Neurosis an Example by

Neurosis As a reaction to the Freudian theories regarding human personality, contemporary theorists including Karen Horney developed alternative views on explaining human behavior and personality. One of the most celebrated works of Horney is her definition and discussion about neurosis. Need essay sample on "Neurosis" topic? We will write a custom essay sample specifically for you Proceed In contrast with Freuds explanation of neurosis which is entirely psychoanalytical and biological in nature, Horney focused on the sociological and cultural aspects of this personality category. As defined in her literature, neurosis is a condition wherein a person suffers from internal and interpersonal conflicts which is considered difficult to resolve or cope with in normative ways as compared to the general population. The qualifier in the definition is the comparison between the coping style of a neurotic individual and the people around him/her. Since there is an established relationship between the individual and the environment he/she lives in, it is seen that culture plays an important role in determining if a person is neurotic or not. Horney saw neurosis as having a very thin delineation from normal life in the sense that everybody, at certain points and situations, experience conflicts which needed to be addressed. However, a neurotic individual is said to be deviating fr om a cultural pattern because the strategy to which he/she resorts to is not the normal thing that other people would do given the same situation. The usual response of neurotic individuals is to either a) move away from people, b) move against people, or c) move towards people. Looking at this more closely, Horney discussed about the neurotic needs which are typically the usual needs of every individual. However, personal life events lead certain individuals to look at the situations in a different way and exaggerate the conflict that they bring. These neurotic needs determine the coping style that the individual has when faced with a difficulty. For example, a moving-towards-people person uses compliance as a strategy. This person has constant need to feel loved and appreciated. He/she is a people-pleaser and always seems agreeable. Furthermore, in relationships, a neurotic individual craves for a romantic partner and thinks that having one would make life better. There is constant fear that they would not be loved or accepted by people. On the other hand, another coping strategy used by neurotics is aggression. The tendency is to push other people away in order to get what they want. There is a need to dominate others and have the power to exploit others. They are usually the ones who get ahead in life in the expense of other people. They use other people and take advantage of their weaknesses. However, deep inside, these people also have worries that they would only be used and laughed at. They fear that they would be ignored and be taken for granted. Lastly, other neurotics use the withdrawal coping strategy in dealing with life problems. These people separate and isolate themselves from others in the hopes of having independence and being self-sufficient. They constantly avoid any intimate relationships with anybody and would not like to be depended upon or depend on somebody else. Because they want to prove something, they strive to be successful in life even on their own. They are strict with themselves in order to be perfect in everything. They are afraid to make a mistake and appear helpless in other peoples eyes. Horney further explains this using her self theory which says that neurotic individuals view themselves as a split person having the despised self and the ideal self. Usually, neurotics see the despised self as their real identity and the ideal self is something that they think they should be. However, in a neurotics perspective, this ideal self is something that is unattainable and unrealistic. This makes the person unstable and prevents them from functioning well in the society. Although Horney outlined these main points of her theory, it should still be noted that determining and diagnosing a person as having neurosis would need great understanding of the condition and its criteria. There is a tendency for people to generalize or to extend the application of the term neurotic even to people with the slightest manifestations of neuroticism. As mentioned, the conflicts that these individuals face do not differ from average people. Also, it works with the initial notion that the person lives in the same culture where he/she grew up or stayed at for a longer period of time. If a person is in an unfamiliar setting, there is a tendency for him/her to behave differently or defiantly from the culture. This could be grounds for a neurotic diagnosis if not given adequate consideration. However, behavior patterns of the community or civilization must also be studied first before jumping into conclusions. This only means that although the definitions are set, the norms still differ from one culture to another. What could be normal in one place might be neurotic in another. This work of Horney only tells us that a psychological finding could not be regarded as something generalizable or applicable universally. This is because the presence or absence of a certain psychological condition or abnormality is determined by comparing individuals to a norm population of only a certain culture and found to be different from the same norm only. Thus, the norm standard must change from culture to culture and generalization must not be made. Because of this realization, psychology is not boxed up into thinking that human behavior could only be solely attributed to medical and physiological factors. As a mental health care professional in modern times, it is common understanding that mental or psychological states also depend on the environment in which a person lives in. Socioeconomic backgrounds and other anthropological considerations could also affect human behavior, affect, and cognition therefore we should always take these things into regard. We could never fully grasp or understand the psychological problem or condition of a certain individual if we do not look at his/her life history which might have contributed to his/her overall personality today. Overall, Horneys work opened up the world of psychology to the idea that it is not just psychoanalysis or biological factors that should be considered in explaining a psychological condition. Rather, it paved the way to peoples understanding that it is not limited to the personal and internal forces which motivate every persons behavior. It is a combination of various factors and this includes the cultural aspect of ones being. References Horney, Karen (1999). The neurotic personality of our time. Routledge.

