Sociocultural theory of personality by Karen Horney

The impetus for the formation of a sociocultural view of personality was provided by three main considerations Horney.

Firstly, she rejected the statements 3. Freud regarding women, and especially his assertion that their biological nature predicts penis envy. When 3. Freud, analyzing the development and formation of femininity, argued that the main driving force in the development of women is the desire to become a man, without a doubt, and we were talking about emancipated women who really have an internal desire to become equal to a man, to achieve his spiritual and moral freedom. But a feminine woman does not feel the slightest need for emancipation. And so when the American psychoanalyst K. Horney rejects 3. Freud's view on the psychology of a woman, on her desire to acquire the attributes of the male sex, to become a man, then she says that a woman, physically created for specifically female functions, in psychological aspect cannot be determined by the desire to have the attributes of the other sex. It can be assumed that in this case she is talking about a true woman who has a small percentage of masculinity or does not show it at all. The desire of adult women to be a man, states K. Horney, is typical only for neurotic women. Such manifestations as the tendency to dictatorial power, ambition, to envy others and scold them are an element of the neuroses of our time in both women and men.

Equally A. Adler believes that a woman's desire to be a man can be associated with the desire to have all the privileges that are considered masculine in our culture, such as strength, courage, independence, success, sexual freedom, the right to choose a partner.

And if during Freud’s time it was believed that women were also characterized by masochism and fear of losing love, then K. Horney denies such a view of a woman, she says that masochism is not originally a female phenomenon. K. Horney believes that the reasons are not in biology, but in culture.

Masochism, she argues, is a manifestation of an attempt to achieve security and satisfaction in life through one's own invisibility and dependence, this method helps to achieve dominance over others through weakness and suffering. The fear of losing love is also embedded in the culture. For centuries, women's work was limited to the family circle. Love and devotion began to be seen as specific feminine virtues. K. Horney believes that there are two reasons for a woman’s dissatisfaction with her female role: in a society where human relationships are disrupted, it is difficult to achieve happiness in life; similar situation and gives rise to a feeling of inferiority, and therefore dissatisfaction with oneself as a woman. While conducting household was considered serious matter, the number of children was not limited, the woman felt design factor economic process. This foundation has disappeared and the woman has lost her foundation. Any person feels unworthy if he is not loved and not highly valued. We see a similar devaluation of the original female role in our culture today. In women thrown out of society by various reasons, a feeling of uselessness appears, self-esteem decreases, and depressive states develop.

Secondly, Horney was convinced that sociocultural conditions have a profound influence on the development and functioning of the individual.

Thirdly, clinical observations of her patients showed profound differences in their personality dynamics depending on the cultural environment in which they lived (Europe, USA), which was confirmation cultural factors in personality development. Noting, like 3. Freud, the importance of childhood experiences in the formation of the personality structure of an adult, Horney argued that childhood is characterized by two needs:

Need for satisfaction;

Need for security.

Satisfaction covers all basic biological needs: food, sleep, etc. And although Horney attached importance to the satisfaction of needs for ensuring physical survival, she did not believe that they play a major role in the formation of personality. The main thing, in her opinion, in the development of a child is the need for safety. The fundamental motive in this case is to be loved, desired, protected. If parents and the immediate environment do not satisfy these needs, then suppressed feelings of resentment, indignation, and hostility manifest themselves in the child’s relationships with other people, both in the present and in the future (basic anxiety - “a feeling of helplessness in the face of potential dangerous world») .

Horney argued that these needs are present in all people. They help cope with feelings of rejection, hostility, and helplessness that are inevitable in life. However, a neurotic, reacting to various situations, uses these needs inflexibly. He forcibly relies on only one of all possible needs. A healthy person easily replaces one with the other if changing circumstances require it.

Horney subsequently divides all needs into three main categories, each of which represents strategies for optimizing interpersonal relationships in order to achieve a sense of security in the world around us. Each strategy is accompanied by a certain basic orientation in relationships with people.

People-oriented: compliant personality type. This orientation presupposes a style of interaction characterized by dependence, indecisiveness, and helplessness. The compliant type needs to be needed, loved, protected, led.

