UNIT 2 –

Psychoanalytic approach - Sigmund Freud History, Levels of Personality, Structure of

Personality, Defense Mechanisms Against Anxiety; Neo-psychoanalytic approach: Carl
Jung - History, Psychic Energy, The Systems of Personality, Developments of the
Personality; Alfred Adler - History, Inferiority Feelings, Striving for Superiority or
Perfection, The Style of Life, Birth Order; Karen Horney - History, Childhood Need for
Safety, Basic Anxiety, Neurotic Needs and Trends, The Idealized Self-Image, Feminine
Psychology; Eric Fromm - History, freedom or Security, Personality Development in
Childhood, Basic Psychological Needs, Productive and Non - Productive Character Types.

History

● Sigmund Freud’s classic contribution is the Psychoanalytic approach.

● It was one of the first formal personality theory. It is arguably the most popular theory
● It was quite controversial theory
● Many of his major concepts were based on his own childhood experiences
● Based on his clientele’s problems, he made various deductions
○ Sexual abuse is the primary cause of all neuroses
● “the most immediate and most significant causes of neurotic illness are to be found in
factors arising from sexual life”

Instincts:

● Instincts were the basic elements of personality

● They motivate behaviour and give direction
● An instinct presents itself as a state of need, which is accompanied by tension or
pressure to satisfy the need. Example: hunger, thirst
● Freud proposed that individuals constantly behave in ways to satisfy their instincts,
reduce the tension and restore balance (homeostasis)
● Freud believed that psychic energy could be displaced to substitute objects, and this
displacement was of primary importance in determining an individual’s personality.
Eg. Various ways to satisfy a sex drive - the sex drive may be satisfied by
heterosexual behavior, homosexual behavior, or autosexual behavior, or the sex drive
may be channeled into a totally different form of activity.

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 ● The instincts as proposed by Freud
○ Eros - Life instinct - Serves the purpose of ensuring survival - eg: libido
○ Thanatos - Death instinct - unconscious drive towards destruction - eg:
aggression

Levels of Personality

According to Freud there are 3 levels of personality

● The conscious - this includes all the sensations and experiences of which one is aware
at any given moment.
● The preconscious - This includes a storage of all our memories, perceptions, and
thoughts, including those out of conscious awareness at the moment, but can be
brought to conscious awareness easily.
● The unconscious - powerful in driving behaviour. It comprises forces one cannot
control.

Freud compared the mind to an iceberg. The tip is the conscious, and underneath it is the vast
unconscious which is out of sight.

Structure of Personality

According to Freud there are three structures within the personality of an individual.

1. Id
● The id corresponds to the unconscious aspect of personality.
● It operates on the pleasure principle - to maximize pleasure and minimize pain.
● Requires immediate satisfaction of needs (Instant gratification). Impulsive and
urgent.
● The id has no awareness of reality
● The only ways the id can attempt to satisfy its needs are through reflex action and
wish-fulfilling hallucinatory or fantasy experience, which Freud labeled primary-
process thought

2. Ego
● Responsible for directing and controlling instincts appropriately
● Operates on the reality principle - providing appropriate constraints to id’s
impulses

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 ● The ego does not prevent id satisfaction. Rather, it tries to postpone, delay, or
redirect it in order to meet the demands of reality.
● Secondary process thought - necessary mature thought process

3. Superego
● Powerful and largely unconscious force that is developed in childhood.
● It comprises the ideas of right and wrong
● Develops as a result of praise and punishment from early childhood. It involves
the internalization of parental and societal values and standards
● Self-control
● There are two parts of the superego
○ Conscience - developed from punishments for behaviours
○ Ego ideal - developed from praises for behaviours

The superego strives neither for pleasure (as the id does) nor for attainment of realistic goals
(as the ego does). It strives solely for moral perfection. The id presses for satisfaction, the ego
tries to delay it, and the superego urges morality above all. Like the id, the superego admits
no compromise with its demands.

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Defense Mechanisms Against Anxiety

The ego is caught in the middle, pressured by these insistent and opposing forces. The ego
has a third master, the superego.

To paraphrase Freud, the poor ego has a hard time of it, pressured on three sides, threatened
by three dangers: the id, reality, and the superego. The inevitable result of this friction, when
the ego is too severely strained, is the development of anxiety

 Repression: Involves unconscious denial of the existence of something that causes

anxiety
 Denial: Involves denying the existence of an external threat or traumatic event Reaction
 Formation: Involves expressing an id impulse that is the opposite of the one truly driving
the person
 Projection: Involves attributing a disturbing impulse to someone else
 Regression: Involves retreating to an earlier, less frustrating period of life and displaying
the childish and dependent behaviors characteristic of that more secure time
 Rationalization: Involves reinterpreting behavior to make it more acceptable and less
threatening
 Displacement: Involves shifting id impulses from a threatening or unavailable object to a
substitute object that is available
 Sublimation: Involves altering or displacing id impulses by diverting instinctual energy
into socially acceptable behaviors

Defense mechanisms are unconscious denials or distortions of reality.

We are lying to ourselves while being unaware of it.

The defense mechanisms would lose their effectiveness if brought to explicit awareness.

There are situations in which the truth about ourselves emerges, when our defenses break
down and fail to protect us. This occurs in times of unusual stress (or when undergoing
psychoanalysis).

According to Freud, defenses are necessary to our mental health and we need them to survive.

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Neo-psychoanalytic approach: Carl Jung

History

Part of Jung’s theory was influenced by his unhappy childhood experiences, dreams and
fantasies.