Free Essays on Character And Point Of View In A&P

Character and Point of View in â€Å"A&P† The story â€Å"A&P† is a short story that has many good qualities. It is told from the first person point of view of Sammy. The story is about the brief experience of three young women in bathing suits in the A&P store where Sammy worked as a cashier. The story shows us much about Sammy and how he views the world. This view of Sammy is made more complete because the story is told from his point of view. This enables the reader to see what he is thinking and to have a better understanding of how he may be feeling. The story, â€Å"A&P† show us much about how young men may sometimes view the world. In the story â€Å"A&P† the main character is a grocery store clerk named Sammy. Sammy is a young man who had turned nineteen the past April. The story is told from Sammy’s perspective which gives us insight into his thoughts and emotions. Sammy is a selfish, shallow young man views women mainly as objects for men to lust after. Sammy’s view of women is reinforced time and time again throughout the story. Within the first five lines of the story he begins to stare at and then describe a young girl’s â€Å"can† to the point that he is distracted enough as to not know whether he had rung up a box of HiHo crackers that he has in his hands. His disrespectful view of the female gender is again brought to light in the way he describes the woman who he has accidentally charged twice for the HiHo crackers. He describes her as a witch and immediately begins to say that she probably had enjoyed yelling at him for making a mistake. He then proceeds to make a comment about how he had to â€Å"smooth her feathers† and stated that had she been born at the right time she would have been burned at the stake. After he gets done criticizing the customer his attention returns to the three young girls in bathing suits. He begins to describe each one’s appearance being sure to point out any flaws tha... Free Essays on Character And Point Of View In A&P Free Essays on Character And Point Of View In A&P Character and Point of View in â€Å"A&P† The story â€Å"A&P† is a short story that has many good qualities. It is told from the first person point of view of Sammy. The story is about the brief experience of three young women in bathing suits in the A&P store where Sammy worked as a cashier. The story shows us much about Sammy and how he views the world. This view of Sammy is made more complete because the story is told from his point of view. This enables the reader to see what he is thinking and to have a better understanding of how he may be feeling. The story, â€Å"A&P† show us much about how young men may sometimes view the world. In the story â€Å"A&P† the main character is a grocery store clerk named Sammy. Sammy is a young man who had turned nineteen the past April. The story is told from Sammy’s perspective which gives us insight into his thoughts and emotions. Sammy is a selfish, shallow young man views women mainly as objects for men to lust after. Sammy’s view of women is reinforced time and time again throughout the story. Within the first five lines of the story he begins to stare at and then describe a young girl’s â€Å"can† to the point that he is distracted enough as to not know whether he had rung up a box of HiHo crackers that he has in his hands. His disrespectful view of the female gender is again brought to light in the way he describes the woman who he has accidentally charged twice for the HiHo crackers. He describes her as a witch and immediately begins to say that she probably had enjoyed yelling at him for making a mistake. He then proceeds to make a comment about how he had to â€Å"smooth her feathers† and stated that had she been born at the right time she would have been burned at the stake. After he gets done criticizing the customer his attention returns to the three young girls in bathing suits. He begins to describe each one’s appearance being sure to point out any flaws tha...