Such people establish relationships with sole purpose– avoid feelings of loneliness, helplessness, uselessness.

Orientation from people: isolated type. This orientation is found in those individuals who adhere to the defensive “I don’t care” attitude. Such people are guided erroneous belief: “If I pull away, I’ll be fine.”

This type of personality is characterized by the attitude of in no way allowing oneself to be carried away, whether we are talking about love story, work or leisure. As a result, they lose true interest in people and get used to superficial pleasures. They are characterized by a desire for privacy, independence, and self-sufficiency.

Orientation against people: hostile type. This style of behavior is characterized by dominance, hostility, and exploitation. This person acts based on the illusory belief “I have power, no one will touch me.” The hostile type holds the view that all other people are aggressive and that life is a struggle against everyone. Therefore, he considers any situation or relationship from the position of “what will I get from this?”, regardless of what we're talking about– money, prestige, contacts or ideas. Horney noted that this type of personality is capable of acting tactfully and friendly, but his behavior is ultimately always aimed at gaining control and power over others. All his needs revolve around the desire to increase his own prestige, status, and satisfy personal ambitions. That is, the main need of this type is to exploit others, to gain public recognition and admiration.

Horney's personality theory made a significant contribution to the development of personality psychology; within the framework of this theory, the concept of self-image was first introduced, which became one of cornerstones modern science. Just as later, he comes to the conclusion about the dominant influence of society and the social environment on the development of the individual. She argued that development is not predetermined only by innate instincts, but a person can change and continue his formation throughout life. This possibility of change also leads to the fact that there is no fatal doom to neurosis that he spoke about. Horney argued that there is a clear line between normality and pathology and therefore there is hope for a complete recovery even in neurotic people. The concept she developed was reflected in many of her works and, above all, in the books “New Paths to Psychoanalysis” (1939) and “Neurosis and Human Development” (1950).

Horney's personality theory proceeds from the fact that the dominant ones in the personality structure are not the instincts of aggression or libido, but the unconscious feeling of anxiety, restlessness, which Horney calls the feeling of fundamental anxiety. Defining this feeling, Horney writes that it is associated with “the child’s feeling of loneliness and helplessness in a potentially hostile world.” Thus, her theory retains not only Freud’s idea of ​​the meaning of the unconscious, but also his idea of ​​antagonism between the external world and man.

Horney believes that the reasons for the development of this anxiety may be the parents’ alienation from the child, their excessive care, suppression of the child’s personality, a hostile atmosphere or discrimination, or, conversely, too much admiration for the child. How can such contradictory factors become the basis for the development of anxiety? Answering this question, Horney distinguished two types of anxiety - physiological and psychological. Physiological is associated with the child’s desire to satisfy his urgent needs in food, drink, comfort. The child is afraid that he will not be swaddled or fed on time and therefore constantly experiences such anxiety in the first weeks of his existence. However, over time, if the mother and those around him take care of him and meet his needs, this anxiety goes away. If his needs are not met, anxiety grows, becoming the background for a person’s general neuroticism.

However, if getting rid of physiological anxiety is achieved by simply caring for and meeting the basic needs of children, then overcoming psychological anxiety is more complex process, since it is associated with the development of the adequacy of the self-image. The introduction of the concept of self-image is one of most important discoveries Horney.

Horney believed that there are several images of the self: the real self, the ideal self, and the self in the eyes of other people. Ideally, these three images of the Self should coincide with each other; only in this case can we talk about the normal development of the personality and its resistance to neuroses. In the event that the ideal self differs from the real self, a person cannot treat himself well and this interferes with the normal development of personality, causes tension, anxiety, and self-doubt in a person, i.e. is the basis of his neuroticism. The discrepancy between the real Self and the image of the Self in the eyes of other people also leads to neurosis, and in in this case it doesn’t matter whether others think of a person better or worse than he thinks of himself. Thus, it becomes clear that neglect, negative attitude towards a person, as well as excessive admiration for him, lead to the development of anxiety, since in both cases the opinion of others does not coincide with the real image of the Self.

