____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Subject PSYCHOLOGY

Paper No and Title Paper No. 5: Personality Theories

Module No and Title Module No. 12: Psychoanalytic Social Theory: Karen
Horney
Module Tag PSY_P5_M12

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Learning Outcomes
2. Introduction
3. Biographical Sketch
4. Horney’s Psychological Works
4.1 Basic Anxiety and Basic Hostility
4.2 Neurotic Needs
4.3 Three Solutions: Neurotic Trends
4.4 Self Theory
4.5 Self Analysis
5. Evaluative Comments
6. Summary

PSYCHOLOGY Paper No. 5: Personality Theories

Module No. 12: Psychoanalytic Social Theory: Karen Horney
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

1. Learning Outcomes
After studying this module, you shall be able to:

 Know about Karen Horney’s life

 Learn the path-breaking theories proposed by Horney
 Evaluate Horney’s theory and treatment practices
 Analyze the relevance of the theory in present time

2. Introduction
The psychoanalytic social theory of Karen Horney stressed the importance of social and cultural
influences on personality development and neurosis. Horney insisted that each culture generates a
unique set of problems and fears in its members that create feelings of insecurity. In addition,
there are conflicts generated by an individual’s distinctive social or interpersonal conditions.
Normal person is able to adjust to these hostile conditions and to make the best use of what the
culture has to offer. The neurotic, in contrast, uses defenses rigidly and indiscriminately to reduce
his or her fears and finds it difficult to adjust and feel safe in a threatening social environment.

Like traditional Freudian psychoanalysis, Horney firmly believed that the unconscious
intrapsychic conflicts in the childhood are a powerful determinant of personality. However, she
questioned Freud’s emphasis on sexual impulses. According to Horney, the most important
conflicts are based on the needs for security and love. Children who do not receive genuine love
and affection experience basic anxiety and develop neurotic trends or rigid behavioral patterns to
cope with interpersonal issues that eventually contribute to maladjusted functioning.

Horney is credited with founding feminist psychology. She disagreed with Freud about inherent
differences between the development men and women, and argued that such differences can be
traced to cultural and social forces rather than biological factors.

Horney’s psychotherapeutic strategies are based on the belief that people are driven by
constructive forces and the goal of therapy is to help them move toward a realization of their true
self through a process of self-analysis.

Although Horney’s work focuses primarily on the neurotic personality, many of her ideas can
also be applied to normal individuals. We shall try and look at Horney’s theory of neurotic needs
and trends, briefly discuss her ideas on psychotherapy and examine her views on feminine
psychology.

3. Biographical Sketch
Karen Horney was born near Hamburg, Germany to Berndt Wackels Danielsen And Clotilde
Danielsen on September 16, 1885. As a child, she felt both loved and intimated by her father who
was a religious fundamentalist and believed that women were inferior to men. At age 13, she
decided to become a doctor, which was strongly opposed by this father. However, her mother was
encouraging and supported her to pursue what seemed a very unrealistic goal in the late 19th
century.

PSYCHOLOGY Paper No. 5: Personality Theories

Module No. 12: Psychoanalytic Social Theory: Karen Horney
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

She joined medical school in 1906 and became one of the first women to enter German
University. There, she met Oscar Horney and the two married in 1909. She experienced a lot of
turbulence in her marriage for which she sought psychoanalysis by Freud’s disciple, Karl
Abraham. However, she felt disappointed with the results of psychoanalysis and participated in
several informal sessions with Karl Abraham, critically discussing psychoanalytic concepts and
practices. This led to the establishment of the Berlin Psychoanalytic Institute, where she actively
worked for several years.

In 1932, Horney went to the United States, where she became associate director of the Chicago
Psychoanalytic Institute. Two years later, she moved to New York and taught at the New York
Psychoanalytic Institute. However, her critiques of Freud continued from Germany to the US.
This created an uproar that forced her to resign from the New York Psychoanalytic Society in
1941. Shortly after- wards, she helped found the American Institute for Psychoanalysis and the
Association for the Advancement of Psychoanalysis. Horney died of cancer on December 4,
1952.

4. Horney’s Psychological Works

4.1 Basic anxiety and basic hostility

Horney (1937) believed that our childhood is governed by the need for safety. For healthy
development, a child must feel secure in a warm and loving relationship with the parents.
Unfortunately, when parents are unable or unwilling to provide warmth, love and affection to the
child, they weaken the child’s sense of safety and security.

