Karen Horney's Theories

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the ideas of Karen Horney regarding personality development and how they were integrated into modern psychoanalysis therapies and personality development theory. The paper explains that the foundation of Horney's study rested on the tenet that social, cultural, environmental, and parental factors, influences, and issues shape child development more so than do biological factors. The paper also points out that Karen Horney developed her theory of personality development long before social and environmental influences were deemed important to a child's psychological development and that, while not widely-received in her time, portions of her ideas have been integrated into modern psychoanalytic thought and child rearing practices.

From the Paper:

"During the early decades of this century, Freud and his sexual drive theories were the standard psychoanalytical theories pertaining to neurotic disorders and personality development. His stages of childhood development rested within a framework of psychosexual development. Horney, along with others, established what would later be termed the "cultural school"1 of psychoanalytic theory. This school of thought believed that biological factors did not drive the body and the mind, but rather that ruling factor in mental growth was believed to be the child's relationship with his or her parents. The child's early social experiences were considered the key factors in this mental and personality development. In Horney's analysis, biological factors were secondary to sociological variables. Culture, people, and relationships determined personality development, types, idiosyncrasies, and ultimately neurosis."

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