Landon Poppleton, PhD

1
Horney's Social and Cultural Psychanalysis

• Landon Poppleton, PhD

2
Hyper-competitiveness The Unfailing Center of
Neurosis

• Hyper-competitiveness an indiscriminate need to
  compete with and win and to avoid losing at any
  cost, as a means of maintaining or enhancing
  ones feelings of self-worth.
• In its exaggerated form it is a central feature
  of American culture and a mechanism of poor
  development and functioning.
• Hypercompetitive individuals have typically grown
  up in verbally and physically abusive homes and
  therefore feel powerless and insignificant
  (feelings that are largely unconscious).
• To overcome their self-perceptions they fantasize
  about attaining unlimited power and success. An
  incessant and indiscriminant striving for
  personal superiority permeates their lives.

3
Research Support

• College men and women who scored higher in
  hypercompetitiveness were generally less
  psychologically healthy (Rycman, Hammer, Kaczor
  Gold, 1990)
• Hypercompetitives are characterized by primary
  psychopathy (Ross and Rausch, 2001).
• They show more irrational beliefs (i.e., its
  better to ignore personal problems than try and
  solve them, I absolutely must perform well at
  important tasks or else I am an inadequate,
  worthless person.) (Watson, Morris, and Miller,
  2001).

4
Research Support cont

• They generally have stronger needs for power and
  control over others, to be lower in social
  concern, and higher in narcissism, exhibitionism,
  neuroticism, mistrust, dogmatism, and anger and
  hostility (Ross, Rausch, and Candas, 2003
  Tychman, Hammer, Kaczor, and Gold, 1990 Rychman,
  Libby, van de Borne, Gold, Linder, 1997
  Rychman, Thornton, Butler, 1994)
• They are indiscriminant in their pursuit of
  success, but experience success in various
  settings. They also report themselves as
  intellectual phonies in academic work settings
  and are wracked with doubts about their own
  accomplishments (Stewart, Mugge, Fultz, 2001).

5
Research Support cont

• Their intense competitive striving was related to
  higher GPAs, however, they reported feeling
  hostile toward their fellow students, anxious,
  stressed, and socially isolated and to report
  that they lie, cheat, and manipulate others to
  attain their goals generally (Bing, 1999).
• Their relationships are generally characterized
  by conflict, jealousy, and dishonesty and they
  try to prove their superiority by manipulating
  and deceiving their partners (e.g., keep them
  uncertain about the strength of their commitment,
  or by lying to them to keep them from knowing
  about their lovers (Ryckman, Thornton, Gold, and
  Burckle, 2002).

6
Personal Development Competitor

• Such competitors want to win, but not at any
  cost. Instead, they see their opponents as
  providing them with an opportunity to improve
  themselves and as helping them to move toward
  task mastery.
• They view their competitors with respect and do
  not derogate them in order to feel personally
  superior.
• Personal Development Competitors are
  psychologically healthy they have high
  self-esteem, are altruistic, and treat others as
  equals.

7
Etiology of Neuroses in the Family

• In Horneys view, because parents generally adopt
  the values of society, their relationships with
  their children are often implicitly
  hypercompetitive and give rise to neuroses.
  Attitudes and behaviors of hypercompetitive
  parents that cause disturbed relationships
  include, direct and indirect domination,
  indifference, erratic behavior, lack fo respect
  for childs needs, unreliable warmth, having to
  take sides, isolation from other children,
  injustice, discrimination, unkept promises,
  hostile atmosphere, and etcetera (Horney, 1945).
  This creates basic anxiety- a feeling of being
  isolated and helpless in a potentially hostile
  word.

8
Neurotic Coping Strategies

• Neurotic Need for Affection/Approval
• Normal All wish to be liked and appreciated by
  people we like.
• Abnormal Indiscriminate hunger for affection,
  regardless of whether they care for the person
  they care for or the person has any positive
  feelings toward them.
• Neurotic Need for a Partner Who Will Take Over
  Ones Life
• Normal Genuine and mature partnership involves
  mutuial caring, sharing, and love.
• Abnormal Incapable of the above and look
  exessively dependent on others they feel very
  lonely and inadequate without the presence,
  benevolence, love, and friendship of a partner.

9
Neurotic Coping Strategies cont

• Neurotic Need to Restrict Ones Life Within
  Narrow Borders
• Normal Unrestricted borders.
• Abnormal Not risk takers, afraid of expressing
  their wishes for fear for disapproval. Will not
  take jobs they perceive put them at risk of
  public humiliation.
• Neurotic Need for Power
• Normal Need manifests itself in the realistic
  realization of physical strength, reasoning
  capacity, maturity, and wisdom and driven toward
  a worthy cause.
• Abnormal Striving comes from anxiety, weakness,
  and feelings of inferiority.

