Horney Personality Theory
aggressive personality's motto
"If I have power, no one can hurt me"
withdrawn personality's motto
"If I withdraw, nothing can hurt me"
compliant personality's motto
"If you love me, you will not hurt me"
Neurotic trends (10)
1. The neurotic need for affection and approval 2. The neurotic need for a "partner" who will take over one's life 3. The neurotic need to restrict one's life within narrow borders 4. The neurotic need for power, for control over others, and for a facade of omnipotence 5. The neurotic need to exploit others and get the better of them 6. The neurotic need for social recognition or prestige 7. The neurotic need for personal admiration 8. The neurotic ambition for personal achievement 9. The neurotic need for self-sufficiency and independence 10. The neurotic need for perfection and unassailability
Basic anxiety
A child's all-pervasive sense of being lonely and helpless in a hostile world.
Compliant type
A neurotic's trend to be in harmony with others and to avoid friction. Compliance may mask a strong inner need to compete, excel, or dominate.
Aggressive type
A personality disposition to use aggressive acts to actualize the ideal self-image.
Moving toward people
A self-effacing solution to the core neurotic conflict. The person identifies with the despised real self. Horney described such an individual as a compliant type.
1. Karen Horney refers to individuals who present themselves as human doormats as
A. compliant personalities
Moving away from people
Adjustment to basic anxiety that uses the need to be self-sufficient. Horney referred to the person using this adjustment technique as the detached type.
Moving toward people
Adjustment to basic anxiety that uses the need to be wanted, loved, and protected by other people. Horney referred to the person using this adjustment technique as the compliant type.
Moving against people
An expansive solution to the core neurotic conflict. The person handles the neurotic conflict by adopting an aggressive approach, which includes the tendency toward mastery and control, to dominate and exploit others. Such a person is viewed as an aggressive type.
Karen Horney's brother
Berndt
Basic hostility
Children's often hidden anger toward all-powerful but indifferent and manipulative adults. Many children must repress their anger and feelings of hostility to survive, resulting in internalized hostility
Tyranny of the should
Domination by an often unrealistic view of what one should
despised real self
False conceptions of one's competence, worth, and lovability based on belief in others' evaluations, especially those of the parents. Negative valuations may reinforce one's sense of helplessness.
Resignation solution ("Solutions" to Neurotic Conflict)
Freedom "moving away" (detachment) Need for 3. Restrictions of life to narrow borders 9. Self-sufficiency 10. Perfection and unassailability "If I withdraw, nothing can hurt me." Vacillation between despised real self and ideal self
Real self
In Horney's later theorizing, the essential core of a person's being and very center of existence. The real self contains all the potential for growth and health, including 'the ability to tap his own resources, the strength of his will power, the special capacities or gifts he may have; the faculty to express himself, and to relate to others with his spontaneous feelings." The true core of one's being, containing potential for growth, happiness, will power, special capacities and gifts, and the urge for "self realization," that is, the need to be spontaneously what one truly is.
Self-effacing solution ("Solutions" to Neurotic Conflict)
Love "moving toward" (compliance) Need for: 1. Affection and approval 2. Partner to take control 3. Restriction of life to narrow borders "If you love me, you will not hurt me." Identification with the despised real self
Expansive solution ("Solutions" to Neurotic Conflict)
Mastery "moving against" (aggression) Need for 4. Power, omnipotence, and perfection 5. Exploitation of others 6. Social recognition and prestige 7. Personal admiration 8. Personal achievement "If I have power, no one can hurt me." Identification with the ideal self
Neurotic needs
Rigid. compulsive, innate strivings to predict, control, and survive a hostile world.
Neurotic trends
Strategies designed to overcome the fears, helplessness, and sense of isolation experienced by the neurotic person.
Secondary defenses/auxiliary conflict solutions
Techniques to buttress neurotic solutions to the core neurotic conflict. Unlike Freudian defenses, these are not designed to deal with id impulses, but rather to protect the person from seeing major aspects of his or her character and personality.
Moving away from people
The adoption of a protective solution of resignation to the core neurotic conflict. Such an approach includes the tendency to become detached from human affairs and resigned to an emotionally flat life. Such a person is perceived as a detached type.
Core neurotic conflict
The alienation of the individual from his or her real self. It leads the person to adopt an idealized self at the expense of one's spontaneity, self-trust, and independence.