In order to get rid of anxiety, a person resorts to psychological defense, which Freud wrote about. However, Horney is reconsidering this position as well. Freud believed that psychological defense helps resolve internal conflicts, arising between two personality structures - the Id and the Super-Ego, and from Horney’s point of view, psychological defense is aimed at overcoming the conflict between society and a person, since its task is to bring a person’s opinion about himself into line with the opinion of others about him, i.e. . bring the two images into line. J. Horney identifies three main types of protection, which are based on the satisfaction of certain neurotic needs. If normally all these needs and, accordingly, all these types of defense are harmoniously combined with each other, then in case of deviations one of them begins to dominate, leading to the development of one or another neurotic complex in a person.

A person finds protection either in striving for people (compliant type), or in striving against people ( aggressive type), or in aspiration from people (removed type).

When developing a desire for people, a person hopes to overcome his anxiety through agreement with others in the hope that in response to his conformist position they will not notice (or pretend not to notice) the inadequacy of his self-image. The problem is that when In this case, the subject develops such neurotic needs as the need for affection and approval, the need for a partner who would take care of him, the need to be the subject of admiration of other people, the need for prestige. Like any neurotic needs, they are unrealistic and unsatisfiable, i.e. a person, having achieved recognition or admiration from others, tries to receive more and more praise and recognition, experiencing fear of the slightest, often imaginary signs of coldness or disapproval. Such people absolutely cannot stand loneliness, experiencing horror at the thought that they might be left without communication. This constant voltage and serves as the basis for the development of neurosis.

The development of protection in the form of withdrawal, desire “from people” makes it possible for a person to ignore the opinions of others, left alone with his self-image. However, even in this case, neurotic needs develop, in particular, the need to limit one’s life within narrow boundaries, the need for autonomy and independence, the need to be perfect and invulnerable. Disappointed in the opportunity to establish warm relationships with others, such a person tries to be invisible and independent of others. Out of fear of criticism, he tries to seem unapproachable, although deep down he remains insecure and tense. This approach leads a person to complete loneliness, isolation, which is difficult to experience and can also serve as the basis for the development of neurosis.

An attempt to overcome anxiety by imposing one’s self-image on other people by force also does not end in success, since in this case the person develops such neurotic needs as the need to exploit others, the desire for personal achievements, and power. The signs of attention, respect and submission that they accept from others seem increasingly insufficient to them, and in their anxiety these people need more and more power and dominance, which would serve as proof of their adequacy.

The function of psychotherapy, in Horney's theory of personality, is to help a person understand himself and form a more adequate idea of ​​himself. It should be noted that Horney's approach to the concept psychological protection significantly influenced the positions modern psychology, which is recognized by most researchers as well as its role in the development of the sociological school of psychoanalysis.

Structure. Karen Horney, like Adler, Jung, Erikson and Fromm, followed the fundamental principles of Freud's theory. Most important question, on which she debated with Freud, was the decisive role of physical anatomy in determining the psychological differences between women and men. K. Horney also objected to his theory of instincts and believed that psychoanalysis should adhere to a broader sociocultural orientation. In her works, she emphasized the importance of cultural and social influences on personality. Although her theory applies to to a greater extent to neurotic patients than to healthy individuals, many of her ideas led to significant advances in understanding individual differences and interpersonal relationships.

The basis for the formation of a sociocultural view of personality was three key points. Firstly, the author's disagreement with Freud's opinion regarding the psychology of women and especially his assertion that their biological nature is predetermined by penis envy. Secondly, her belief that sociocultural conditions have a profound influence on the development and functioning of the individual. Thirdly, clinical observations of patients with whom K. Horney worked in the USA and Europe, which reflected significant differences in their personal dynamics, which confirmed the influence of cultural factors. These observations led the author to the conclusion that unique styles of interpersonal relationships underlie personality disorders.

Process and development. Horney agreed with Freud about the importance of childhood experiences for the formation of the structure and functioning of personality in adults. According to her beliefs, the decisive factor in the development of personality is social relations between child and parents.