Jung and Freud worked together for a brief number of years and grew close. However, Jung
had his own ideas with regard to human personality and they parted ways thereafter.

Psychic Energy

Libido as described by Jung is a broad, undifferentiated life energy. It is different from

Freud’s libido which meant sexual energy.

Jung refers to personality as “psyche”.

Libido is used in two different ways, as a general life energy, and as psychic energy, to fuel
the work of the personality.

Jung explained psychic energy through the following principles derived from physics.

1. Principle of opposites - Jung’s idea that conflict between opposing processes or

tendencies is necessary to generate psychic energy
2. Principle of equivalence - The continuing redistribution of energy within a
personality; if the energy expended on certain conditions or activities weakens or
disappears, that energy is transferred elsewhere in the personality.
3. Principle of entropy - A tendency toward balance or equilibrium within the
personality; the ideal is an equal distribution of psychic energy over all structures of
the personality

The Systems of Personality

The ego

● The ego is the center of consciousness

● Concerned with perceiving, thinking, feeling, and remembering.
● It is responsible for carrying out all the normal everyday activities of waking life.
● The ego selectively admits into conscious awareness only a portion of the stimuli.

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The Attitudes: Extraversion and Introversion

● Jung believed that psychic energy could be channeled externally, toward the outside
world, or internally, toward the self.
● Extraverts are open, sociable, and socially assertive, oriented toward other people and
the external world
● Introverts are withdrawn and often shy, and tend to focus on themselves, on their own
thoughts and feelings
● All individuals have the capacity for both attitudes. The dominant attitude shapes the
behaviour in consciousness.
● The nondominant attitude may still remain and become part of the personal
unconscious.

NEW NOTES

Psychological functions

Apart from the attitudes of extraversion and introversion, Jung proposed additional
distinctions among people. He called them psychological functions.

They refer to different and opposing ways of perceiving both the external real world and our
subjective inner world.

Jung listed 4 functions of the psyche:

1. Sensing
2. Intuiting
3. Thinking
4. Feeling

Jung paired these functions as non-rational functions (sensing and intuiting) and rational
functions (thinking and feeling)

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 ● Sensing and intuiting are non-rational functions because they do not involve the
process of reason. There is acceptance of experiences and no evaluation.
● Sensing reproduces an experience through the senses the way a photograph copies an
object.
● Intuiting does not arise directly from an external stimulus. For example, in a dark
room, we may feel intuitively that there is someone hiding, even if we do not receive
any actual stimulus.
● Thinking and feeling are rational functions because they involve making judgements
and evaluations about our experiences.
● Thinking and feeling may be considered opposites, yet both are involved in
organizing and categorizing experiences.
● Thinking function can likely include a true or false evaluation
● Feeling function can likely include a like or dislike, pleasant or unpleasant evaluation

As Jung proposed varying levels of both extraversion and introversion in every individual,
similar is the case for these psychological functions.

● All individuals have the capacity for all 4 functions.

● However, one of each pair of functions may be dominant
● Furthermore, only one of the two pairs of functions is dominant
● The function which is not dominant is submerged in the personal unconscious
● To summarize, either rational or non-rational functions may be dominant, and within
these, either one function may be dominant.
● A person cannot be ruled by both thinking and feeling or by both sensing and intuiting,
because they are opposing functions.

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Psychological types

Based on the possible pairs of interaction between the attitudes (extraversion and introversion)
and functions (sensing, intuiting, thinking, feeling), Jung proposed 8 psychological types.

Extraverted thinking Extraverted feeling

● Live strictly in accordance with ● Tend to repress the thinking mode

society’s rules. ● Tend to be highly emotional
● Tend to repress feelings and ● Conform to the traditional values and
emotions, to be objective in all moral codes they have been taught
aspects of life, ● Are unusually sensitive to the
● Tend to be dogmatic in thoughts and opinions and expectations of others.
opinions. ● Are emotionally responsive, make
● May be perceived as rigid and cold. friends easily
● Tend to make good scientists ● Tend to be sociable and effervescent.
because of their focus on using ● Jung believed this type was found
logical rules to describe and more often among women than men.
understand the external world.

Extraverted sensing Extraverted intuiting

● Focus on pleasure and happiness ● The extraverted intuiting types find

● Focus on seeking new experiences. success in business and politics
● They are strongly oriented toward because of a keen ability to exploit
the real world opportunities.
● Are adaptable to different kinds of ● Are attracted to new ideas,
people and changing situations. ● Tend to be creative,
● Not given to introspection, they tend ● Are able to inspire others to
to be outgoing, with a high capacity accomplish and achieve.

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 for enjoying life. ● Tend to be changeable, moving from
one idea or venture to another,
● Tend to make decisions based more
on hunches than on reflection.
● Their decisions, however, are likely
to be correct

Introverted thinking Introverted feeling

● The introverted thinking types do not ● Tend to repress rational thought.

get along well with other people ● Capable of deep emotion but avoid
● Have difficulty communicating any outward expression of it.
ideas. ● They seem mysterious and
● Focus on thoughts rather than inaccessible
feelings ● Tend to be quiet, modest, and
● Have poor practical judgement. childish.
● Intensely concerned with privacy, ● They have little consideration for
● they prefer to deal with abstractions others’ feelings and thoughts
and theories, ● Appear withdrawn, cold, and self-
● They focus on understanding assured
themselves rather than other people.
● Others see them as stubborn, aloof,
arrogant, and inconsiderate.