Parents may act in various ways to undermine their child’s security with such behaviors as:

 Unfair punishment
 Erratic behaviour
 Lack of warmth
 Overindulgence or rejection
 Indifference to child’s needs
 Direct or indirect dominance
 Isolation from peers
 Preference for siblings
 Ridicule and humiliation

PSYCHOLOGY Paper No. 5: Personality Theories

Module No. 12: Psychoanalytic Social Theory: Karen Horney
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Horney termed these parental behaviours as the basic evil. The

basic evil naturally instigates feelings of resentment and anger,
a response termed as basic hostility. However, children rarely express this hostility, because they
feel dependent and helpless, are fearful of intimidation or punishment by their parents, are fearful
of losing love and security, and are guilty about harboring resentment toward their parents. Hence
this hostility toward one’s parents is repressed and is manifested in feelings of insecurity,
helplessness, vulnerability and apprehension. This condition is called basic anxiety, and is
defined as an “insidiously increasing, all-pervading feeling of being lonely and helpless in a
hostile world” (Horney, 1937, p. 89). In Horney’s words, we feel “small, insignificant, helpless,
deserted, endangered, in a world that is out to abuse, cheat, attack, humiliate, betray” (1937, p.
92).

Basic anxiety is persistent and relentless, permeates all relationships with others, motivates
people to seek safety and reassurance rather than happiness, and leads to maladaptive ways of
coping.

4.2 Neurotic needs

Horney is known for her study of neurotic personality. She defined neurosis as a maladaptive and
counterproductive attempt to cope with feelings of hostility, insecurity and helplessness that
accompany basic anxiety. She insisted that neurotics use defensive strategies to protect
themselves against basic anxiety resulting in rigid, compulsive, behaviours that further aggravate
it.

Since Horney’s idea of neurosis involves dealing with the problem, she presented ten needs that
are acquired to find solutions to combat basic anxiety. She called these 10 categories of needs
“neurotic” since they are irrational, compulsive, rigid and used indiscriminately to reestablish the
safety of the environment:

 Need for acceptance and affection: It includes the desire to be liked, to please others, and
meet other’s expectations. Such individuals are very sensitive to criticism and fear the
rejection and hostility of others.
 Need for an intimate partner who will take over one’s life: It includes the idea that love
will untangle all the complex knots of our lives. A neurotic needs a partner to fall
dependent on and let the partner take charge of the relationship.
 Need to restrict one’s life with self-made boundaries: This involves being undemanding,
satisfied with little and need to be inconspicuous. It goes to the extreme that the neurotic
does not want to see the world outside of his constricted view and struggles in new
situations. Also they make their own needs secondary and undervalue their own potential.
 Need for power and control: It is the need for dominance for its own sake often
accompanied by contempt for the weak. Such individuals fear personal limitations,
helplessness and uncontrollable situations.
 Need to manipulate and exploit others: Such individuals pride themselves in their ability
to manipulate others for some desired objective like money, power or sex.

PSYCHOLOGY Paper No. 5: Personality Theories

Module No. 12: Psychoanalytic Social Theory: Karen Horney
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Need for prestige and recognition: Such individuals are

totally driven by the need to be admired and respected by others. They evaluate all things
– material possessions, professional accomplishments, social engagements, loved ones –
in terms of their prestige value. Such individuals fear loss of status and social
embarrassment.
 Need for personal admiration: Such individuals have an exaggerated self perception and
feel the need for admiration based on their imagined self view rather than their own real
self. They seek to be the best in whatever they do and be praised for that.
 Need for personal accomplishment: Such people have indiscriminate ambition to be
outstanding in many areas. They fear failures and generally overwork themselves to
achieve their goal.
 Need for independence: They exhibit the “loner” mentality. They like to remain aloof in
order to maintain their independence and personal autonomy over their lives.
 Need for perfection: They strive for complete infallibility. They try to be over critical of
themselves to find the minutest flaw in them to quickly cover it up or correct it.
Horney stated that every one of us manifests these needs to some degree. But it is the person’s
intensive and compulsive pursuit of their satisfaction that makes them neurotic. Further, these
needs give birth to inner conflicts within the individual and are insatiable leaving the person
always dissatisfied with how much one gets.

4.3 Three solutions: Neurotic trends

Horney (1945) revised the list of needs and presented them in three groups, each indicating a
person’s “solution” to the stresses of life. She called these three categories of behaviours and
attitudes as the neurotic trends.

Normal individuals may flexibly use any of these modes of relating to other people, but neurotics
are compelled to rely on any one of the neurotic trends, displaying it indiscriminately, almost
compulsively, in any and all situations.

4.3.1 Moving toward people: The self-effacing solution (Compliant personality)

This represents a person’s striving to feel worthy by turning toward others. Horney referred to
these people as the compliant types. Compliant types are dominated by a need for affection,
living as though their motto were “If you love me, you will not hurt me” (Horney, 1937, p. 96).
They have an intense need to be appreciated, liked, wanted and protected by others. As a result,
they desperately employ methods to seek approval of others and tend to be self-effacing,
submissive and compliant with the wishes of others. They avoid anything that might antagonize
others because they fear criticism, rejection or desertion by others. They tend to be dependent on
others and often seek a powerful partner who will take responsibility of their lives.