According to K. Horney, childhood is characterized by two needs: need for satisfaction and need for security. Satisfaction covers all basic biological needs: food, sleep, etc. She did not believe that they play a major role in the formation of personality. The main thing in a child’s development is the need for safety. In this case, the underlying motive is to be loved, desired and protected from danger or a hostile world. Horney believed that the child was completely dependent on his parents to satisfy this need for security. If parents show true love and warmth towards the child, thereby satisfying his need for safety. Thanks to this, it is most likely to form healthy personality. If the behavior of parents interferes with the satisfaction of the need for security, pathological personality development is very likely. However, the main result of inadequate treatment on the part of parents is the development of a basal hostility attitude in the child. In this case, the child finds himself between two fires: he depends on his parents and at the same time experiences feelings of resentment and indignation towards them. This conflict gives rise to such defense mechanisms, like repression. As a result, the behavior of a child who does not feel safe in parental family, is guided by feelings of helplessness, fear, love and guilt, which serve as psychological defense, the purpose of which is to suppress hostile feelings towards parents in order to survive.

Repressed feelings of anger and hostility, caused by parents, manifest themselves in all the child’s relationships with other people, both in the present and in the future. IN such a case they say that the child has basal anxiety, “a feeling of loneliness and helplessness in the face of a potentially dangerous world.”

Norm and pathology. As already noted, a healthy personality develops if the key need in this sense is satisfied - the need for security. Even if physical conditions The child’s life leaves much to be desired (lack of nutrition, poor home conditions), love, warmth and acceptance from adults neutralizes these deficits, and in general an internal feeling of comfort and well-being is formed. The unsatisfactory attitude of others frustrates the need for security, resulting in so-called basal anxiety and basal hostility to the world. Basal anxiety is one of the fundamental concepts in K. Horney's theory.

Basal anxiety plays a key role in the etiology of neuroses. Horney did not believe that anxiety was necessary component in the human psyche. This is an adequate response to inadequate living conditions. From this point of view, the etiology of neurotic behavior should be sought in the disturbed relationship between the child and the parent. Severe basal anxiety in a child leads to the formation of neurosis in an adult.

According to K. Horney, neurotic needs act as strategies to compensate for basal anxiety. They serve to utilize feelings of insufficient security, helplessness and hostility. Being common to all people, these needs help to cope with feelings of alienation, hostility and powerlessness that are inevitable in every person's life. A healthy personality has the ability to vary them, change them in accordance with current circumstances. The neurotic personality tends to use these needs inflexibly. Being, in fact, a hostage to one or two neurotic needs, the neurotic in all situations actualizes them, without correlating with the originality current moment. K. Horney described ten such strategies, called neurotic needs, or neurotic tendencies, each of which corresponds to a specific type of behavior (see Table 5).

Neurotic needs and their behavioral manifestations according to K. Horney

Table 5

Horney divided her list of ten needs into three main categories. Each of the categories represents a strategy for optimizing interpersonal relationships in order to achieve a sense of security in the world around us. In other words, their effect is to reduce anxiety and achieve a more or less acceptable life. In addition, each strategy is accompanied by a certain basic orientation in relationships with other people.

People-oriented: compliant type. People orientation involves a style of interaction characterized by dependence, indecisiveness, and helplessness. Despite his alienation and fears, such a person tries to win the love and affection of others and seek support for himself in them.

The compliant type needs to be needed, loved, protected and led. Such people enter into relationships with the sole purpose of avoiding feelings of loneliness, helplessness, or uselessness. However, their politeness may mask a repressed need to behave aggressively. Although such a person seems to be embarrassed in the presence of others and keeps a low profile, this behavior often hides hostility, anger, and rage.

Orientation from people: isolated type. Orientation from people as a strategy for optimizing interpersonal relationships is found in those individuals who adhere to the defensive attitude: “I don’t care.” Such people are guided by the belief in the benefits of isolation.

The isolated type is characterized by the attitude of in no way allowing oneself to be carried away and included in any relationship. As a result, they lose true interest in people, get used to superficial pleasures and move through life dispassionately. This strategy is characterized by a desire for privacy, independence and self-sufficiency.