Introverted sensing Introverted intuiting

● Appear passive, calm, and detached ● Focus so intently on intuition that

from the everyday world. they have little contact with reality.
● They look on most human activities ● They are visionaries and
with benevolence and amusement. daydreamers—aloof, unconcerned
● They are aesthetically sensitive, with practical matters, and poorly
expressing themselves in art or understood by others.
music ● Considered odd and eccentric
● Tend to repress their intuition. ● They have difficulty coping with
everyday life and planning for the
future

The personal unconscious

● The personal unconscious is the preconscious Freud’s theory.

● It refers to a reservoir of material that was once conscious but has been forgotten or
suppressed because it was trivial or disturbing.
● Information can move two-way from the ego to the personal unconscious and vice
versa.
● It does not take much mental effort for information to shift back and forth.
● Information will remain in the personal unconscious until the time it is needed or one
is reminded of it.

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 ● All kinds of experiences are stored in the personal unconscious, which has been
likened to a filing cabinet.

Complexes

● A complex is a core or pattern of emotions, memories, perceptions, and wishes

organized around a common theme.
● For example, a complex about power or status, meaning that there is preoccupation
with that theme to the point where it influences behaviour.
● By directing thoughts and behaviour in various ways, a complex determines how we
perceive the world.
● Complexes may be conscious or unconscious.
● The unconscious complexes can intrude and interfere with consciousness.
● Complexes can be noticed by others even if the person themselves is unaware of its
existence and influence.
● Complexes can be harmful, or even useful. For example, an achievement complex.
● Complexes originate from childhood and adult experiences.
● Jung believed that even the ancestral experiences collected together could create
complexes.

The collective unconscious

● The deepest level of the psyche containing the accumulation of inherited experiences
of human and pre-human species.
● Most unusual and controversial aspect of Jung’s theory.
● As every individual collects experiences into their personal unconscious, so does the
entire species, forming the collective unconscious.
● Universal experiences become part of one’s personality. It is passed from one
generation to another.

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 ● However, the entire collection of experiences is not inherited. A theme or potential is
inherited. For example, we can inherit a potential to develop fear of snakes, not
directly a fear of snakes.
● Some examples are: mother figure, birth, death, worshipping power, fear of evil.
These can act as a filter through which we perceive and react to the world.
● Jung wrote, “The form of the world into which [a person] is born is already inborn in
him, as a virtual image”
● Jung explained why he came up with this idea to defend his concept of the collective
unconscious. In studying ancient cultures, Jung discovered common themes and
symbols which appeared in diverse parts of the world. As these could not have been
transmitted throughout the world, he found no other explanation for these shared
themes.

Archetypes

● Archetypes are images of universal experiences contained in the collective

unconscious.
● They are also known as Primordial images
● Archetypes have become imprinted in our psyches through repetitive expression in
each generation.
● They are expressed as dreams and fantasies.
● Among the archetypes Jung proposed are the hero, the mother, the child, God, death,
power, and the wise old man.
● Some major archetypes believed to influence the psyche consistently are the persona,
the anima and animus, the shadow, and the self.

Archetype: The persona

● The public face or role a person presents to others.

● It is a mask used to show ourselves as something different from our real self.
● According to Jung, the persona is necessary as it helps us play various roles in our
lives in order to succeed and to get along with a variety of people.
● The persona can also be harmful if an individual believes it is the real self rather than
a made up self.
● If the ego begins to identify with the persona rather than the real self, then personality
development is shunned, and results in an inflation of the persona.

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 ● As such, the persona acts as a deception in front of others. However, if inflation of the
persona results, the individual begins to deceive the self instead.

Archetype: Anima & Animus

● This archetype refers to the nature of bisexuality in every individual.

● Biologically, both sex hormones are secreted in the body of each individual.
● Jung proposed that at the psychological level, each sex manifests characteristics,
temperaments and attitudes of both sexes.
● Animus archetype: Masculine aspects of the female psyche.
● Anima archetype: Feminine aspects of the male psyche.
● These enable survival and adjustment through an understanding of the nature of the
other sex.
● Jung believed that the anima and animus developed through centuries of living
together.
● Expression of both anima and animus must take place in order to balance the
personality.

Archetype: The Shadow

● The dark side of the personality; the archetype that contains primitive animal instincts.
● The most powerful archetype which contains basic, primitive animal instincts.
● Behaviors that society considers evil and immoral, due to which it needs to be tamed.
● It is not just a source of evil. It is also the source of vitality, spontaneity, creativity,
and emotion.
● The ego comes into play in regulating the shadow, while being socially acceptable
and still creative and spontaneous.
● The shadow should not be fully suppressed. If that happens, the personality will be
flat.
● If the shadow revolts after suppression, an individual may become controlled by the
unconscious.
● This may happen after a crisis which weakens the ego. The shadow may take over and
wreak havoc.

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Archetype: The Self

● To Jung, the archetype that represents the unity, integration, and harmony of the total
personality.
● Assimilation of all parts of the personality, including the polarities and bringing a
balance
● The self is the centre of the personality, which when assimilated, shifts from ego to a
point of equilibrium midway between the conscious and unconscious.
● This assimilation of self is a goal, which one has to strive for, but may never be
achieved.
● Jung proposed that the self develops after all other systems of the psyche have
developed. Ideally this will happen in middle adulthood according to Jung.
● The actualization of self involves goals and plans for the future along with an accurate
self-perception of abilities.
● Self knowledge is the key to the development of self.

