Carl Gustav Jung During Week 3, we evaluate Jung’s and Horney’s psychodynamic view of personality. Through our discussions and homework, we will examine the role of the collective unconscious in personality development and investigate the role of social interaction on personality growth. In addition, we will examine the rise of feminine psychology and its implications for personality theory. The summary below provides a preview of all the activities for the week. When you are ready to get started, please proceed to the Lecture for more detailed information on assignments and expectations. Karen Horney Summary of Week 3 Activities:   Topic Readings Activities Due Thursday Due Sunday Psychodynamic Theory: Jung and Horney Chapters 4 and 6 1st discussion postings in response to instructor’s discussion question Debate information (assigned group only) Reading: textbook and lecture. Remainder of discussion postings in response to questions, comments, feedback or follow-up Homework Mastery questions Journal Group A or group B response as assigned Learning Objectives: After studying Chapter 4 – Jung: Analytical Psychology, students should be able to: Describe how Jung’s own life experiences may have influenced his concept of human personality. Describe the Jungian levels of the psyche. List and describe eight major archetypes. Discuss Jung’s typology with the major attitudes and functions. Identify and describe Jung’s stages of personality development. Describe Jung’s concept of self-realization. Explain Jung’s idea of word association. Discuss Jung’s concept of dreams and how they relate to the unconscious. Summarize research of Jungian types and both physical attraction and academic performance. After studying Chapter 6 – Horney: Psychoanalytical Social Theory, students should be able to: Compare and contrast Horney’s theory with that of Freud. Discuss Horney’s concepts of basic hostility and basic anxiety. List and discuss Horney’s categories of neurotic needs. Describe Horney’s three neurotic trends. Explain Horney’s concept of intrapsychic conflicts. Discuss the modes of expression for self-hatred. Discuss Horney’s concept of feminine psychology. Discuss research on morbid dependency and explain how it relates to Horney’s view of moving toward other people. Discuss research on hypercompetitiveness and explain how it relates to Horney’s concept of moving against other people. Explain how Horney’s picture of the neurotic personality  relates to normal personality. Please proceed to the lecture.

Week 3: Psychodynamic Theory: Jung and Horney – Lecture

Psychodynamic Theory: Jung and Horney

Many of Freud’s original followers eventually split from a traditional psychodynamic approach due to differences in the emphasis placed on sexual and aggressive instincts. These early theorists are often referred to as Neo-Freudians as they share Freud’s focus on unconscious influence and intrapsychic conflict, but they take a new perspectives in examining personality motivation.  This week, we will examine Jung’s and Horney’s contributions to the psychodynamic theory of personality to gain a thorough understanding of analytical and psychoanalytical social psychologies. To get started, read Chapter 4 – Jung: Analytical Psychology and Chapter 6 – Horney: Psychoanalytical Social Psychology.

Carl Jung

Jung believed that the unconscious was a powerful influence on the formation of personality and the forces that motivate behavior. View the video “Jung’s Understanding of the Unconscious” (text version) for a detailed examination of the role of the unconscious. A key feature of his theory, is the differentiation between the personal unconscious and the collective unconscious. The personal unconscious is unique to each individual and is made up of personal experiences. The collective unconscious is a “shared” component of everyone’s unconscious that includes universal elements passed from generations of ancestors.

The aspect of Jung’s theory that is most popular in modern psychology is the explanation of psychological types formed through the relationship between attitudes and functions. The following presentation highlights the formation of the eight Jungian personality types:

• PowerPoint on Jungian Personality Types (If the link does not work, please go to Doc Sharing to download the powerpoint. Remember to check out all the notes under each slide. The notes explain the slides)

Karen Horney

Children are born with basic needs (safety and satisfaction) and rely on their parents to create a loving, affectionate environment in which these needs can be met. When the needs are met, children have a solid basis for healthy personality growth and development. But, when these needs are not met, children develop a resentment toward the parents; Horney termed this resentment basic hostility. Because children are in a helpless position in relation to their parents, they are unable to express this hostility and respond by withdrawing. This, in turn, leads the child to develop basic anxiety which is characterized by feelings of insecurity and isolation.

Horney believed that personality develops as a consequence of the attempt to deal with basic anxiety; she called these attempts neurotic needs. The neurotic needs can be grouped into three neurotic trends or fundamental styles of relating to people: moving toward people, moving against people, and moving away from people. The following chart shows the relationship between neurotic needs and neurotic trends.

All individuals possess one of the fundamental styles of relating to people as basic conflict cannot be completely avoided. A person with a healthy personality shows spontaneous movement and operates within a socially-acceptable range of behaviors. The neurotic individual, on the other hand, is compulsive and tends to take an extreme position when forming interpersonal relationships. For example:

Horney’s theories continue to have an influence in the training of therapists and in our understanding of personality.

Supplemental resources: Questions for further thought: Discuss Horney’s criticism of Freud. Discuss Horney’s concepts of neurotic needs and neurotic trends. Summarize he chief findings of Lyon and Greenberg’s 1991 study and discuss how it relates to Horney’s theory.