10
Neurotic Coping Strategies cont

• Neurotic Need to Exploit Others
• Normal Trusting and trustworthy.
• Abnormal Hostile and distrustful individuals who
  need to exploit others to feel safe (lie,
  parasitic, expect others to do them favors, and
  may steal other peoples ideas).
• Neurotic Need for Social Recognition and
  Prestige
• Normal Take pride in being popular and in being
  recognized by others for their accomplishments.
• Abnormal Driven by the need to be admired and
  respected by others. Evaluate all things- ideas,
  people, possessions, groups- in terms of their
  prestige value.

11
Neurotic Coping Strategies cont

• Neurotic Need for Personal Admiration
• Normal Accept flaws and have more realistic
  image of self.
• Abnormal Filled with self-contempt and loathing.
  To avoid this they create an idealized image of
  themselves. Some strive to be exquisite human
  beings, void of flaws and limitations.
• Neurotic Ambition for Personal Achievement
• Normal Be the best at your chosen occupation.
• Abnormal Indiscriminate ambition and striving to
  be the best in too many areas. Strivings force
  them to seek, not only their own superior
  achievements, but also the defeat of others.

12
Neurotic Coping Strategies cont

• Neurotic Need for Self-Sufficiency and
  Independence
• Normal At times we all have need for privacy and
  solitude
• Abnormal Permanent estrangement from others.
  Afraid to express emotional feelings toward
  others least they be placed in a vulnerable
  position and learn negative things about
  themselves.
• Neurotic Need for Perfection and Unassailability
• Normal Understand they are not perfect but do
  their best.
• Abnormal Equate knowing about moral ideals with
  being a good person, seeing themselves as fair,
  just, and responsible they demand respect from
  others and are hypersensitive to any suggestion
  that they may have flaws and limitations.

13
Neurotic Trends

• Compliant Types- All traits and needs are
  associated with moving toward people. (Need for
  affection, approval, a partner to control their
  lives, and a life contained within restricted
  borders). They need to be wanted, loved,
  appreciated, protected , and guided by others.
• Aggressive Types- All traits and needs are
  associated with moving against people. (Needs for
  power, exploitation, social recognition and
  presige, personal admiration, and personal
  achievement). They believe others are
  essentially hostile and untrustworthy. They
  strive to demonstrate their superiority that
  they are the strongest, smartest, and shrewdest.
  

14
Neurotic Trends cont

• Detached Types- Needs associated with moving away
  from people. Indiscriminant need for
  self-sufficiency and perfection and tend to
  shroud themselves in secrecy.

15
Basic Conflict in Neurosis

• The three fundamental attitudes and their
  associated needs are present to some degree in
  every neurotic individual. The tension created
  by them are incompatible and create contradictory
  tendencies within the person. These
  contradictory attitudes create turmoil and
  conflict on an unconscious level and sap a
  persons energies and result in fatigue and
  inefficiency in solving problems.

16
Basic Conflict of Neurosis cont

• In a normal person, the three are also present,
  but complement each other and make for inner
  harmony. Non-neurotic people are much more
  flexible they can alternatively give in to
  others, fight others, or keep to themselves, as
  appropriate.
• In neurotic individuals they are driven to fight,
  to comply, to be aloof, regardless of whether or
  not their behavior is appropriate to the
  circumstances.

17
Personality Development

• Humanistic view of development Everyone is
  special and has a unique set of potentials that
  would flourish under wise parental guidance.
  These intrinsic potentialities are called the
  real self.

18
Personality Development

• Alienation and the Idealized Self Unfavorable
  environmental conditions impair the realistic
  inner confidence of people and force them to
  evolve defenses.
• Energy is directed toward the development of
  defenses to feel safe and attempts to develop the
  real self is overridden and they become driven by
  their neurotic needs and alienated from their
  real self.
• The answer becomes to develop an idealized image
  that endows them with unlimited abilities and
  powers, which provide an avenue for dealing with
  their basic conflicts.
• Tyranny of shoulds set in where they believe they
  should be able to do everything, know everything,
  and like everyone as a result of trying to
  actualize the idealized self.
• Comparison of the actual self with the idealized
  self leads to feelings of self-hate.

19
Personality Development

• Externalization The tendency of neurotics to
  experience internal processes as if they occurred
  outside the self and to hold external factors
  responsible for their difficulties. In other
  words, self-contempt is externalized.
• In effect, externalization consists of the
  obliteration of the actual and real selves. It
  is designed to ensure survival of the idealized
  self.

20
Personality Development

• Defenses used to help neurotics cope with their
  inner conflicts and with disturbances in their
  interpersonal relationships.
• Blind spots ignoring obvious contradictions.
• Compartmentalization separation of beliefs or
  actions into categories.
• Rationalization use of plausible excuses to
  justify ones perceived weaknesses or failings.
• Excessive self-control compulsive need to
  restrict expression of emotions.
• Arbitrary rightness- attempt to settle all
  disputes by declaring dogmatically that they are
  correct.

21
Personality Development

• Elusiveness never get pinned down to any
  statement and continual equivocating.
• Cynicism a denying and deriding of moral values.
  Tendency to be Machiavellian in their outlook.