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Development of the Personality

According to Jung, the personality develops and grows regardless of age, towards a level of
self-realization.

Personality is determined by the past, and also our hopes for the future.

Childhood to Young Adulthood & Middle Adulthood are roughly two general periods of the
overall development process.

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Childhood to Young Adulthood

● Ego begins to develop in a primitive way.

● Personality is at a little more than that of the parents
● Parents can enhance or impede the personality development of the child.
● The ego develops when the child is able to distinguish his/her self from others.

● At puberty the psyche develops a definite form and content. Jung referred to this stage
as psychic birth.
● Teenage to young adulthood is filled with preparatory activities such as completing
our education, beginning a career, getting married, and starting a family.
● The focus is external, and the primary conscious attitude is extraversion.
● The aim of life is to achieve our goals and establish a secure, successful place for
ourselves in the world.

Middle Adulthood

● Jung believed that major personality changes happen between 35 and 40 years of age.
● Individuals in this period have likely established a career, marriage, and community.
● Yet, Jung wondered why individuals in this period are affected by despair and
worthlessness.
● Personality is supposed to undergo necessary and useful changes in this period.
● Individuals invest a lot of energy in the preparatory activities of the first half of life.
By age 40 those challenges have been met.
● There is considerable energy with nowhere to invest it.
● Therefore in this period it has to be rechanneled into different activities and interests
● This period of life must be devoted to the inner, subjective world
● The attitude must shift to extraversion
● Awareness of the unconscious must increase

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 ● Interests must shift from the physical and material to the spiritual, philosophical, and
intuitive.
● A balance of all facets of the personality should happen.

Individuation: Reaching fulfillment

A condition of psychological health resulting from the integration of all conscious and
unconscious facets of the personality.

The stages of individuation given by Jung are:

1. Confront the Unconscious

The unconscious forces must be assimilated and balanced with the conscious. All
psychological functions, attitudes, archetypes, unconscious and consciousness are
brought into harmonious balance when individuation is achieved.

2. Dethrone the Persona

Recognize that our public personality may not represent our true nature. Come to
accept the genuine self that the persona has been covering

3. Accept Our Dark Sides

Awareness of the destructive forces of the shadow and acknowledge that dark side of
our nature with its primitive impulses. The shadow’s tendencies bring zest,
spontaneity, and vitality to life and can be constructive as well. Awareness of only the
good side of our nature produces a one-sided development of the personality

4. Accept Our Anima and Animus

Accepting the presence of both characteristics, and being able to express it. It is the
most difficult step in the individuation process because it represents the greatest
change in our self-image. Accepting the emotional qualities of both sexes opens new
sources of creativity

5. Transcend

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An innate tendency toward unity or wholeness in the personality. Environmental
factors, such as an unsatisfactory marriage or a frustrating job, can inhibit the process
of transcendence and prevent the full achievement of the self.

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Alfred Adler

History

● Adler faced several illnesses during early childhood. He almost died at age 4.
● He felt jealous of his older brother who was healthier and fitter
● He was his father’s favourite
● Adler felt inferior in childhood. He worked hard to overcome these feelings.
● He achieved a sense of self esteem and social acceptance through his peer group
● He reached the top of his class through pure hard work
● He proved that one can overcome inferiority and shape one’s destiny.
● He became a physician and medical doctor.
● His relationship with Freud went downhill and he made his own theory of personality,
focusing on the conscious.
● Adler founded Individual psychology, and gave several lectures and wrote books on
the same.

Inferiority Feelings

The Inferiority complex

● Inferiority feelings are described as the normal condition of all people and the source
of all human striving. Inferiority feelings are a constant motivating force to behaviour.
● A motivation to overcome inferiority, to strive for higher levels of development is
called Compensation.
● In infancy, all infants develop a sense of dependence on adults, and hopelessness as a
function of their environment.

● When an individual is unable to overcome his feelings of inferiority, the result is an

inferiority complex.
● People with an inferiority complex have a poor opinion of themselves and feel
helpless and unable to cope with the demands of life

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Causes of Inferiority complexes

Organic Inferiority

In cases of individuals with organ or bodily disabilities, there is a need for compensation to
overcome feelings of inferiority. If the individual is successful they may become strongly
accomplished. However, in failure, an inferiority complex may develop.

Spoiling

Spoiled children are raised with a sense of being special, through being the centre of attention
always. When faced with the reality of the outside world, such children may lack social
feelings, and be impatient with others. When faced with obstacles to their gratification, they
may come to believe that they have a personal deficiency. This may result in an inferiority
complex.

Neglecting

Neglected children are in danger of developing an inferiority complex. A lack of love and
security, indifferent or hostile parents may contribute to making a child neglected. Feelings of
worthlessness, anger and distrust may result. These children are very likely to develop an
inferiority complex.

The Superiority complex

● A person may attempt to overcompensate feelings of inferiority.

● The Superiority complex is an exaggerated opinion of one’s abilities and
accomplishments.
● They may feel self-satisfied and superior internally. Or they may be very hardworking
to become successful.
● A person with superiority complex is likely to be self-centred, and have a tendency to
denigrate others

Striving for Superiority or Perfection

● Striving for superiority is the urge toward perfection or completion that motivates
each of us. It is the ultimate goal.
● Adler suggested that we strive for superiority in an effort to perfect ourselves, to make
ourselves complete or whole

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 ● This innate goal is oriented toward the future. Motivation is shaped by expectations
and aspirations for the future.
● He argued that instincts are not enough to explain behaviour.
● Striving for superiority increases rather than reduces tension.
● The striving for superiority is manifested both by the individual and by society as a
whole.
● In Adler’s view, individuals and society are interrelated and interdependent. People
must function constructively with others for the good of all.

