Abstract The paper discusses how KarenHorney was a leading reformer and theorist in the field of psychology and psychoanalysis and one of the first major proponents of feminine psychology. The paper looks at Horney's personal life and how she served as an inspiration to women psychologists everywhere. The paper explains that in recognizing that women had dreams of self-actualization, just like men, KarenHorney showed the world that women could also achieve and be fulfilled. The paper also discusses how her work has not received the full attention it deserves.
Outline:
Introduction
Birth and Early Childhood
Adolescence and Awakening
Student of Psychology
The Acceptance of Self-Actualization
Critiques of Horney's Ideas
KarenHorney and Women Psychologists
Summary
Conclusion
From the Paper "Karen Horney was born Karen Clementine Theodore Danielsen on September 15, 1885 in a suburb of Hamburg, Germany. As befits a child who would one day devote her adult life to understanding some of the universal themes of humanity, Horney's parents were of varied background. Her father was a Norwegian sea captain, a widower with four teenaged children of his own, and naturalized citizen of the German Empire. His second wife, and Karen's mother, was a woman of Dutch-German noble extraction (O'Connell & Russo, 1990, p. 184). Her fifty-year-old father, and thirty-two-year-old mother had already had one child together, Karen's brother, Berndt - this child would remain their favorite (O'Connell & Russo, 1990, p. 184)."
Abstract This paper discusses the theories of KarenHorney, who was the first female psychologist of any note in a time when all of the great theorists were men. Her theories sought to uncover the causes of neuroses. The paper explores the theoretical basis of Horney's theories and then compares them to those of her contemporaries, particularly Sigmund Freud, Alfred Adler, Erick Fromm and Carl Rogers.
Table of Contents:
Theory of Neurotic Needs
Horney and Freud
Alfred Adler
Erick Fromm
Carl Rogers
Discussion
From the Paper "Horney, Freud and Adler focused on childhood as the source of experiences that lead to neuroses. However, there was not mention in any of the theories as to whether they felt that this was the only time when neuroses developed, or whether one could develop these differences between expectations and what one felt later in life. This was a major point that was left out of almost every major theory and represents a major flaw in Horney's theory as well. It is not known if she felt that the only time to develop neuroses was in childhood.
Horney, Rogers, and Fromm emphasized that each and every person has an idea of how and what they should be. However, this view may not be realistic or attainable. The difference between normalcy and neurosis is the ability to achieve the final goal. One example of this is the perfectionist that never feels that what they do is good enough. They will never achieve their expectations and there will always be inconsistency in what they believe they should be and what they are."
Abstract This paper discusses the life and works of KarenHorney, a recognized psychologist who practiced in the early 1900s. It describes her life at home with her parents and how this influenced her work. The paper focuses on Horney's views on neurosis and discusses the ten different stages that she believed that neurotics need to attain to prevent them from experiencing great anxiety.
From the Paper "Karen Horney was born on September 16, 1885 to Clotilde and Berndt Wackels Danielson. Horney's father, Berndt, was an authoritarian and she believed that he liked her brother more then he liked her. Her mother, Clotilde, was considered to be more suave then her father, and was also 19 years younger. Her parents also came from different social backgrounds. Her father was the son of a watchmaker, while her mother was the daughter of architect. She also had a tender and possibly sexual relationship with her brother who was four years older then her. However, he rejected her when she was around 8 years of age. In her childhood she felt like she was not wanted by not only her parents, but by her brother too. This could have been because of the martial problems that were happening between her parents and the later rejection by her brother. Because of these childhood difficulties she went through a bout of depression. It was in 1904 that her parents got divorced and there is no account of her father after this point in time. In 1906 she entered medical school against not only her parents' wishes, but the whole political society. During her time in medical school she met a law student by the name of Oscar Horney whom she married in 1909. In 1911 her mother died which put a strain on Horney; however it was these events that caused her to start psychoanalysis. In 1913 she received her MD from the University of Berlin. In 1923 Oscar Horney lost his job and got meningitis. These strains of events on him lead him to become a broke, morose and argumentative individual. It was also this year that Horney's brother died. When all of these events happened it lead her to consider pursuing her thoughts of suicide. She did attempt suicide during one vacation when she swam out to a sea piling. In 1926 Horney moved to Brooklyn, NY where she developed her first theories on neurosis. She passed away after much accomplished in 1952 at the age of 67. (Paris, 1994)"
Abstract The paper explores KarenHorney's theories of personality, neurosis and sexuality and explains her emphasis on social, cultural and interpersonal dimensions of personality development and neuroses. The paper highlights the importance of her divergence from the speculative views and theories of Freudian psychology.