Liberal Feminism

Liberal Feminism One of Four Feminisms In 1983, Alison Jaggar published Feminist Politics and Human Nature where she defined four theories related to feminism: liberal feminism, Marxism, radical feminism, and socialist feminism. Her analysis was not completely new; the varieties of feminism had begun to differentiate as early as the 1960s. Jaggars contribution was in clarifying, extending and solidifying the various definitions, which are still often used today. Goals of Liberal Feminism What she described as liberal feminism is theory and work that focuses more on issues like equality in the workplace, in education, in political rights. Where liberal feminism looks at issues in the private sphere, it tends to be regarding equality: how does that private life impede or enhance public equality. Thus, liberal feminists also tend to support marriage as an equal partnership, and more male involvement in child care.  Abortion and other reproductive rights  have to do with control of ones life choices and autonomy. Ending domestic violence and sexual harassment have to do with removing obstacles to women achieving on an equal level with men. Liberal feminisms primary goal is gender equality in the public sphere, equal access to education, equal pay, ending job sex segregation, better working conditions, won primarily through legal changes. Private sphere issues are of concern mainly as they influence or impede equality in the public sphere. Gaining access to and being paid and promoted equally in traditionally male-dominated occupations is an important goal. What do women want? Liberal feminism answers: mostly, what men want: to get an education, to make a decent living, to provide for ones family. Means and Methods Liberal feminism tends to rely on the state and political rights to gain equality to see the state as the protector of individual rights. Liberal feminism, for example, supports affirmative action legislation requiring employers and educational institutions to make special attempts to include women in the pool of applicants, on the assumption that past and current discrimination may simply overlook many qualified women applicants. The Equal Rights Amendment was a key goal for many years of liberal feminists, from the original womens suffrage proponents who moved to advocate a federal equality amendment, too many of the feminists of the 1960s and 1970s in organizations including the National Organization for Women. The text of the Equal Rights Amendment, as passed by Congress and sent to the states in the 1970s, is classical liberal feminism: Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.While not denying that there may be biologically-based differences between men and women, liberal feminism cannot see that these are adequate justification for inequality, such as the wage gap between men and women. Critics Critics of liberal feminism point to a lack of critique of basic gender relationships, a focus on state action which links womens interests to those of the powerful, a lack of class or race analysis, and a lack of analysis of ways in which women are different from men. Critics often accuse liberal feminism of judging women and their success by male standards. White feminism is a kind of liberal feminism which assumes that the issues facing white women are the issues all women face, and that unity around liberal feminist goals is more important than racial equality and other such goals.  Intersectionality was a theory developed in criticism of liberal feminisms common blindspot on race. In more recent years, liberal feminism has sometimes been conflated with a kind of libertarian feminism, sometimes called equity feminism or individual feminism. Individual feminism often opposes legislative or state action, preferring to emphasize developing the skills and abilities of women to compete better in the world as it is. This feminism opposes laws that give either men or women advantages and privileges. Bibliography: Alison M. Jaggar. Feminist Politics and Human Nature.Drucilla Cornell. At the Heart of Freedom: Feminism, Sex, and Equality.Josephine Donovan. Feminist Theory: The Intellectual Traditions of American Feminism.Elizabeth Fox-Genovese. Feminism Without Illusions: A Critique of Individualism.Betty Friedan. The Feminine Mystique.Catharine MacKinnon. Toward a Feminist Theory of the State.John Stuart Mill. The Subjection of Women.Mary Wollstonecraft. A Vindication of the Rights of Woman.