Fictional finalism

This is the idea that there is a final goal or finalism toward which we are striving.

Adler believed that our goals are fictional or imagined ideals that cannot be tested against
reality.

For example: Adler’s life goal was to conquer the death he faced at the age of 4 from
pneumonia. His way of striving for that goal, which of course is fictional because ultimately
it cannot be won, was to become a physician.

A common example would be the idea that one has to do good deeds to get into heaven in the
afterlife.

The Style of Life

● We try to attain the goal of superiority in many different ways.

● In order to compensate for inferiority feelings, an individual develops certain
behaviours which help improve. These behaviours form a style of life.
● A unique character structure or pattern of personal behaviours and characteristics by
which each of us strives for perfection is the style of life.
● The style of life is learned from social interactions and is so firmly crystallized by the
age of 4 or 5 that it is difficult to change thereafter.
● Example: Neglected children. may become distrustful of and hostile toward others.
Their lifestyle may involve seeking revenge and resenting others’ success.

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The Creative power of the self

● The ability to create an appropriate style of life was called the Creative power of the
self.
● Unlike the Freudian view of deterministic nature of experiences.
● Adler believed that we create our selves, our personality, our character
● We are not passively shaped by childhood experiences.
● Adler insisted that our style of life is not determined for us. We are free to choose and
create it.

Four basic styles of life

● Adler described three universal problems: problems involving our behaviour toward
others; problems of occupation; problems of love.
● Basic styles of life include the dominant, getting, avoiding, and socially useful types.
These are useful in dealing with universal problems.
○ The dominant type displays a dominant or ruling attitude with little social
awareness.
○ The getting type expects to receive satisfaction from other people and so
becomes dependent on them. This is the most common type according to
Adler.
○ The avoiding type makes no attempt to face life’s problems.
○ The socially useful type, in contrast, cooperates with others and acts in
accordance with their needs.
● The idea of Social interest comes into play here. The first three styles of life are
considered ineffective for everyday life. They lack the key ingredient.

Social Interest

● Our innate potential to cooperate with other people to achieve personal and societal
goals is called Social Interest.
● The potential for social interest is innate. The extent to which our innate potential for
social interest is developed depends on our early social experiences.
● People have a fundamental need to belong in order to be healthy, well functioning
individuals

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 ● Mother’s role is very important in developing social interest and other aspects of
personality
● Through her behaviour toward the child, the mother can either foster social interest or
thwart its development.

Birth Order

● Even though siblings have the same parents and live in the same house, they do not
have identical social environments.
● Different parental attitudes, different childhood conditions.
● He wrote about four situations: the first-born child, the second-born child, the
youngest child, and the only child.
● A child will not automatically acquire a particular kind of character based solely on
his or her position in the family.
● Adler suggested the likelihood that certain styles of life will develop as a function of
order of birth combined with one’s early social interactions.

The First-Born Child

● The first born child receives undivided love and attention.

● Dethronement happens upon the arrival of the second child.
● The first born may be deeply disturbed depending on their age. The older they are the
lesser they are upset by this dethronement.

The Second-Born Child

● Second born children may never experience the powerful position once held by the
first-borns.
● There is no dethronement at the arrival of the next child.
● The second child always has the example of the older child’s behaviour as a model, a
threat, or a source of competition.

The Youngest Child

● Driven by the need to surpass older siblings, youngest children often develop at a
remarkably fast rate.
● The opposite can occur if they are pampered too much.

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The Only Child

● Only children never lose the position of primacy and power they hold in the family.
● They often mature early and manifest adult behaviors and attitudes.
● Have learned neither to share nor to compete.

Characteristics of children based on birth order

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Karen Horney

History

● She was a second born

● Envied her older brother. Believed he was better as he was a boy.
● She felt unwanted by her parents
● She desired her strict father’s love and attention
● She felt inferior due to her appearance.
● She tried to be a model daughter to her mother to receive her love.
● Upon failing to receive love, she chose rebelliousness.
● Horney decided to work hard to build her intellect.
● Whenever she entered relationships she felt her anxiety and insecurity fade away.
● Her marriage was tumultuous and of great personal distress
● She underwent psychoanalysis and realized it was not helpful to her.
● She could relate to Adler’s concept of compensating inferiority feelings.

Childhood Need for Safety

● Horney believed that social forces in childhood, not biological forces, influence
personality development
● The social relationship between children and their parents is the key factor.
● Childhood is dominated by a higher level need for security and freedom from fear, a
safety need.
● She believed that children who feel secure can even withstand traumatic experiences
like premature sexual experiences.

Ways of Undermining a Child’s Security

● obvious preference for one sibling over another,

● unfair punishment,
● erratic behaviour,
● promises not kept,
● ridicule,
● humiliation, and
● isolation of the child from peers

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Repressing Hostility toward Parents

● Children are able to identify false demonstrations by parents.

● They may feel hostility towards the parents.
● Children may attempt to repress these feelings due to helplessness, fear of the parents,
need for genuine love, or guilt feelings
● Repression of these hostility feelings undermines the need for safety.
● It is then manifested in the condiiton called Basic Anxiety by Horney.

Basic Anxiety

A pervasive feeling of loneliness and helplessness and the foundation of neurosis.

