Theory Of Self And Self Concept Essay

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Karen Horney formulated a theory of neurotic demands which is cardinal to the apprehension of the development of personality ( Paris. 1994 ) . Horney developed her premises from experience as a clinical psychologist and falls under the psychoanalytic tradition in the sense that she emphasized childhood experiences influenced how grownups develop their ain personal concepts. She said that basic anxiousness as perceived by the kid in relation to its feelings of disaffection and weakness with his/her relationship with his/her parents motivates the kid to develop assorted schemes to get by with these feelings of isolation and weakness ( Horney. 1950 ) .

When the kid has to fall back to these schemes in a regular mode. so these schemes may go more or less lasting fixtures of personality. In her early Hagiographas Horney identified 10 neurotic demands that a individual utilizes to happen solutions to its jobs and anxiousness. these were so categorized as falling under traveling towards people. traveling off from people and traveling against from people ( Paris. 1994 ) .

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Furthermore. Horney believed that any of these three orientations can be assumed by the individual as a manner of life and hence influence his/her relationships with other people. These orientations are the beginning of interior struggle in the sense that the individual develops an unrealistic construct of the ego and attempts to populate up to that idealized ego. The normal individual could decide these neurotic demands easy because they have a stronger sense of ego.

Horney besides developed a theory of ego wherein the ego defined the person’s ability to go good incorporate or to go neurotic ( Quinn. 1987 ) . For Horney. the ego is the nucleus of a individuals being. it is seen as the drive force behind the individuals ability to exceed its being in relation to other people. If a individual has an accurate construct of the ego so he/she does non necessitate to fall back to neurotic demands and he/she is more attuned to the realisation of personal potencies.

On the other manus. the neurotic is handicapped by the conflicting despised ego and idealized ego. To the neurotic. the ego is divided into two opposing forces the detested personal features that we believe we have based on other people’s perceptual experience of us and the personal traits that we lack and strive to populate up to. The neurotic ego is pulled by these two forces at the same clip and is referred to as the dictatorship of the shoulds and neurotic nisus for glorification. While the individual fluctuates between detesting themselves and feigning they are perfect. they become estranged from their true nucleus and therefore neglect to recognize their potencies.

Carl Rogers ( 1959 ) of the humanistic tradition is good known for his person-centered theory that has become one of the most influential methods of psychotherapeutics. Rogers emphasized that the key to a person’s development of personality is how he/she forms his/her self-concept. The self-concept refers to the thoughts and perceptual experiences that the person has about his/her ego and is manifested through his/her experiences of “I” and “me” ( Kahn. 1996 ) . Furthermore. the self-concept is non merely affected by the how the individual evaluates his/her ego in relation to the existent universe but it besides dictates how that individual behaves towards that universe.

Therefore. a individual who believes him/her ego to be strong and powerful will act otherwise from person who believes that he/she is weak and helpless. It is a normal inclination for adult male to act harmonizing to their self-concept and evaluates his/her experience as congruent or incongruent to his/her self-concept.

Any incompatibilities between the person’s experience and his/her self-concept will do anxiousness and the individual so tries to cover with this anxiousness by denying the incongruence which would so go a manner of life and lead to maladjustment ( Ford. 1991 ) . Rogers besides identified the ideal ego as the sort of individual that we wish and strive to go. the more similar the existent ego is to the ideal ego. the better adjusted the individual is. On the other manus. if the disagreement between the ideal ego and the existent ego is broad so the individual will go unhappy and disgruntled.

Horney and Rogers both developed a theory of ego from two opposing positions. while they may portion similar positions on their theoretical treatments of the ego. they besides differ well in several points. Horney and Rogers both defined the ego as the nucleus of a person’s being and personality. The development of the ego was seen as the merchandise of the person’s experience and his/her rating of that experience in relation to his/her feelings and perceptual experiences of his/her ego. This indicates that the ego is an of import concept that each individual subscribes to and is later shaped through external and internal influences.

Therefore. the ego is affected by how other people relate to us and how we define who we are. In malice of this similarity. Horney and Rogers differed in how the ego influences the development of maladjustment and neuroticism. To Horney. the ego is torn between the despised ego and the idealized ego while Rogers believed that the incompatibilities between the behaviours of the individual and how he/she perceives him/her ego would take to maladjustment. Furthermore. to Horney the idealized ego has a negative intension in that it is a set of beliefs about the ego that a individual should populate up to but fails to because it is impossible to achieve.

Rogers has a more positive intervention of the ideal ego. to Rogers the ideal ego represents the qualities and personal traits that we wish and strive to go. and the individual continues to work towards this ideal ego and that it is come-at-able. Despite this difference. both Horney and Rogers believed that the ego is capable of recognizing its potencies. to Horney if a individual is healthy. he/she would be free to seek to develop his/her potencies. and Rogers believed that the ego is invariably in the procedure of self-actualization.

Horney and Rogers both developed their theory of the ego from their professional pattern. nevertheless. Horney came to it as a by-product of her theory on neurotic demands while Rogers observed during psychotherapeutics that clients ever referred to the ego and hence he deduced that the ego was of premier importance. Horney was one of the first to place the ego as cardinal to the development of personality and neuroticism. However. Horney emphasized that without a strong sense of ego the individual will be consumed by his/her neurotic demands matching to the person’s self-image. While Roger’s construct of the ego and the self-concept positively impacts how a individual behaves towards other people and his/her universe.

This means that Roger’s felt that the ego is really existent and that we are invariably in touch with who we are while to Horney. the normal individual has a more existent ego than the neurotic 1. Furthermore. the neurotic ego can merely decide its anxiousnesss by going integrated as a individual and by placing and commanding behaviours that are motivated by neurotic demands. This is rather similar to how Rogers explained that a individual who is maladjusted has merely to be able to believe in his ego and to place the disagreement within his/her self-concept and his/her actions.

Mentions

Ford. J. ( 1991 ) . Rogers’s theory of personality: Reappraisal and positions. In A. Jones & A ; R.

Crandall ( Eds. ) . Handbook of self-actualization. [ Particular Issue ] .Journal of Social Behavior and Personality. 6 ( 5 ) . 19-44.

Horney. K. ( 1950 ) .Neurosis and Human Growth: The Struggle Toward Self-fulfillment. New

York. WW Norton.

Kahn. E. ( 1996 ) . The intersubjective position and the client-centered attack: Are they one

at their nucleus?Psychotherapy. 33. 30-42.

Paris. B. ( 1994 ) .Karen Horney: A Psychoanalyst’s Search for Self-understanding. New Haven:

Yale University Press.

Quinn. S. ( 1987 ) .Mind of Her Own: the Life of Karen Horney. New York: Acme Books.

Rogers. C. ( 1959 ) . A theory of therapy. personality and interpersonal relationships. as developed

in the client-centered model. In S. Koch ( ed. ) .Psychology: A survey of scientific discipline. ( pp. 184-256 ) . New York: McGraw Hill.

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