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NEO-FREUDIANS:Harry Stack Sullivan, Karen Horney

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Historyand Systems of Psychology ­ PSY502
VU
Lesson 34
NEO-FREUDIANS
HarryStack Sullivan
HarryStack Sullivan was born in 1894 and died in 1949. He was born in United States, Washington
D.C., worked there. He was a physician by training and later became a psychiatrist. Sullivan is considered
one of the prominent Neo-Freudians because of the similarities between his andSigmund Freud'stheories.
Sullivan was impressed by Freud andRuth Benedict, the anthropologist, so his point of view
reflectsthese influences. He putforward the view that a babyfeels euphoria because hismother feeds and
protectshim, and the baby wantsthat state to last for the longer time. The mother mayconvey insecurity by
empathy in him if she is tenseherself. So a person's psyche is the result of interpersonal relationships, the
beginning of which is the relationship of an infantand a mother. Sullivan saysthat because of interpersonal
relationships, the concept of self develops. He defined three types of self:
"Goodme"
"Badme"
"Notme"
Thegood me is everything we like aboutourselves. It represents the part of us we share with othersand
that we often choose to focus on,because it doesn't produce anxiety. The bad me represents thoseaspects
of the self that are considerednegative and are therefore hidden from others andpossibly even from the
self.The anxiety that we feel is often a result of recognition of the badpart of ourselves, such as when we
recall an embarrassing moment or experienceguilt from a past action.
Thefinal part of us, called the not-me, represents all those things that are so anxiety provokingthat we can
noteven consider them a part of us. Doing so woulddefinitely create anxiety which we spend our lives
trying to avoid. The not-me is keptout of awareness by pushing it deepinto the unconscious.
He put forward the view thatbecause of our interpersonal relationships we come to have three types of
experiences:
Prototaxicexperience
Parataxicexperience
Syntaxicexperience
PrototaxicExperience refers to the firstkind of experience the infanthas and the order or arrangement in
which it occurs. Parataxic experiencesare felt as concomitant, notrecognized as connected in an orderly
way.The child cannot yet relate them to one another or make logical distinctions among them. What is
experienced is assumed to be the 'natural' way of such occurrences, withoutreflection andcomparison.
Since no connections or relations areestablished, there is no logical movement of 'thought' from oneidea
to the next. The parataxic mode is not a step by step process.Experience is undergone as momentary,
unconnectedstates of being.
Thechild gradually learns the 'consensually validated' meaning of language - in the widest sense of language.
Thesemeanings have been acquiredfrom group activities, interpersonal activities, and socialexperience.
Consensually validated symbol activity involves an appeal to principles which areaccepted as true by the
hearer.And when this happens, the youngster has acquired or learned the syntaxes mode of experience.
Sullivan stated that there areabout seven stages of human development:
1. Infancy
Frombirth to about age one, the child begins the process of developing, but Sullivan did notemphasize
as much on the younger years as Freud did.
2. The childhood period
This is from infancy to 8 years. In this the child needs supervision,guidance is dependant.The
development of speech and improved communication is the key in this stage.
3. The juvenile era
Themain focus as a juvenile is the need for playmates and the beginning of healthy socialization
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Historyand Systems of Psychology ­ PSY502
VU
4. Pre-adolescence; 8 to 12 years
During this stage, the child's ability to form a close relationship with a peer is the major focus. This
relationship will later assist the child feeling worthy and likable. Without this ability, forming the
intimate relationships in late adolescence andadulthood will be difficult.
5. Early adolescence
This is from 13 to 18 years and this is when peers and teachers influence him. The onset of puberty
changes this need for friendship to a need for sexual expression.Self worth will oftenbecome
synonymouswith sexual attractivenessand acceptance by opposite sexpeers.
6. Adolescence
Stressesand storms of sexuality begin to dominate in this period. The need forfriendship and needfor
sexualexpression get combined duringlate adolescence. In this stage a long term relationship becomes
the primary focus. Conflicts betweenparental control andself-expression arecommonplace.
7. Maturity
This is when a person becomes a responsiblecitizen. The struggles of adulthood include financial
security,career, and family. Withsuccess during previous stages,especially those in the adolescent
years,adult relationships and muchneeded socialization becomeeasier to attain. Without a solid
background, interpersonal conflicts that result in anxiety become morecommonplace.
Sullivan's therapy mainly related to schizophreniaand he discovered thatinterview was an importanttool of
psychotherapy. He used empathy as another tool of psychotherapy.
KarenHorney
KarenHorney was born in 1885and died in 1952. She was an American psychoanalyst and is classified as a
Neo-Freudian.Horney was a pioneering theorist in personality, psychoanalysis, and feminine psychology.
Shegot training in psychoanalysisand practiced it for a number of years; in 1937 she brokeoff
from the orthodox system andestablished her own theoryand practiced it.
