Personality of Psychology Exam Questions
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Discuss Horney's concepts of basic hostility and basic anxiety. - Answer✔Hostility is created
when parents don't satisfy children's needs for safety and satisfaction, anxiety is created when
they have hostility but repress it so they don't feel bad.
All children need feelings of safety and security, but these can be gained only by love from
parents. Unfortunately, parents often neglect, dominate, reject, or overindulge their children,
conditions that lead to the child's feelings of basic hostility toward parents. If children repress
feelings of basic hostility, they will develop feelings of insecurity and a pervasive sense of
apprehension called basic anxiety.
Karen Horney's Biography - Answer✔Karen Horney, who was born in Eilbek (Hamburg,
Germany) in September 15th, 1885. She was the only daughter of Berndt Danielson and
Clothida van Ronzelem Danielsen (18 years younger than dad). She had one older brother (4
years older) and four half brothers from dad's previous marriage. She was hostile towards dad
for being religious hypocrite, but loved mom. She was one of the first women in that country
admitted to medical school. There, she became acquainted with Freudian theory and eventually
became a psychoanalyst and a psychiatrist. In her mid-40s, Horney left Germany to settle in the
United States, first in Chicago and then in New York. She soon abandoned orthodox
psychoanalysis in favor of a more socially oriented theory-one that had a more positive view of
feminine development. She died in 1952 at age 67.
Basic Anxiety - Answer✔It is created when children have hostility but repress it so they don't
feel badly - a feeling of being small, insignificant, helpless, deserted. If children repress feelings
of basic hostility, they will develop feelings of insecurity and a pervasive sense of apprehension
called basic anxiety.
Basic Hostility - Answer✔It is created when parents do not satisfy children's needs for safety
and satisfaction
People can protect themselves from basic anxiety through a number of protective devices.
What defense strategies does basic anxiety deal with? - Answer✔(1) affection, (2)
submissiveness, (3) power, prestige, or possession, and (4) withdrawal. Normal people have the
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flexibility to use any or all of these approaches, but neurotics are compelled to rely rigidly on
only one.
What was Horney's theory overview? - Answer✔Horney's work was very relational - how we
relate to others influences our personality development (and further relations). Society is
relatively evil in her theory - it demands success and achievement that are impossible to
achieve, making us feel unworthy. Difficulties in childhood are responsible for neurotic
(anxious) behaviors. Her theory assumes that social and cultural conditions, especially during
childhood, have a powerful effect on later personality.
List and discuss Horney's categories of neurotic needs. - Answer✔Horney identified 10
categories of neurotic needs that mark neurotics in their attempt to reduce basic anxiety. These
include needs (1) for affection and approval, (2) for a powerful partner (3) to restrict one's life
within narrow borders, (4) for power, (5) to exploit others, (6) for social recognition or prestige,
(7) for personal admiration, (8) for ambition and personal achievement, (9) for self-sufficiency
and independence, and (10) for perfection and unassailability.
Neurotic needs stem from childhood experiences and may become part of the personality.
Investigate the neurotic needs and see which, if any, dominate your personality
Describe Horney's three neurotic trends. - Answer✔The three neurotic tends are (1) moving
toward people, in which compliant people protect themselves against feelings of helplessness
by attaching themselves to other people (helplessness); (2) moving against people, in which
aggressive people protect themselves against perceived hostility of others by exploiting others
(hostile); and (3) moving away from people, in which detached people protect themselves
against feelings of isolation by appearing arrogant and aloof (isolation).
Idealized self-image - Answer✔solve conflicts by creating an idealized image of self
Neurotic search for glory - Answer✔the need for perfection, neurotic ambition, drive toward
vindictive triumph
Tyranny of the should - Answer✔trying to achieve perfection by erecting a complex set of
"shoulds" and "should nots"
Neurotic claims - Answer✔build a fantasty world and claim they are special/entitled to be
treated well
Neurotic pride - Answer✔false pride, not based on reality (based on idealized self-image);
loudly proclaimed in order to protect personal image
Discuss the modes of expression of self hatred. - Answer✔Neurotics dislike themselves because
reality always falls short of their idealized view of self. Therefore, they learn self-hatred, which
can be expressed as: (1) relentless demands on the self, (2) merciless self-accusation, (3) self-
contempt, (4) self-frustration, (5) self-torment or self-torture, and (6) self-destructive actions
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