Customer Relationship Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Customer Relationship Management - Essay Example One of the key change agents that has in recent times been seen to have grown in critical importance for companies involves technology. Technology has played a major role in redefining nearly all aspects of business in the modern world (Bidgoli, 2010). It has been key in the facilitation of the gradual shift of power into the hands of the general consumer after moving it from the organization. The greatly empowered customers of the modern world are acutely aware of the immense power that they now wield. By utilizing the internet, customers are now able share information that helps bring them close to not only other customers but also to the organization. The shared feedback, information and various opinions are now generally available to one and all at a rate that can be viewed to be almost instantaneous. It is mainly due to this reason that it organizations cannot be able to ignore social media as a medium of communication (Flynn, 2012). Marketing managers have resulted to learn how to properly utilize this medium so as to be able to effectively manage the relationship that their companies and organizations happen to enjoy with their various customers, this is especially so in light of the fact that social media has proven to be both the bane as well as the boom to most organizations. Marketers are now using social networking to provide prompt customer redress. There is a lot of pressure being exerted on companies forcing them to constantly ensure that they are always on their guard due to the fact that customer reactions on the internet tend to generally happen on an instantaneous live basis. In the event that there happens to be any adverse feedback or shared opinion by a single individual dissatisfied customer, the opinion can quickly spread all over the internet and spearhead a campaign that can have the results of critically harming an organization or company. When used effectively, the internet can serve to help an organization to effectively build up it s customer relationship as well as sufficiently strengthen the existing relationship (Kurtz and Boone, 2010). It can greatly serve to help companies in their attempts to reach out to single individual customer a situation which would otherwise have been deemed as being impossible. The Marketing Organizations have not only taken to communicating with their customers on an individual basis, but with the aid of various data mining techniques as well as the effective use of various technologies, they now better understand all their customer’s needs. This has been seen to greatly help customers in the development of customized solutions that have been specifically tailored to try and effectively address the various needs of a specific given individual customer. Companies and organizations such as Airlines, Insurance companies, Banks and various service industry players such as MacDonald’s and Pizza hut have been able to achieve these developments and have built emotional co nnections with their customers by implementing the use of technology and various CRM packages. The various dynamics that are involved in marketing have in

Analysis case with economics theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Analysis case with economics theory - Essay Example m a one-on-one interaction both between the students and with their tutors and employment opportunities that arise from physical learning institutions. Starting off with the costs, basic classroom learning doesn’t require any special equipment besides the usual paper and pen for the majority of the courses. Most campuses offer accommodation cheaply for their students besides subsidized meals. These ensure the costs are kept down so that more and more people can have the privilege of accessing university education. Compared to online learning, lots of costs are incurred with reference to high-speed internet costs, powerful computers and having to rent a house at high costs if one isn’t lucky enough to study from home. The advantage of having many students enables economies of scale and thus most costs can be cut for affordability’s sake. It is an advantage in the sense that students stay on the campus and focus on studying and developing other skills being aware that their other needs are taken care of. My second point for classroom learning is a lack of interaction among the students themselves and between the students and their teachers (Filimban 66). This leads to the students not developing their mental capabilities beyond what they know due to less challenges and the tendency to have ‘closed minds.’ Compared to classroom learning where students get to share ideas freely thus enhancing thinking capacities and developing better personalities through socializing with others, online learning only aims to impart knowledge and little else. It should thus be left to specialized graduates who have already developed their characters accordingly and need the special knowledge to further their professions. Online learning removes the natural and traditional hands-on experience where one learns through practical settings that ensure the lessons are absorbed and kept well. The fact that classroom learning brings the students into direct contact with their

Images of Africa in Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart Essay