Horney defined basic anxiety as an “insidiously increasing, all-pervading feeling of being

lonely and helpless in a hostile world”

In childhood, one tries to protect oneself against basic anxiety in four ways as follows.

1. Securing Affection

 Trying to do whatever the other person wants, trying to bribe others, or

threatening others into providing the desired affection.
 “If you love me, you will not hurt me.”

2. Being Submissive

 Complying with the wishes of either one particular person or of everyone in

our social environment.
 They must repress their personal desires and cannot defend themselves.

3. Attaining Power

 A person can compensate for helplessness and achieve security through

success or through a sense of superiority.
 If they have power, no one will harm them.

4. Withdrawing

 Psychologically withdrawing from other people.

 Not relying on anyone else for the satisfaction of internal or external needs.

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  The process involves blunting, or minimizing emotional needs.

Characteristics of Self-Protective Mechanisms

● All of the four mechanisms function to defend against basic anxiety.

● Seeking security and reassurance rather than happiness or pleasure
● These mechanisms may reduce anxiety as they are very strong.
● But the personality of the individual may be impoverished.
● More than one mechanism may be used at a time. As the mechanisms are
incompatible with each other, this may cause further problems.

Neurotic Needs and Trends

Ten irrational defenses against anxiety that become a permanent part of personality and that
affect behaviour.

They are irrational solutions to one’s problems.

1. Affection and approval

2. A dominant partner
3. Power
4. Exploitation
5. Prestige
6. Admiration
7. Achievement or ambition
8. Self-sufficiency
9. Perfection
10. Narrow limits to life

The neurotic needs encompass the four ways of protecting ourselves against anxiety.

● Gaining affection is expressed in the neurotic need for affection and approval.
● Being submissive includes the neurotic need for a dominant partner.
● Attaining power relates to the needs for power, exploitation, prestige, admiration, and
achievement or ambition.
● Withdrawing includes the needs for self-sufficiency, perfection, and narrow limits to
life.

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Everyone manifests these needs to a certain extent in everyday life. It becomes a neurotic
need if it is used as the only way to resolve anxiety. Furthermore, satisfying these needs does
not address the root cause. It only helps with the symptoms.

Horney reformulated the needs into neurotic trends, based on her work with patients.

The neurotic trends are:

1. Movement toward other people—the compliant personality

2. Movement against other people—the aggressive personality
3. Movement away from other people—the detached personality

The Compliant Personality

● Behaviours and attitudes associated with the neurotic trend of moving toward people,
such as a need for affection and approval.

● They often behave in ways others find attractive or endearing.

● Never being assertive, critical, or demanding.
● Even in situations in which they are competent, they see themselves as inferior.
● Become excessively dependent, needing constant approval and reassurance
● The source of these behaviors is the person’s repressed hostility.
● Horney found that compliant persons have repressed profound feelings of defiance
and vindictiveness.
● They have a desire to control, exploit, and manipulate others, the opposite of what
their behaviors and attitudes express.

The Aggressive Personality

● Behaviours and attitudes associated with the neurotic trend of moving against people,
such as a domineering and controlling manner.
● aggressive personalities never display fear of rejection
● They act tough and domineering and have no regard for others.
● will argue, criticize, demand, and do whatever is necessary to achieve and retain
superiority and power
● may actually become highly successful in their careers

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The Detached Personality

● Behaviours and attitudes associated with the neurotic trend of moving away from
people, such as an intense need for privacy.
● They must not love, hate, or cooperate with others or become involved in any way
● Their need for independence makes them sensitive to any attempt to influence, coerce,
or obligate them
● Detached personalities must avoid all constraints, including timetables and schedules,
long-term commitments
● Feeling that one is unique, that one is different and apart from everyone else

Similar to Adler’s theory: Horney’s compliant personality is similar to Adler’s getting type,
the aggressive personality is like the dominant or ruling type, and the detached personality is
similar to the avoiding type.

The Dominance of One Trend

● One of these three trends is dominant, whereas the other two are present to a lesser
degree.
● The mode of acting and thinking that best serves to control basic anxiety, and any
deviation from it is threatening to the person.
● The other two trends must actively be repressed.

Conflict

● To Horney, the basic incompatibility of the neurotic trends.

● This conflict is the core of neurosis.
● Neurotic people must battle to keep the non-dominant trends from being expressed.

The Expression of All Three Trends

● In the person who is not neurotic, all three trends can be expressed
● A person may sometimes be aggressive, sometimes compliant, and sometimes
detached.

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The Idealized Self-Image

For normal people, the self-image is an idealized picture of oneself built on a flexible,
realistic assessment of one’s abilities. For neurotics, the self image is based on an inflexible,
unrealistic self-appraisal.

Tyranny of the Shoulds

● An attempt to realize an unattainable idealized self-image by denying the true self and
behaving in terms of what we think we should be doing.
● They believe they must live up to their illusory, idealized self-image, in which they
see themselves in a highly positive light.
● In this process, they end up denying their real self.

The Neurotic’s Self-Image

● Although the neurotic or idealized self-image does not coincide with reality, it is real
and accurate to the person who created it.
● The inaccuracy may be evident to others.
● A realistic self image is growth oriented, whereas a neurotic self image is rigid and
inflexible.
● It provides an illusory sense of self worth.
● Horney suggested that the neurotic self-image is like a house filled with dynamite,
with the always-ready potential for self-destruction

Externalization

● A way to defend against the conflict caused by the discrepancy between an idealized
and a real self-image by projecting the conflict onto the outside world.
● It does nothing to reduce the gap between the idealized self-image and reality.
● It is a tendency to experience the internal conflict as if it were occuring externally.
● For example, experiencing self hatred but projecting it onto those close to us.