Despised self
The child's view of him or herself as despicable, unlovable, and unworthy. This is a false conception of self that is derived from false negative evaluations by others of one's ability, worth, and lovability.
Expansive solution
The disposition to act towards others in aggressive ways to obtain personal goals.
Idealized or ideal self
The false sense of self constructed by the individual hurt by negative evaluations and parental indifference. This person strives for perfection in a wishful way to compensate for feelings of inadequacy and unlovability.
Basic evil
The often hostile, rejecting and domineering attitude of a child's parents.
Ideal self
The perfect or near perfect sense of self that a person wishes to be or imagines that he or she actually is as a compensation for feelings of vulnerability in a hostile world.
Actual self
The person physically and mentally as he or she actually exists, independent of anyone's perceptions. the objectively existing person, with physical and psychological characteristics seen independent of subjective distortions.
Detached type
The personality disposition to move away from others in defensive ways to protect self image and esteem.
Self-effacing solution
The personality disposition to move towards others in style of personal suffering and martyrdom.
Protective structure
The protective structure in a person consists of character attitudes of compliance, aggression, or withdrawal as well as secondary defenses or auxiliary conflict solutions. In neurotics, the protective structure, developed to protect against threats to their self-images, hinders personal growth.
Comprehensive neurotic solution
The resolution of the conflict between feelings of basic anxiety and hostility by dealing with the world and its people through the shoulds of the ideal self.
Compartmentalization
The secondary neurotic defense technique by which the individual pigeonholes his or her life into rigid and exclusive categories. Anything that occurs in one compartment cannot contradict, influence, or support whatever transpires in another.
Excessive self-control
The secondary neurotic defense technique by which the individual seeks to check all spontaneity. Emotional impulses are kept under control.
Externalization
The secondary neurotic defense technique by which the individual shifts his "center of gravity" from the self to others. Other people become the center of all of the neurotic's emotional life; one focuses not on what one thinks or feels but on the thoughts and feelings of others.
Elusiveness
The secondary neurotic defense technique that involves avoiding making any decisions whatsoever. Completely opposite to the arbitrarily right neurotic, the elusive neurotic seeks never to be pinned down to anything, never to state any issue or opinion clearly.
Cynicism
The secondary neurotic defense technique through which the individual adopts a cynical stance toward life and traditional moral and ethical values. By believing in nothing in particular, the person avoids hurt or disappointment by others.
Arbitrary rightness
The secondary neurotic defense technique through which the individual chooses one solution or one position rigidly to ward off indecision or doubt.
Rationalizations
The secondary neurotic defense technique through which the individual uses self-deception by reasoning. It offers plausible but inaccurate explanations to excuse one's failures unacceptable tendencies, thus warding off anxiety.
Blind spot
The secondary neurotic defense technique through which the person refuses to see his or her own defenses. It deals with a marked discrepancy between one's actual behaviors and one's idealized self-picture
38. For the child who is caught between the conflict of feelings of helplessness and inexpressible hostility, the "real self" he or she develops is
a. a negative self-image
44. Horney changed her usage on the term real self from indicating the damaged self-image of a child to indicate
a. a possible self
27. Karen Homey's father was
a. a ship's captain b. authoritarian c. extremely religious D. ALL OF THE ABOVE
52. Underneath the apparent simple need for harmony in the compliant character type, there is actually
a. a strong inner need to compete, excel, dominate
48. The neurotic individual who feels driven, instead of being the driver, manifests what Horney calls
a. abandonment of self-responsibility for behavior
47. The individual's alienation from his or her real self can result in
a. abandonment of self-responsibility for his or her behavior b. active moves away from the real self c. active moves against the real self D. ALL OF THE ABOVE
31. Horney used ________________ to compensate for her self-perceived defects as a child.
a. achievement in schoolwork
25. A child who keeps people at arm's length or exerts dominance over them in order to solve his survival problems is a (an) character type, according to Homey.