4.3.2 Moving away from people: The resignation solution (Detached personality)

This represents the person’s attempt to attain autonomy by becoming asocial and emotionally
detached. In their attempt to protect themselves from being hurt by other people, detached people
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No. 5: Personality Theories
Module No. 12: Psychoanalytic Social Theory: Karen Horney
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

renounce emotional needs and become almost indifferent to

others. They frequently withdraw from social commitments and
need their own space and privacy. They value freedom and self-sufficiency and often appear to be
aloof and unapproachable. They seem to live by the motto “If I withdraw, nothing can hurt me”
(Horney, 1937, p. 99).

4.3.3 Moving against people: The expansive solution (Aggressive personality)

This represents a person’s desire for control, dominance and power. Such personality types
appear arrogant, defiant, selfish, vindictive, and even cruel. Horney argued that these people
project their own hostilities (which she called externalization) onto others and therefore use this
as a justification to exploit others and get the better of them. They are driven to achieve control,
recognition, superiority and perfection. They seem to live by the motto “If I have power, I will
not be hurt” (Horney, 1937, p. 98). Career competitive people are often aggressive types.

4.4 Self theory

Horney believed that the self is the core of our being, our potential. A healthy person will have a
clear sense of his self and would be free to realize his potential. Such self-realization is possible
only with a strong self.

A neurotic, on the other hand, views things in a different light. His self is split into the despised
self and the ideal self. The ideal self is an unrealistic representation of perfectionism that seems
impossible to attain. Neurotics believe that they should be perfect, know everything, like
everyone. This belief presents itself as a compulsive drive, what Horney called as the “neurotic’s
“striving for glory” and “tyranny of shoulds”.

Unfortunately, self-idealization does not work and actual self always falls short of the idealized
self. This failure to reach the ideal self leads to resentment towards the present self or the
despised self. As a result, neurotics are filled with self-hatred; they feel inferior, frustrated and
tormented; place relentless demands on the self; and engage in self-contempt, merciless self-
accusation and self-destructive actions and impulses.

4.5 Self Analysis

Horney believes that a therapist must assist patients to gradually move towards self-realization.
To be more specific, she asserts that the aim of the therapy is to help patients abandon their
idealized self-image, renounce their neurotic striving for glory, and change self-hatred to an
acceptance of the real self.

A therapist may begin with inquiries that provide clues to presence of the underlying conflicts.
These inquiries may generate anxiety and be a difficult and painful experience for the patient, but
will eventually help them become aware of the disruptive forces operating within them. Once this
self-knowledge is experienced at an emotional level, the patient becomes willing to give up on the
idealized images and illusions about self. The therapist then focuses on helping them discover
their real selves. Through free association and dream analysis, their real selves may begin to
emerge. Patients are constantly reinforced for demonstrating independence in thought and
behaviour and for being interested in the truth about themselves. This encourages them toward
greater self-realization and personal growth.
PSYCHOLOGY Paper No. 5: Personality Theories
Module No. 12: Psychoanalytic Social Theory: Karen Horney
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Horney noted that though a therapist can help encourage

patients toward self-understanding, successful therapy is built
on self-analysis (Horney, 1942, 1950). She suggested that people with relatively minor neurotic
problems could serve as their own psychiatrists, emphasizing the personal role each person has in
their own mental health.

Self-analysis is a useful tool for unraveling the one’s real self. It involves free association
followed by a reflection of what one has thought and an analysis of resistance that aims to
maintain status quo. When insights into one’s personality are obtained, energies engaged in
perpetuating neurotic trends are freed and used for making constructive changes. She emphasized
that self-awareness is an important part of becoming a better human being.

5. Feminine Psychology
Karen Horney pioneered and developed feminine psychology that provided a new way of
thinking about women. She thoroughly criticized Freud’s account of feminine development and
saw gender differences as a function of cultural and social factors and not anatomical/genetic
influences. She argued that females have unique biological constitutions and patterns of
development that must be understood in their own terms and not just as products of their
difference from males. She contended that psychoanalysis regards women as defective men
because it is the product of a male-dominated culture.

Although Horney (1939) recognized the existence of the Oedipus complex, she insisted that it
wasn’t universal (as Freud indeed believed) but culturally dependent. She held when a child
experiences basic anxiety, he may compulsively try to defend it by using the neurotic need for
love as a solution. This may be expressed as passionately clinging to one parent and expressing
jealousy toward the other. But this behaviour, she asserted, is not a manifestation of an
anatomically-based complex but simply a self-protective mechanism to combat basic anxiety.

Horney (1939) pointed out that the idea of penis envy only reflects the favored position of men in
most cultures and is not built into women biologically. She argued that there is no reason for girls
to be envious of penis as they have the capacity to procreate. Boys, on the other hand, lack the
womb and the breasts, and hence must be envious of girls. She developed the concept of womb-
envy, asserting that boys desire pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood. She asserted that men’s
impulse toward creative work is an overcompensation for their small role in procreation.