Feminine psychology

 A revision of psychoanalysis to encompass the psychological conflicts inherent in the

traditional ideal of womanhood and women’s roles.

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  Horney was against Freud’s ideas about women, such as penis envy, poor superegos,
and so on.

Womb Envy

 The envy a male feels toward a female because she can bear children and he cannot.

 Womb envy was Horney’s response to Freud’s concept of penis envy in females

 Men play a very small role in procreation. So they overcompensate by seeking

achievement in work.

 The feelings of envy and resentment are manifested as behaviours to disparage and
belittle women.

 In doing so, men retain their natural superiority.

The Flight from Womanhood

 As a result of these feelings of inferiority, women may choose to deny their

femininity and wish they were men.

 Horney referred to this as the flight from womanhood, a condition that can lead to
sexual inhibitions

 The fear of the adult penis and a conflicting feeling of wanting a child were discussed
as the cause of emotional disturbances in relationships with men.

 These women distrust men and reject their sexual advances.

The Oedipus Complex

 Freud’s concept of the Oedipus complex had a sexual component in it.

 Horney removed sex from this concept and reinterpreted it.

 She proposed that it originates from the conflict between dependence on one’s parents
and hostility toward them.

 This is only when parents fail to satisfy the child’s need for security.

 It originates from neurotic conflicts and not sexual feelings.

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Erich Fromm

History

- Born in a Jewish family

- Religious in childhood, later on became an atheist.
- Early life was tense, his father was moody, mother was depressive, and he was highly
anxious.
- He was severely disturbed by a suicide of a family friend
- Witnessed World War I, and was disturbed by the deaths of millions and the
atmosphere of hate, hysteria and fanaticism.
- Psychoanalytic training to understand human motivation.
- He was not satisfied by the Freudian explanation.
- Believed in the importance of socioeconomic forces in shaping personality.

Freedom or Security

Introduction to Fromm’s concept of freedom and security:

Fromm observed societies, and came up with an understanding that the less freedom people
have had, the greater have been their feelings of belongingness and security.

Modern people, possessing greater freedom than has been offered in any other era, feel more
lonely, alienated, and insignificant than those from the past.

As humans, we are separate from nature, we have transcended the dependence on nature
unlike lower animals. It occurs as a kind of freedom to realise that we are separate from
nature. It also brings in feelings of separateness or isolation, a sense of losing security.

To regain the security individuals may look towards a group, seeking to belong, gain
acceptance, follow rules.

In the era of slavery and casteism, individuals lacked freedom. Yet they felt secure and safe
within their circles, and felt belongingness and stability.

According to Fromm, because of the increased insecurity and alienation, we are not free to
develop our full potentialities and enjoy freedom.

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Mechanisms of escape:

In order to find meaning and belongingness in life, individuals can take two approaches.

1. Positive freedom:

This involves the attempt to become reunited with other people without, at the same
time, giving up one's freedom and integrity. Through work and love, in a humanistic
society, everyone would be brothers and sisters so nobody would be alone.

2. Renouncing freedom/ Surrendering:

Completely surrendering our individuality and integrity. It will not lead to self-
expression and personal development. It does, however, remove the anxiety of
loneliness and insignificance

Apart from these, there are specific mechanisms of escape proposed by Fromm.

1. Authoritarianism

This manifests as either masochistic or sadistic strivings.

a. Masochistic strivings include submission to overcome isolation and loneliness.

It can include a strong need for dependence, with feelings of inferiority and
inadequacy.
b. Sadistic strivings include a desire for control over others. Three ways of
sadistic striving are as follows.

In one way, the person makes others totally dependent on himself or herself so
as to have absolute power over them.

A second sadistic expression goes beyond ruling or dictating to others. It

involves exploiting others by taking or using anything desirable that they
possess—whether material things or intellectual or emotional qualities.

The third form of sadistic expression involves the desire to see others suffer
and to be the cause of that suffering. This can include physical or emotional
suffering.

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2. Destructiveness

The opposite of authoritarianism. It refers to the destruction of objects rather than

having interactions with it.

A destructive person says to himself or herself, in effect: "I can escape the feeling of
my own powerlessness in comparison with the world outside myself by destroying
that world."

Love, duty, patriotism are some rationalizations for destructiveness.

3. Automation Conformity

Becoming just like everyone else, by conforming unconditionally to the rules that
govern behaviour. Fromm compared this mechanism with camouflage in animals.

Due to this conformity, a false self takes the place of the genuine self which may
leave the person in worse shape than before. The individual now has new insecurities
and doubts, lacking a real identity.

Fromm proposed that we must strike a balance between freedom and security so that we can
form a self without experiencing loneliness and alienation. This ideal state has not yet been
achieved and is attempted through the above detailed mechanisms of escape.

Personality Development in Childhood

● An infant knows virtually no freedom but is secure in its dependent relationship.

● As the child grows, he or she gains increasing independence and freedom.
● The less dependent the child becomes on the primary ties with the mother, the less
secure he or she feels.
● Some degree of isolation and helplessness is normal and necessary for maturation.
● The child attempts to escape from his or her own growing freedom through several
mechanisms

Which mechanism the child uses is determined by the nature of the parent-child relationship.
Fromm proposed three types of escape mechanisms: symbiotic relatedness, withdrawal
destructiveness, and love.