Outline:
Introduction
Overview of the Theory of Personality
From the Paper "The work of Karen Horney is recognized as an extremely significant contribution to the theory of personality. Her work is also acclaimed in the area of psychoanalysis and in field of feminine psychology. Horney is also known for her reformulation of Freudian theories of personality and neurosis. In essence her work is described, albeit simplistically, as presenting a,"... holistic, humanistic perspective that emphasized cultural and social influences, human growth, and the achievement of self-realization" (O'Connell & Russo, 1990, p. 184)
"Karen Honey was also the first woman to present a paper on feminine psychology at an international conference. However, more importantly, "she pioneered and developed a feminine psychology that provided a new way of thinking about women" (O'Connell & Russo, 1990, p. 184). She is credited with opening " new frontiers" in the conceptualization of personality and in psychoanalysis, which influenced a diverse range of theories, theorists and psychoanalytic practitioners; including humanists, cognitive therapists, psychoanalysts, feminists, and existentialists. (O'Connell & Russo, 1990)."
Abstract Orgastic potency, the true self and the false self are three concepts elaborated by Wilhelm Reich, Donald Winnicott and KarenHorney describing the healthy mental (and physical) state that every person should strive to attain. The individual approaches that the three theorists adopted in their analysis of character structure include many divergent notions and a small number of consistencies. The paper provides a comparison of Reich's theories and therapeutic technique with those devised by Winnicott and Horney to underline the departures and similarities between the three concepts.
Outline
I. Comparison
1. Centrality of the Body vs. Object Relations
2. Sources of Neurosis
3. Mechanisms of Character Disorders
a. Reich
b. Winnicott
c. Horney 4. Methods of Effective Therapy
a. Reich
b. Winnicott
c. Horney References
From the Paper "Winnicott's therapeutic method reproduces the maternal environment where the analyst plays the part of the mother and the patient that of the child. In the context of interactive play, the analyst encourages the patient to regress to childhood and then, by displaying empathy and meeting the patient's needs, embraces the emergence of his "true self".
For Horney, the objective of therapy is to decrease people's anxiety until they are prepared to let go of their neurotic solution."
Abstract KarenHorney (1885-1953) was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who has become popularly known as a prominent opponent of Freud's approach to feminine psychology. But this work formed only a part of Horney's career and her most important contribution to psychoanalysis is her mature theory, in which she also departed from Freud, that stresses relationships and other social factors as the primary forces operating in the development and functioning of personality.
From the Paper "Karen Horney (1885-1953) was a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who has become popularly known as a prominent opponent of Freud's approach to feminine psychology. But this work formed only a part of Horney's career and her most important contribution to psychoanalysis is her mature theory, in which she also departed from Freud, that stresses relationships and other social factors as the primary forces operating in the development and functioning of personality. Horney's theory developed steadily throughout her long career and her departures from psychoanalytic orthodoxy often isolated her at first, and then led to productive work that attracted followers.
Horney was born Karen Danielsen in Hamburg, Germany. In the early part of the century there was, among educated Europeans, a growing "atmosphere of social and political excitement concerning ..."
Abstract This paper applies the personality theories of KarenHorney, Erik Erikson, Abraham Maslow, and Gordon Allport to the life of John Lennon. The author gives a detailed analysis of the development stages of each theory, how they apply to John Lennon and how they are used to explain, understand as well as predict behavior.
From the Paper "Personality is the term used to describe the enduring, stable characteristics of our lives as they are perceived by ourselves and others (Schultz, D. & Schultz, S.,2001). It is consistent throughout our lifetime and across varying situations, and is the driving force behind all our decisions and actions. Formal personality theories are created by psychologists, and are used to explain and understand behavior, as well as predict it. Useful personality theories should be able to be tested, and the results should be used to accept or reject parts of the theory. The best way to test a personality theory is to apply it to a real person, someone who has gone through all the proposed stages or sections of the theory, to see if the components of the theory hold true in real life. A good theory should provide explanations for the various actions and choices that a person has made in their life, a poor theory would leave these questions unanswered."
This paper examines the personality theory of psychoanalyst KarenHorney: Differences with Sigmund Freud, emphasizing social relationships over sexual neuroses.
1,350 words (approx. 5.4 pages), 4 sources, 1991, $ 47.95
From the Paper "This study will examine the personality theory of psychoanalyst Karen Horney. Horney's personality theory was formed in part as a negative response to the theory of Sigmund Freud. Specifically, Horney differed with Freud with respect to the latter's emphasis on the biological aspects of personality development.
Horney, accordingly, did not "believe in the castration and Oedipus complexes as described by Freud, nor did she accept the psychosexual stages of oral, anal, and phallic. She rejected Freud's concept of penis envy as the determining factor in the psychology of women".
Horney argued that Freud was wrong in concluding that aggression was an innate trait in human beings. Horney, to the contrary, argued that aggression was a tool used by the ... "
From the Paper "Karen Horney (1895-1952) was born in Hamburg, Germany, daughter of a Norwegian sea captain and a Dutch mother of "free thinking" ways. She was among the first generation of psychiatrists to study under Sigmund Freud, founding father of modern psychoanalysis, after his theories had become generally accepted in European circles in the early 20th century. Unlike Freud, thirty years her senior, Karen Horney's upper-middle-class Protestant credentials grounded her with a sense of social assurance and stability during her upbringing that the older man did not enjoy. Since, by his own records of self-analysis, Freud spent much of his adult life reacting to his childhood traumas of Jewish displacement/disadvantage in the changing Austrian society of the day, Horney's security must be considered an equally important foundation ... "
Abstract The paper examines the mental illness from the perspectives of KarenHorney and Sigmund Freud, two of the more known psychological theorists. The paper explains that borderline personality disorder is characterized by a depressed mood, certain addictions and a dramatic or erratic antisocial personality. The paper shows how the theories of Horney and Freud present two very different views of personality disorders. The paper maintains that by combining these theories of personalities and behaviors, researchers and psychologists are better able to understand and treat borderline personality disorders on an individualized basis.