Orientation against people: hostile type. Anti-people orientation is a style of behavior characterized by dominance, hostility and exploitation. The hostile type holds the view that all other people are aggressive and that life is a struggle against everyone. Therefore, he views any situation or relationship from the position of selfish interest, regardless of what we are talking about - money, prestige, contacts or ideas. K. Horney noted that the hostile type is capable of acting tactfully and friendly, but in the end his behavior is always aimed at gaining control and power over others. Everything is aimed at increasing one’s own prestige, status or satisfying personal ambitions. Thus, this strategy expresses the need to exploit others and gain social recognition and admiration.

Like all ten neurotic needs, each of the three interpersonal strategies designed to reduce feelings of anxiety caused by social influences in childhood. From Horney's point of view, these fundamental strategies in interpersonal relationships each of us ever applies. Moreover, according to Horney, all these three strategies are in conflict with each other in both a healthy and a neurotic personality. However, in healthy people this conflict does not carry such a strong emotional charge as in patients with neuroses. A healthy person is characterized by great flexibility, he is able to change strategies according to circumstances. But a neurotic is unable to do right choice between these three strategies when he resolves issues that confront him or builds relationships with others. He uses only one of three coping strategies, whether it is suitable in this case or not. It follows from this that a neurotic person, compared to a healthy person, behaves less flexibly and is not as effective in solving life problems.

Discussing the neurotic personality of our time, which is formed under the influence of social values ​​and trends and is a reflection of social contradictions, K. Horney argues that neurotic behavior can be easily observed in five key aspects of relationships: the aspect of love and affection; assessment aspect; aspect of self-affirmation; aspect of aggressiveness; aspect of sexuality. In relationships of love and affection, a neurotic person is overly dependent on the approval and affection of other people. Moreover, this dependence is disproportionate to the importance of these people in the life of a neurotic personality. This is the expectation of approval and praise from unfamiliar people, from people for whom the person himself does not feel love. In the context of a possible third-party assessment, the neurotic demonstrates extreme insecurity; he is characterized by feelings of inferiority and insecurity. Regarding self-affirmation, a neurotic reveals a lot of prohibitions: on the expression of his thoughts, desires, contacts, interests. Neurotic personality difficult to refuse, difficult to defend. Aggressive manifestations neurotics have two various types. One option is a tendency to aggression, over-demandingness, and criticism. Another option is the impression of the aggressiveness of the world and one’s own constant susceptibility to attacks. In the sexual sphere neurotic manifestations behaviors are of a similar nature, that is, there is either excessive sexual activity without experiencing the depth and differentiation of relationships, or a ban on sexuality and its manifestations.

The impetus for the formation of a sociocultural view of personality was Horney’s three main considerations.

First, she rejected Freud's statements about women and especially his assertion that their biological nature predetermines penis envy. This was the starting point for her divergence from the orthodox Freudian position.

Secondly, during her stay in Chicago and New York, she exchanged views with such outstanding scientists as Erich Fromm, Margaret Mead and Harry Stack Sullivan. They strengthened her conviction that sociocultural conditions have a profound influence on the development and functioning of the individual.

Third, her clinical observations of patients in Europe and the United States showed striking differences in personality dynamics, providing evidence for the influence of cultural factors. These observations led her to the conclusion that unique interpersonal styles underlie personality disorders.

Personality development

Horney agreed with Freud about the importance of childhood experiences for the formation of the structure and functioning of personality in adults. Despite the commonality of basic positions, both scientists disagreed on the issue of the specifics of personality formation. Horney did not accept Freud's assertions about the existence of universal psychosexual stages and that the sexual anatomy of the child dictates a certain direction of further personality development. According to her beliefs, the decisive factor in personality development is the social relationship between the child and parents.

According to Horney, childhood is characterized by two needs: need for satisfaction and need for security. Satisfaction covers all basic biological needs: food, sleep, etc. Although Horney emphasized the satisfaction of needs for physical survival, she did not believe that they play a major role in the formation of personality. The main thing in a child’s development is the need for safety. In this case, the underlying motive is to be loved, desired and protected from danger or a hostile world. Horney believed that the child was completely dependent on his parents to satisfy this need for security. If parents show true love and warmth towards their child, their need for security is thereby satisfied. Thanks to this, a healthy personality is most likely to be formed. Conversely, if parental behavior interferes with the satisfaction of the need for security, pathological personality development is very likely.

