Karen Horney V. Alfred Adler

Karen Horney and Alfred Adler are two very similar yet different neo-analytic theorists. At first glance, it may appear that Horney stole some of Adler's best ideas. It is, of course, quite conceivable that she was influenced by Adler. It is clear, for example, that Horney’s three neurotic solutions are very close to Adler's personality typology. Horney proposed a series of strategies used by neurotics to cope with other people and Adler developed a scheme of so called personality types that he intended to illustrate patterns that could denote a characteristic governed under the overall style of life.
Horney’s “Moving Toward” suggests that people are always attempting to make others happy, gain love and to secure that approval and affection of others is similar to that of Adler’s “getting” type. The Getting or Leaning type is those who are often charming, but use their charm to lean on others. These people also tend to be anti-social and have low activity levels. Horney’s second approach “Moving against” people, is striving for power, recognition, and the admiration of others. These people have come to believe that all things that they wish to be are true. They strive for power to establish for themselves the truth about this illusion.
This approach is similar to that of Adler’s “Ruling type.” The Ruling or Dominant type strive for power and are willing to manipulate situations and people, anything to get their way. People of this type are also prone to anti-social behavior. Lastly, Horney’s third approach “Moving Away,” is the withdrawal of any emotional investment from interpersonal relationships, in an effort to avoid being hurt in those relationships. This is similar to that of Adler’s “avoiding” type, which are those that hate being defeated. They tend be stubborn, lazy, and passive aggressive and they may be successful, but have not taken any risks getting there. Also, they are likely to have low social contact in fear of rejection or defeat in any way.