a. aggressive
18. The child's overwhelming helplessness may lead to
a. aggressivity b. overcompliance c. withdrawal D. ALL OF THE ABOVE
21. A person who feels lonely and helpless in a hostile world is experiencing what Horney calls
a. basic anxiety
71. The neurotic individual who has a defense of a "refusal to see" his own defenses has the creation of
a. blind
7. The neurotic trend, according to Horney, is characterized by its
a. compulsive rigidity
76. The person who adopts the Machiavellian attitude "Do what you please, so long as you don't get caught" is Horney's description of
a. cynicism
73. "Self-deception by reasoning" is the secondary defense of
a. excessive self-control
74. An individual who "will not allow himself to be carried away, whether by enthusiasm, sexual excitement, self-pity, or rage" has in Horney's terms
a. excessive self-control
17. The child's motto "I have to repress my hostility because I need you" describes the child repressing hostility because of
a. feelings of helplessness
16. Repression of basic hostility in children toward their manipulative parents is triggered by
a. feelings of helplessness b. fear c. love or guilt D. ALL OF THE ABOVE
42. The idealized image of self eventually becomes the ___________________ when it is no longer recognized as fiction.
a. idealized self
4. While the normal personality adopts each of the three stances from time to time, using them as coping strategies when necessary, the neurotic
a. is unable to shift out of one particular stance b. becomes entangled in his or her efforts to ward off anxiety c. adopts one mode in his or her strivings for safety and control D. ALL OF THE ABOVE
62. Neurotically detached individuals reject coercion and advice from others because
a. it threatens their independence
54. Aggressive individuals who need to excel by exploiting others and who attain recognition by exerting dominance and power over others are
a. moving against people
67. According to Horney, which of the neurotic trends is present in the resignation solution of the detached individual?
a. need for restriction of life to narrow borders b. need for self-sufficiency c. need for perfection D. ALL OF THE ABOVE
78. Horney believed that when a child exhibited passionate clinging to one parent and jealousy of anyone interfering with the exclusive possession of that parent, the child is presenting early manifestations of
a. neurotic conflicts
43. The ideal self becomes the _____________________ as it actualizes the fantasized image by which all difficulties in his or her life can be surmounted.
a. normal, healthy solution
14. Horney points out that the reason a child does not receive enough love and warmth from the parents is that the parents are incapable of giving it because of their
a. own neuroses
61. By being detached, the neurotic individual who "moves away from people" •
a. removes himself from emotional involvement with others b. removes himself from his own inner conflicts C. BOTH A AND B
59. Neurotic individuals who use the strategy of "moving away from people" are examples of the solution of
a. resignation
9. A person who has the neurotic need to be undemanding and contented with little has the neurotic need to
a. restricts one's life within narrow borders
69. Externalization, compartmentalization, and elusiveness are
a. secondary defenses to the primary solution of neurotic conflict
11. The individual who has a necessity never to need anyone, yield to any influence, or be tied down to anything has the neurotic need for
a. self-sufficiency and independence
65. The type of neurotically resigned individual who is without hope or positive commitment, finds life worthless, and is a "well-adapted automation" is a subvariety of
a. shallow living
53. The self-effacing type has idealized the qualities of
a. suffering
35. Homey considered _____________ after her brother's death.
a. suicide
51. The compliant character type, "moving toward others," manifests the neurotic trend of
a. the intense need for affection and approval b. the need for a partner c. the restriction of one's life within narrow borders D. ALL OF THE ABOVE
8. The neurotic trends are different in intensity from normal, healthy values in that
a. they are are disproportionate in intensity b. they are indiscriminate in application to all other persons c. they have extreme disregard for reality and provoke anxiety D. ALL OF THE ABOVE
49. The neurotic individual who succumbs to the idealized self by striving for it at all costs, perpetually and inexorably, manifests
b. active moves away from the real self
45. The term Horney used to define the totality of what a person really is besides his or her own self-perceptions, is the