Next Steps

When you have finished with the readings and lecture material, you can proceed to the activities associated with this week’s work. You will need to:

DISCUSSION:

Jung used the term “persona” to mean the face or facade that we hold out to the world. The “persona” is that version of the self, the image or picture of the self, that we want, expect, and demand that others see. The “shadow” is that part of the self that we do not expect or want or allow others to see. The “shadow” consists of all that is hidden and held away from view, all that is secret and behind closed doors. We certainly don’t want others (in most day-to-day situations, and, certainly not in our professional lives) to see our faults and failings, doubts and confusions, and we most certainly don’t expect the world to have access to our fantasies and imaginings (or even that we have them). As Jung explained, everyone has a persona and a shadow, these are universal to all mankind. Your task for this week is to identify examples (either in movies, books, the popular media, or your own life) in which the “shadow” has revealed itself over the persona. As you look for your examples, reflect on the following questions:

• What is the relationship between the persona and the shadow?

• Is the shadow good or evil?

• Is it possible to repress the shadow from ever revealing itself?

• How do we know what is contained in an individual’s shadow?

• How is a persona formed? How is a shadow formed?

You do NOT need to answer these questions individually, use the questions as a basis to form a reaction/explanation to the example your have identified. I would like you to share your example and provide your reflections on the relationship between the persona and the shadow specific to your example. At the end of your posting, please pose a follow-up question to the class. Finally, respond to TWO of the questions posed by your peers.

General Discussion Reminders:

You are required to post your initial answers by Friday at midnight; your comments on the postings of your classmates are due on Sunday at midnight. Please be sure that your comments to peers are substantive; in other words, do not simply write “I agree”; if you agree, go on to expand your comments and add your own insights.

I will use the following grading rubric to score your discussion postings: 

• 1 – 3 points – Provided only minimal response with no elaboration OR failed to complete follow-up postings.

• 4 – 7 points – Provided basic response and follow-up postings. All postings are clear and relevant, but need to be elaborated in more detail.

• 8 – 10 points – Provided detailed, complete responses and follow-up postings. All responses are elaborated and clear.

NOTE: Post your initial comments to the discussion by clicking on the first “Respond” link below. To give feedback to a classmate’s post, click on the “Respond” link below his/her comment.

FOR GROUP DISCUSSION:

Week 3: Psychodynamic Theory: Jung and Horney – Topic Debate Overview

Weeks 4 through 6, we are going to engage in weekly “topic debates.” The weekly debate topic will involve an in-depth investigation of a controversial topic relevant to the field of personality psychology. Each of you will be assigned to a group; you will debate against the other group in THREE weekly debates (the groups will be posted in an announcement on the course homepage…either Group A or Group B).  In addition to providing an opportunity to engage in a lively debate on a topic relevant to personality psychology, the debates also requires you to fine-tune your skills in online communication. As such, a secondary goal of this project is effectively online peer-to-peer collaboration. Like all professional interactions and debates, the interdependent nature of the project is often more challenging than the topic you are focusing on. This type of communication is even more challenging in the online world; be sure that you debate in a professional, courteous manner. There is a separate Group A & Group B posting to coordinate your efforts.

How the debates work:

• At the beginning of the term, I will assign each person to a debate group ( A or B ); each group will then be assigned to either the “yes” or “no” side of one of the debate topics (the names of each person in the group can be found in the announcement titled “Topic Debate Groups” that appears at the end of Week 3 or beginning of Week 4). For example, one topic debate might be “Should couples be required to take personality tests during premarital counseling?”. One group would be required to locate research and information to support a “yes” answer and the other group would be required to research and support a “no” answer.
• Please use the Debate group A & group B areas to coordinate your efforts. If someone is real good with computer presentations allow them to put it together in your group area for everyone in the group to see & agree before posting the official response on Friday.
• All topic debates will take place in a designated discussion thread.
• During each week 4-6, each group must provide ONE persuasive, informational post to the relevant discussion thread. This may be a page of written text, a PowerPoint presentation, a online video, or any other creative way of conveying your information. The information you provide does not have to be lengthy as long as it contains relevant information and is expanded to clearly explain your position. You are required to utilize and correctly reference one(1) quality, academic sources to support your position. You should use correct APA style in formatting your debate information.
• Each group must post their persuasive information by Friday at midnight. 
• Finally, everyone in the class should read the debates and post his or her final thoughts by Sunday. When responding to the debates, you just need to write whether you support the “yes” or “no” side of the debate with a sentence or two highlighting why you support that position (also due on Sunday by midnight). You do not have to agree with the side of the debate that you were assigned to represent. Even though you will have researched to support one side of the debate you need to post what you decided after the debate is over.

Points to keep in mind:

• While there is no “right” answer to this type of debate question, there is a body of research that either supports or refutes each side of the position. You should incorporate research into your response.
• This is a persuasive argument, not just an opinion. Your personal opinion may differ from the position that you are assigned to research and represent in the thread; this is fine, just be sure that you still create a persuasive argument for the assigned topic.
• I encourage you to be creative in your presentation of information. You are not limited to simple written text. You can use attachments or links to include a range of visual, audio or internet sources. Really push yourselves to represent your information in a creative, meaningful, interesting fashion. If you need ideas, please feel free to call or email and I will be happy to discuss your project with you.
• Because this project requires research, START EARLY! Do not wait until the last minute as it can be time consuming to prepare for a debate. You will notice that the topics are all listed on this page and the groups are assigned at the beginning of the term. This means that you should immediately start researching your debate question.

Debate topics:

Grading Rubric: 10 points per week (week 4, 5, and 6)