Theories and

Ideas
All

ideas are based on clinical observation

Concept of Idealized self is a false picture
of personality
Neurotic needs is not a realistic way of
dealing with anxiety

Her Influence
Hypercompetitiveness
Erik

Erickson and basic mistrust

Therapeutic Techniques
Present

situation
Interpersonal
Group therapy

Karen Horney
Overcame

Many Obstacles in Her Time

Active Career
Contended with Major Theories
Overcame Personal Struggles

Karen Horney
After

confronting Freuds male-oriented

psychology with her own so-called
feminine psychology, she prepared the
way for a philosophy, psychology, and
psychoanalysis of whole people living and
interacting with their changing
environments (Kelman, 1967, p.31)

References

Endler, N. (1965). A behavioristic interpretation of the psychotherapy

system of karen horney. The Canadian Psychologist (6a), 188-201.
Engler, Barbara (1999). Personality theories: an introduction (5th
Edition). Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin Company.
Hergenhahn, B.R., (2005). An introduction to the history of
psychology (5th Edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson
Learning.
Horney, K. (1937). The neurotic personality of our time. New York:
W.W. Norton & Company Inc.
---. (1939). New ways in psychoanalysis. New York: Norton.
---. (1967). Feminine Psychology (H. Kelman, Ed.). New York: W.W.
Norton & Company Inc.
Horney, Karen (2006). In Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved June 1,
2006, from
Encyclopedia Britannica Premium Service:
http://www.brittanica.com/eb/article?tocld=93613.
Schultz, P.D. Schultz, E. S., (2004). A History of Modern
Psychology ( 8th Edition)
Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning