Karen Horney was one of the first female analysts and was extremely critical of the male centered ideas in Freud's theories. She was particularly focused on Freud's notion of penis envy or the idea that women feel inferior to men. She in fact argued that women and physiologically superior. Despite of these differences she agreed with Freud and Adler that early childhood is extremely important in shaping personality. She came up with some of her own theories, too - one of them being about the "basic evils".
Her theory says that unconscious conflict is between hostility towards unloving parents and anxious helplessness. The "basic evils" that parents can commit to create this unconscious conflict are: domination, isolation, overprotection, hostility, indifference, inconsistent behaviour, disparagement, parental discord, lack of respect and guidance and lack of encouragement and warmth. Horney also came up with ways that people cope with basic evil as part of her theory. The first is moving towards others, or "compliance". People who cope in this manner feel a need for affection and approval, want their partner to take control and restrict their life to narrow boundaries. They might think for reasoning their actions "If you love me, you will not hurt me." The second way of coping is moving against others, or "aggression". People using this type of coping mechanism feel a need for power, omnipotence and perfection. They sometimes exploit others and search for social recognition and prestige, personal admiration and personal achievement. They might think for reasoning their actions "If I have power, no one can hurt me." The third type of coping is moving away from others or "detachment". People who use this coping device feel a need to restrict their life to narrow boundaries, and want to be self sufficient, strive for perfection and unassailability. They might think for reasoning their actions "If I withdraw, nothing can hurt me."
I think that this is a very interesting theory, but I don't believe that it covers as much as it is meant to. Horney originally intended it to explain all of our unconscious conflict - using the basic evils as the reason for the conflict and the ways of coping as how we react and how it reflects in our personality and being. But I don't think that just how our parents treat us badly can account for this much of our personality and inner conflict. For example, I had a very good childhood - I love my parents dearly and they have always been very good to me - I can't think of any of the basic evils as applying to our relationship. They were not indifferent, they did not reject me, they never showed hostility or preference for my sister. They did not unfairly punish me, or ridicule, humiliate or lie to me. While I am sure that at some specific times in my childhood they did some of these things, I believe that we are all human and make mistakes. The important thing is that none of them were important or prominent in my childhood or occur regularly today.
As far as my personal experience with these coping mechanisms that she suggested, when I read about them I automatically thought of people I know who show these signs or mannerisms, and I also reflected upon which ones of these I see in myself. To begin with, I have a friend back home in the states who comes under the "compliance" coping device - she is always looking for approval from her friends, and teachers and is extremely affectionate and expects the same back when she is in a relationship, and when she is not in a relationship is always looking for someone who will show unconditional love and caring towards her. She does not like to push boundaries or do things that are outside of her comfort zone. I see some of these qualities in myself, but upon reflecting on these three coping mechanisms, I realized that I use all of them, changing which on on what situation I am in. For example, I have a need for affection and approval from friends, family and when I am in a relationship, but I often combine this coping mechanism with "aggression" in that I unconsciously feel better about being "vunerable" in a relationship if I have personal accomplishments that are independent of other people. I also unconsciously use detachment in some situations in that I dislike being dependent on others and like to be completely self sufficient.
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