Horney agreed with Adler that many women possess a masculine protest; that is, they have a
pathological belief that men are superior to women, This belief, however, is not rooted in penis
envy but in resentment towards men for the status and recognition afforded to them by the
culture. Such women desire to be a man and aspire for all those abilities or qualities that are
considered as masculine.

5. Evaluative comments

5.1 Controversies – Horney’s Critique of Freud

Horney was a strong critique of Freud’s theories and believed that strict adherence to Freudian
psychoanalysis would lead to stagnation in theory and practice. She insisted that psychoanalysis

PSYCHOLOGY Paper No. 5: Personality Theories

Module No. 12: Psychoanalytic Social Theory: Karen Horney
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

should move beyond instinct theory and emphasized the

importance of cultural influences in shaping personality.

Horney agreed with Freud that our early childhood experiences shape our personality but
disagreed on his insistence on the centrality of the sexual drives in determining human
personality. She placed greater importance to the role of cultural forces and our sense of security
and safety in shaping our lives.

Horney said that neuroses were an outgrowth of disturbed human relationships rather than
compulsive drives.

Further, Freud and Horney differ in their view towards human conflicts and their resolution.
While Freud’s view seemed pessimistic and stagnating, Horney had a more positive outlook and
considered human’s tendency toward personal growth as a life-long process.

Karen Horney viewed aggression not as an inborn drive but as a means for human survival and
security. Also her view on narcissism was opposed to Freud. While Freud believed that
narcissism was self-love or over indulgence in oneself, Horney stated it as a lack of a sense of
security.

5.2 Criticisms

Horney’s theory is often criticized for lack of empirical evidence and its ability to generate
research.

Her theory was based largely on clinical experiences that dealt primarily with neurotic
individuals. Hence her theory does well in organizing knowledge about neurotics but fails to
make specific conclusions about people in general. There is generally a lack of research on how
her concepts apply to normal healthy personalities.

Schultz and Schultz (2005) criticized Horney for not using research data from the areas of
sociology and anthropology when talking about the influence of social and cultural forces on
personality. Many felt that her writings were guided by the middle-class American culture.

It is said that Horney’s personality theory is not very well-developed. Horney’s attempt to
redesign Freud’s concepts was widely criticized. Many thought that it would have been better if
she rejected Freud’s theory and developed her own. It is also said that much of her works were
only an altered state of the theories of Freud, Jung and Adler.

5.3 Contributions
Horney is best known as a critic of orthodox Freudian psychoanalysis and as a founding theorist
of humanistic psychology. She attempted to move from an overemphasis on instinctual drives and
biological factors in Freud’s theories to the importance of social, cultural, and interpersonal
factors in the formation of personality.

Horney’s theory can be considered more optimistic than the traditional psychoanalysis. Horney
believed that people have an inherent potential for healthy development. If people feel safe and

PSYCHOLOGY Paper No. 5: Personality Theories

Module No. 12: Psychoanalytic Social Theory: Karen Horney
____________________________________________________________________________________________________

secure in their interpersonal relations, they will move towards

greater self-realization and consequently develop enriching
personalities.

Horney successfully brought into focus feminine issues and development that were never truly
examined in Freud’s theories. She asserted that Freudian perspective has an androcentric bias
(male-centered bias) and views women as vain, sensitive and dependent on men. With her work
on feminine psychology, she corrected the inherent "male bias" in psychoanalytic thought and
developed a new way of thinking about women.
Horney maintained that psychological disorders stem not from fixation of psychic energy but
from disturbed interpersonal relationships during childhood. Thus, Horney called attention to the
importance of social factors in shaping personality – a view echoed by modern psychology.

6. Summary
 Karen Horney’s theories on the psychology of women, her work on understanding and
treating neuroses and her ideas on the possibility of human growth influenced many
people.
 She claimed that neurosis was a result of disturbed human relationships rather than
compulsive drives.
 Horney described anxiety, helplessness and vulnerability as natural childhood
experiences.
 She presented ten neurotic needs that are acquired to find solutions to combat basic
anxiety.
 Horney condensed the ten neurotic needs into three solutions.
 Horney believed that a neurotic’s sense of self is split into the despised self and the ideal
self.
 She devised her own tool of healing known as self-analysis.
 Karen Horney defected from the orthodox Freudian view to find a whole new school of
thought by herself.
 Horney’s theories were often criticized for lack of empirical evidence to support her
theories.
 Many psychologists appreciate her work on feminine psychology and for providing an
alternative to the orthodox Freudian thought.

PSYCHOLOGY Paper No. 5: Personality Theories

Module No. 12: Psychoanalytic Social Theory: Karen Horney