Shedisagreed with Freud on hisemphasis on sexuality as the maindriving force of human behaviour.She
putforward the view thatparental roles can producebasic anxiety in a child andthat is one of the main
drivingforces in a person. Thechild sees the world as hostile, and he feels helpless.Childhood's basic
anxiety appears in later adult life,turning a person into a neurotic. As a result of anxiety the childbecomes
aggressive to overcome helplessness and anxiety. His reactions to anxiety andaggression may take the form
of:
o  Disguisedhostility
Tempertantrums
o
Withdrawal
o
Shecalls these reactionsneurotic trends. Disguisedhostility is the first neurotic trend. Most children facing
parentalindifference use this strategy.They often have a fear of helplessness and abandonment, or what
Horney referred to as basic anxiety.
Horney's second neurotic trend is aggression, also called the moving-against solution. Here,children's first
reaction to parental indifference is anger, or basic hostility.
Thefinal neurotic trend is withdrawal, often labeled the moving-away-from or resigning solution.When
neitheraggression nor disguisedhostility eliminates the parental indifference, Horney recognizedthat
children attempt to solve the problem by becomingself- sufficient. This represents the neurotic trend of
withdrawal.
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Table of Contents:
  1. INTRODUCTION:Methodology, Grading, Course Overview up to Midterm
  2. ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY/PSYCHOLOGY:Socrates, Plato
  3. GREEK THINKERS:Aristotle, Contiguity, Contrast
  4. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE 5TH TO 12TH CENTURY:Saint Augustine, Avicenna
  5. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE 5TH TO 12TH CENTURY:Al-Ghazali, Ibn-Rushd, Averroes
  6. RENAISSANCE:Rene Descartes
  7. ASSOCIATIONISTS:Thomas Hobbes, John Locke
  8. ASSOCIATIONISTS:David Hume, FRENCH REVOLUTION, Denis Diderot
  9. GERMAN CONTRIBUTION:Wilhelm Liebniz, Immanuel Kant, Friedrich Hegel
  10. INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:RUSSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS
  11. RUSSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS:Ivan Pavlov, Reflex, Acquisition
  12. RUSSIAN CONTRIBUTIONS:Vladimir Bekhterev
  13. IMPACT OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES ON PSYCHOLOGY:Charles Darwin, Gustav Fechner
  14. STRUCTURALIST SCHOOL OF PSYCHOLOGY:Wilhelm Wundt
  15. FUNCTIONALISM:William James, John Dewey
  16. EUROPEAN FUNCTIONALISTS:David Katz, Edgar Rubin, Jean Piaget
  17. BEHAVIORISM:Edward Lee Thorndike, Law of belongingness
  18. BEHAVIORISM:Albert Weiss, Edwin Holt, Learning, Canalization, Walter Hunter
  19. BEHAVIORISM:J.B.Watson
  20. NEO-BEHAVIOURISTS:Clark Hull, Edward Tolman, Edwin Gutherie
  21. NEO-BEHAVIORISTS:B.F. Skinner, Karl Lashley, Donald Hebb, Hobart Mowrer
  22. GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY:Max Wertheimer, Similarity, Proximity, Closure
  23. GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY:Wolfgang Kohler, Kurt Koffka, Edward De Bono
  24. GESTALT SCHOOL AND DYNAMIC PSYCHOLOGY:Kurt Lewin, DYNAMIC PSYCHOLOGY
  25. HISTORICO-EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY:Leon Vygotsky, Sergei Rubenstein
  26. HISTORICO-EVOLUTIONARY PSYCHOLOGY:Alexei Leontiev, K.M Bykov
  27. SCIENTIFIC LOOK AT MENTAL DISORDERS
  28. SCIENTIFIC LOOK AT MENTAL ILLNESS:Philippe Pinel, Sameul Tuke
  29. SIGMUND FREUD AND THE PSYCHOANALYTIC MOVEMENT:The Superego
  30. SIGMUND FREUD AND PSYCHOANALYTICAL MOVEMENT:Anna Freud
  31. CARL JUNG AND ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY:Carl Gustav Jung
  32. JUNG’S ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY:Carl Gustav Jung
  33. ALFRED ADLER AND INDIVIDUAL PSYCHOLOGY:Alfred Adler
  34. NEO-FREUDIANS:Harry Stack Sullivan, Karen Horney
  35. NEO-FREUDIANS:Karen Horney, Erich Fromm
  36. ERIKSON and MORENO:J.L. Moreno, Protagonist, Audience, Role playing
  37. HUMANISTIC PSYCHOLOGY:Abraham Maslow, Carl Rogers, Positive Psychology
  38. MODERN TRENDS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT
  39. MODERN TRENDS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL TREATMENT:Biological Approaches
  40. ANTI-PSYCHIATRY MOVEMENT:D.L. Rosenhan, R.D. Laing, Aaron Esterson
  41. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE THIRD WORLD:Frantz Fanon
  42. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE THIRD WORLD CHINA AND PAKISTAN
  43. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE 21st CENTURY
  44. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY:Consumer Psychology
  45. PSYCHOLOGY IN THE 21ST CENTURY:Sports Psychology, Positive Psychology