From the Paper "Personality disorders affect ten to fifteen percent of the population of the United States (Bienenfeld, 2005). As defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association (APA DSM-IV), personality disorders are signified by an enduring pattern of behavior that is different than that which is expected by society and that is pervasive and distressful or impairing (APA DSM-IV, 1994). Of the ten personality disorders currently recognized by the DSM-IV, borderline personality is perhaps one of the most overused in diagnosis, affecting nearly two percent of the U.S. population, with more than three times as many cases among women as in men."
Abstract This paper examines how psychoanalytic theory has had one of the most influential impacts on personality theory and development. It looks at how Freud, Erikson and Horney have uniquely contributed to the stimulation of new ideas regarding the human psyche and its development from infancy to adulthood to death.
Outline:
Introduction
Freud: Psychoanalytic Theory
Erikson and Development
Horney and Development
From the Paper "It is of historical interest that although Freud spent nearly his entire life formulating, reformulating and developing his theories into one cohesive framework, the fundamental concepts behind psychoanalytic theory remained unrefined. It would be up to his followers to branch out from his theories, taking with them an important classical psychoanalytic construct that would later become a "neo-Freudian" theory independent of its classical roots. Although they shared the common notion that his view on sexuality was overemphasized, they retained the structural model of the psyche (particularly the ego) and, with regard to development, the different stages with corresponding tasks or conflicts that must be resolved for normal development. "
Abstract This essay takes a psychohistorical approach to the life of Marilyn Monroe, using the psychological theories of Alfred Adler, KarenHorney and Melanie Klein to explain some of the factors behind the actress's behavior.
This paper analyzes, based on the theries of Sigmund Freud and Karen Horey, the TV character "Ally McBeal", from the Fox comedy series of the same name.
Abstract This paper discusses the character Ally McBeal and the plot of the show pointing out some unusual behaviors such as hallucinating. The author states that, according to Freud, McBeal's character is suffering from suppressed memories, and the need for sex and marriage is in her unconscious. The author states that according to KarenHorney, McBeal's character depicts a prenatal stage.
From the Paper "McBeal is a smart, pretty woman who followed her high-school boyfriend, Billy Thomas, to Harvard Law school, where he dumped her to pursue his own career, leaving McBeal pining for him. Now, McBeal joins a prominent Boston Law firm, where she is stunned to discover that the true love of her life, Billy, is also on the payroll. There are plenty of emotional issues to deal with and things get complicated when Billy's wife, Georgia, confronts McBeal. We soon learn that McBeal is an emotional wreck and we are allowed to see all of her fears acted out in peculiar fantasy segments."
Abstract This paper explains that the case of Karen Leary, manager for a Merrill Lynch investment company office and Ted Chung, one of her financial consultants, raises issues of management style, the ability to recognize the value of subordinate, and the need to accommodate cultural differences. The author stresses that, given that one of the reasons for hiring Mr. Chung in the first place was to nurture business in Taiwan, the issue of cultural differences becomes especially important and must be addressed early to prevent creating hard feelings and a bad reputation in the target market. The paper analyzes the case in terms of specific elements in the behavior of both Karen Leary and Ted Chung and in light of a consideration of management principles and observed cultural differences between American business and business in Taiwan.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Summary
Karen Leary (A)
Conclusion
From the Paper "Karen Leary has to determine what to do about his request. Her own background is important to the degree that it informs this case and suggests why she reacts as show does and what decision she is likely to make. Her superiors see her as sales-oriented and as having developed an innovative sales and training program. As manager, she also oversees brokers' trades and has been praised for the way she achieves that task. Her superiors are happy that she has increased business by 30 percent, but some of her underlings are less pleased because she is a hard task master and keeps after them more than they believe she should or needs to do."
Abstract A look at the life of Karen Carpenter and the manner in which she suffered from anorexia nervosa. There are a number of factors in a person's life that can lead to a psychiatric disorder. This paper discusses how it is interesting to look at Karen Carpenter's life and what could have caused her to experience anorexia nervosa.
From the Paper "Karen Carpenter was born March 2, 1950 in New Haven, CT and moved to Downey, CA in 1963. Karen looked upon herself as a tomboy who enjoyed playing baseball and badminton. By the time Karen was 10, she had a typical and robust appetite. She was popular due to her ?funny and caring personality, but was also hurt by other kids teasing her for her tendency to chubbiness. During puberty, her parents felt that her "weightiness" did not bother her and that she accepted any teasing about it cheerfully (LeadSister.com).? However, a close friend of hers, Frank Bonito, now acknowledges "she always felt she was unattractive. Especially when she became a woman she had large hips. No matter how thin she got on top, her hips were always big" (LeadSister.com).? "