b. actual self
2. Horney refers to individuals who view the world as dangerous and therefore respond with hostility as
b. aggressive personalities
39. When a child has a very negative sense of "real self," he or she develops
b. an idealized image of the self
24. A child who is passive, nonassertive, and appeasing would be a (an) character type according to Horney.
b. compliant
34. Horney's relationship with her children was
b. detached
33. In adolescence, Horney felt ___________ towards religion
b. drawn
70. The secondary defense in which the neurotic individual shifts all feelings outward to others is
b. externalization
22. The danger of the child's repression of hostility toward his own family is that
b. he will generalize his hostility toward people in general
77. Horney reinterpreted Freud's concept of the Oedipus complex from a focus on sexuality to a focus on
b. interpersonal attitudes
13.Horney referred to the "basic evil" of parents as
b. lack of genuine warmth and affection
55. The aggressive personality type, with his or her expansive solution, solves the neurotic conflict with a
b. mastery of others
57. The subvariety of the expansive type who has an inflated estimate of his own worth (as in a prophet, a man of destiny, or the benefactor of mankind), is the
b. narcissistic type
6. Horney calls the up-to-ten needs that may govern the neurotic personality
b. neurotic trends
46. Horney considered the goal for psychotherapy to be
b. providing the person with means to free the "real self"
37. Homey rebelled against classical psychoanalysis much in the same way that she had rebelled against
b. religion and her father
28. Horney's father's four children from his first marriage regarded Karen and her brother, Berndt, with
b. resentment
20. The child's fundamental motive for repressing hostility is to
b. satisfying contact with parents
10. The person whose self-evaluation depends completely on public acceptance has the neurotic need for
b. social recognition or prestige
23. Horney's concept of "basic anxiety" is most similar to
c. Jung's archetype of "shadow"
50. The neurotic individual who treats himself impersonally, due to self-hate, manifests what Homey calls
c. active moves against the real self
58. The subvariety of the expansive type who believes that people are essentially malevolent, crooked, and untrustworthy is the
c. arrogant type
29. Karen Homey's relationship to her mother was
c. close, loving, devoted
72. A person who is divided by his own conflict, as a defense against recognizing this, has the secondary defense of
c. compartmentalization
68. As Horney believed that neurotic patterns are designed to minimize anxiety in dealing with people, she also believed that the neuroses are the evidence of
c. damaged interpersonal processes
32. When Homey's excessive affection toward her brother was rejected, she became
c. depressed
3. Horney refers to individuals who remain coldly aloof and withdrawn as
c. detached personalities
75. The neurotic individual who avoids making decisions, beclouds issues, or never states any opinion clearly is using the secondary defense of
c. elusiveness
5. Horney believed that at the center of psychic disturbances are unconscious strivings developed in order to cope with life despite
c. fears, helplessness, and isolation
19. In a family where genuine warmth and affection is replaced by the parents' continual verbal protestations of how much they are sacrificing for the child, the child's motto would be "1 have to repress my hostility
c. for fear of losing love
56. The common denominator of all of the subvarieties of the expansive type is
c. identification of the neurotic's real self with his idealized self
60. The motive for the neurotic who "moves away from people" is to
c. never to be dependent on anyone
12. Both Adler and Horney believed that one of the most powerful early perceptions of a child is his or her
c. perceived helplessness
30. In her earlier years, Homey coped with her feelings by performing altruistic, self- sacrificing deeds. However, when she was nine years old, she shifted strategies and became
c. rebellious and openly ambitious
63. Passive resistance to life and continual emotional inertia describes the resigned neurotic who has
c. rebelliousness
64. Active resistance to the "trivia" of life and the appeal of freedom and independence from others describes the resigned neurotic who has
c. rebelliousness
41. Horney's list of the neurotic's things he or she ought to be or do is the
c. tyranny of the shoulds
26. The child who creates a protective shell of isolation in order to cope with basic hostility and anxiety is a (an) character type, according to Homey.
c. withdrawn
15. The main result in the child with indifferent, inconsistent parents is
d. basic hostility
36. The central conflicts of Homey's life were
d. feelings of inadequacy and resentment of being made to feel that way by her family
40. The idealized self-image is the substitute for
d. genuine self-confidence and pride
66. The common denominator of the three types of detached resigned types is
d. vacillation between identification with despised real self and ideal self
79. Monte concludes that Homey's theories
d. were brilliant descriptions of neuroses
Rationalization
defense mechanism that offers self-justifying explanations in place of the real, more threatening, unconscious reasons for one's actions
negative real self
despised self
Creation of blind spots
inability to see how different one is from one's ideal image
tyranny of the shoulds
list of things neurotics feel they ought to do
potent childhood perception
perceived helplessness
Arbitrary rightness
secondary adjustment technique in which a person rigidly declares that his or her own view is correct
rationalization
self-deception by reasoning
"basic evil" of parents
the cause of "basic hostility" in a child
actual self
the objective totality of what a person really is
Solution of resignation
the personality disposition to act in a detached and withdrawn of behavior.