The main result of parental abuse is the development of the child's attitude basal hostility.

Repressed feelings of resentment and hostility, which are caused by parents, do not exist on their own: they manifest themselves in all the child’s relationships with other people, both in the present and in the future. In such a case, they say that the child has basal anxiety,a feeling of loneliness and helplessness in the face of a potentially dangerous world. Basal anxiety - this intense and pervasive feeling of insecurity - is one of Horney's fundamental concepts.

Sociocultural theory of personality (Karen Horney)

The author of the sociocultural theory of personality is Karen Horney, a German-American psychoanalyst, a follower of Freud's ideas. The impetus for the formation of the sociocultural approach was three main considerations:

1. Horney believed physical anatomy didn't matter. decisive role V psychological differences between women and men. She argued that Freud's claims about "penis envy" were illogical.

2. Horney was convinced that sociocultural conditions have a profound influence on the development and functioning of the individual.

3. There are huge differences in personality dynamics that result from the influence of cultural factors.

Based on these three premises, Horney concludes that unique interpersonal styles underlie personality pathology.

Personality development

Horney agreed with Freud that childhood experiences play important role in the formation mature personality. At the same time, she rejected Freud's opinion about the existence of universal psychosexual stages. Horney believed that the decisive factor in personality development is the child’s social relationships with his parents.

According to Horney, in childhood a person has two needs: the need for satisfaction and the need for security. Satisfaction includes all the basic life-supporting functions of the child: eating, sleeping, etc. Horney believed that these needs do not play a major role in the formation of a mature personality.

The main thing in the development of a child’s personality is the need for security. For little man the main thing is to be loved, desired and protected from dangers outside world. The child is completely dependent on his parents to meet these needs. If parents show true warmth and love towards the child, then his need for security will be satisfied. If a child experiences frustration of this need by for various reasons, then the main result will be the formation of a pathological personality - the child develops an attitude basal hostility . The child seems to be psychologically torn - he depends on his parents and at the same time experiences a feeling of resentment and hostility towards them.

Such a conflict leads to the triggering of a defense mechanism such as repression. As a result, the behavior of a child who does not feel safe in the family is guided by feelings of helplessness, fear, love and guilt. These motives play the role of psychological defense, the goal of which is survival through the suppression of hostile feelings towards parents.

The suppression of feelings of resentment and hostility, initially directed at the parents, manifests itself in all the child’s relationships with other people, both in the present and in the future. Thus, the child has basal anxiety , i.e. a feeling of loneliness and security in the face of a dangerous world around us. Horney believed that it is basal anxiety that is main reason formation of neuroses.

Neurotic needs

To cope with basal anxiety a person can use special defense mechanisms, and unconsciously. These mechanisms are called neurotic needs.

1. In love and approval- an insatiable desire to be loved and an object of admiration from others, increased sensitivity and receptivity to any criticism.

2. In managing partner. Excessive dependence on the environment and fear of being rejected or being left alone. Revaluation of love - the belief that love can solve everything.

3. Within clear limits. A person prefers a lifestyle where restrictions and prohibitions are of primary importance.

4. In power. Dominance and control over others as an end in itself, contempt for weakness.

5. In exploiting others. A person is afraid that “someone” is using him, so he is afraid of looking “dumb” in the eyes of others. At the same time, he does not want to do anything to outwit them.

6. In public recognition. A person wants to be an object of admiration from others, and forms his opinion about himself depending on his social status.

7. In admiration of myself. The desire to create an embellished image of oneself, devoid of shortcomings and limitations, the need for complements and flattery from others.

8. In ambition. A strong desire to be the best, regardless of the consequences. Very strong fear of failure.

9. In self-sufficiency and independence. A person avoids any relationship that involves taking on any obligations, distances himself from everyone and everything.

10. In perfection and irrefutability. Man tries to maintain the impression of perfection and virtue, tries to be infallible and flawless in every way.

Horney believed that all people have these needs. They help us cope with the feelings of rejection and helplessness that are inevitable in life. Healthy man easily changes one form of behavior to another, depending on the circumstances. A neurotic, on the other hand, compulsorily relies on only one of all possible needs.