Karen Horney
The University of Tulsa
Alexis Bird
Kristi Ensor
Mark Grubbs
Precious Reagor
Hamburg Germany
Early Adulthood
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud
Germany’s 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
Man’s 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
Freud’s Theory
Mental Problems Arise From:
Conflict between the id, ego and superego
Fixation in Psychosocial Development
The Neurotic Personality of Our Time
Karen’s 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 Social Interaction
Basic Needs
Safety
Biological
Fulfilled Needs
Healthy Adult
Unfulfilled Needs
Basic Evil
Neurotic
The Neurotic Personality of Our Time
Basic Evil
Hostile or Indifferent Parents
Basic Hostility in Child
Shapes Child’s Worldview
Repressed Hostility
Situational or Character
Basic Anxiety
Constant
Underlies Everything
The Neurotic Personality of Our Time
Neurotic Adjustments to Basic Anxiety
Moving 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 Adjustment Patterns
Utilize 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
Freud’s Conclusions:
Personality is determined by gender
Childbirth is Women’s only Pleasure
Women Envy Men
Feminine Psychology
Horney’s 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 Horney’s 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
One’s effort to make existence tolerable
Child perception Vs. Parent’s intentions
Road to Her Fall-Out
Motivated by her discovery of a
discrepancy in Freud’s theories of
psychoanalysis
Holistic concept of blockage in contrast to
Freud’s 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 Horney’s 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 Horney’s 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 Freud’s 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