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 1. Symbiotic relatedness

Escapes aloneness and insecurity by becoming a part of someone else. This is done
through masochistic or sadistic strivings. This manifests in parent-child relationships
as follows.

Masochistic - child becomes submissive with parents

Sadistic - child manipulates and exploits parents.

The relationship is one of closeness and intimacy. The child really needs the parents
for security.

2. Withdrawal-destructiveness

Distance and separation from others. This is represented by passive and active forms
of relatedness with parents. The behaviour of the parents will determine the child’s
response. If the parents are destructive towards the child, then there will be
withdrawal.

3. Love

Most desirable form of parent-child relatedness. Parents provide opportunities for

growth, through respect and a balance between security and responsibility. The child
feels little need to escape his or her growing freedom and is able to love himself or
herself and others.

Development in childhood

● The child learns ways of interacting with the society through the family. In this sense
the family acts as a “psychic agency”.
● The child learns the proper way of behaving for their particular culture. The child
develops this social character.
● The child also develops his or her own individual character, from the unique
interactions with the parents and genetic makeup.
● Fromm proposed that this was the reason for different people to react very differently
to the same environment.
● It is the complex of social-environmental experiences, including how the child is
treated by the parents, that determines the nature of the adult personality.

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Basic Psychological Needs

There are basic physiological needs for every human. Similarly there are psychological needs.

The drive for security (to escape loneliness) and the conflicting drive for freedom (to create
the self) are universal according to Fromm. All human cravings are determined by this
polarity.

Fromm postulated the existence of five needs that result from this dichotomy: relatedness,
transcendence, rootedness, identity, and frame of reference.

1. Relatedness

Humans, through awareness of the separation from nature, seek to create new
relationships with fellow humans. The ideal way to achieve relatedness is called
productive love. This involves care, responsibility, respect and knowledge. Being
concerned with growth, happiness, needs and identity of the other person.

2. Transcendence

The need to rise above the passive-animal state. People must become creative and
productive. Through creation, one can enter into a state of freedom and purposiveness.
If creativeness is blocked, the individual becomes destructive. Creativeness can
satisfy the need for transcendence.

3. Rootedness

This need, like relatedness arises from the broken ties with nature. Being detached
and lost, one must find new roots in relationships. Feelings of brotherliness with
others is the most satisfying way according to Fromm.

4. Identity

People need a sense of identity as unique individuals. Achieving this sense of identity
can be done by developing talents, or by conforming to a group or identifying with a
group.

5. Frame of reference

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 This need stems from our powers of reason and imagination, which require a
framework for making sense of the world. This frame of reference may be based on
rational or irrational considerations (or a combination of the two). The important thing
is consistency and coherence.

These needs are dependent on the social conditions and opportunities individuals are
presented with. Individuals develop a compromise between the social conditions and needs,
and this develops their personality structure or character type.

Productive and Non - Productive Character types

Fromm proposed that character traits underlie all behaviour. These are forces through which a
person relates or orients to the world around them.

The traits are divided into non productive and productive types.

Non Productive Character types

Receptive orientation Exploitative orientation

Expect to get whatever they want from some Instead of expecting to receive from others,
outside source. They are the receivers in these people take from them. If something is
their relationships. Needing to be loved given to them, they see it as worthless. What
rather than loving. has to be stolen or taken by force has much
greater value.

Hoarding orientation Marketing orientation

Security from the amount he or she can This orientation is usually based in capitalist
hoard and save. Including money and societies. People's success or failure depends
material possessions, emotions and on how well they sell themselves. Such an
thoughts. They tend to build walls around orientation cannot produce any feeling of
themselves, protecting themselves from security. May result in a state of total

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outside. alienation, with no personal core or centre
and with no real relationship.

Productive Character Types

Represents the ultimate goal in human development. Focuses on our ability to use all of our
capacities and to actualize or realize all of our potentials. It is an attitude that can be
attained by everyone. The main concept is to develop ourselves.

1. Non productive character types

a. Receptive orientation

Expect to get whatever they want from some outside source. They are the receivers in
their relationships. Needing to be loved rather than loving.

b. Exploitative orientation

Instead of expecting to receive from others, these people take from them. If something
is given to them, they see it as worthless. What has to be stolen or taken by force has
much greater value.

c. Hoarding orientation

Security from the amount he or she can hoard and save. Including money and material
possessions, emotions and thoughts. They tend to build walls around themselves,
protecting themselves from outside.

d. Marketing orientation

This orientation is usually based in capitalist societies. People's success or failure

depends on how well they sell themselves. Such an orientation cannot produce any
feeling of security. May result in a state of total alienation, with no personal core or
centre and with no real relationship.

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2. Productive character type

Represents the ultimate goal in human development. Focuses on our ability to use all
of our capacities and to actualize or realize all of our potentials. It is an attitude that
can be attained by everyone. The main concept is to develop ourselves.

The best we can achieve is a combination of the productive and nonproductive orientations.
The productive orientation can transform the nonproductive traits. For example, guided by
productivity, the aggressiveness of the exploitative type can become initiative.

● Overall, Fromm elaborated the importance of the society and culture in shaping the
personality. Individuals need to be trained in childhood to fit the needs of the society.
● However, he emphasized the importance of individuality. Fromm says that people
create their own natures.
● He rejects the notion that we are passively shaped by social forces, arguing that we
shape the social forces ourselves. These forces act, in turn, to influence the personality.

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