Images of Africa in Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart  Ã‚        Ã‚  Ã‚   Joseph Conrad's novel Heart of Darkness portrays an image of Africa that is dark and inhuman.   Not only does he describe the actual, physical continent of Africa as "so hopeless and so dark, so impenetrable to human thought, so pitiless to human weakness" (Conrad 94), as though the continent could neither breed nor support any true human life, but he also manages to depict Africans as though they are not worthy of the respect commonly due to the white man.   At one point the main character, Marlow, describes one of the paths he follows: "Can't say I saw any road or any upkeep, unless the body of a middle-aged negro, with a bullet-hole in the forehead, upon which I absolutely stumbled three miles farther on, may be considered as a permanent improvement" (48).   Conrad's description of Africa and Africans served to misinform the Western world, and went uncontested for many years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In 1958 Chinua Achebe published his first and most widely acclaimed novel, Things Fall Apart.   This work-commonly acknowledged as the single most well known African novel in the world-depicts an image of Africa that humanizes both the continent and the people.   Achebe once said, "Reading Heart of Darkness . . . I realized that I was one of those savages jumping up and down on the beach.   Once that kind of enlightenment comes to you, you realize that someone has to write a different story" (Gikandi 8-9); Achebe openly admits that he wrote Things Fall Apart because of the horrible characterization of Africans in many European works, especially Heart of Darkness.   In many ways, Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart can be seen as an Afrocentric rebuttal to the Eurocentric depi... ...t of Darkness.    Works Cited Achebe, Chinua.   "An Image of Africa: Racism in Conrad's Heart of Darkness." Heart of Darkness: An Authoritative Text, Backgrounds and Sources, Essays in Criticism.   3rd  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   ed.   Ed. Robert Kimbrough.   New York: W.W. Norton, 1988.   251-262. ---.   Things Fall Apart.   Greenwich: Fawcett Publications, Inc., 1959. Boahen, A. Adu.   African Perspectives on Colonialism.   Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987. Conrad, Joseph.   Heart of Darkness.   London: Penguin Books, 1989. "Doctrines on Colonialism."   The Government of Tibet in Exile.   3 May 2000. http://www.tibet.com/Humanrights/Unpo/chap2.html>. Gikandi, Simon.   "Chinua Achebe and the Invention of African Literature."   Classics in Context: Things Fall Apart.   Chinua Achebe.   Portsmouth: Heinemann Educational Publishers, 1996      

Macbeth’s Strengths and Weaknesses Essay

Macbeth by William Shakespeare portrays the major characters of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. They are both ambitious and are yearning for power. In the beginning of Act One, Shakespeare portrayed Macbeth as a brave and honorable general who received admiration from everyone around him including the king of Scotland, Duncan when he triumphantly defeated the rebel MacDonwald. Macbeth is a good friend and loyal confidant to Duncan. Macbeth is at tragic hero because unlike Shakespeare’s other works Macbeth is not all evil. He is consumed by his evil ambition and guilt for the throne of Scotland that he will go to any measures necessary to achieve it. Macbeth’s character is very cunning and witty. He is smart enough to understand that Duncan is very kind and naà ¯ve and he takes advantage of the fact that he could easily overthrow him. The pressures from his wife Lady Macbeth and the witches make him eager to kill Duncan, but most importantly it is his overwhelming ambition fo r power that makes him a weak character. Throughout the first act the character of Macbeth is developed, in which Macbeth’s strengths were ambition, courage, and honor. His use of these strengths and loyalty to King Duncan earned him the title of â€Å"Thane of Cawdor.† After the murder of Banquo, however, his large amount of pride and ambition disrupted his morals and faltered his heroic image, leading to the backfiring of the strengths that he once had, which later became his weaknesses. When Macbeth was visited by the three witches, his superstitious nature was brought out, causing him to trust them and their prediction that he will rise to the throne if he kills Duncan. He wasn’t satisfied with his position as the Thane of Cawdor. This is one of Macbeth’s weaknesses because he has no sense of self and is controlled and easily convinced to do things that he knows are wrong. We can see that Macbeth is not all evil and that the person who is behind all this chaos is Lady Macbeth. When it was time to kill Duncan and the plan was set he felt guilty because he understood how good Duncan was to him, however in the back of his mind he had an evil ambition and desire to obtain the throne. When he mentions this to his wife she doesn’t pity him and tells him  that he must go on with the plan. â€Å"I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambitions, which o’er leap itself and falls on the other.†(Act 1, Scene 7, Lines 25-27) In this quote Macbeth admitted that it was only ambition that motivated him to become disloyal to Duncan. This is one of Macbeth’s biggest weaknesses in which he gives in to his evil temptations, even though he knows that his actions are immoral. He realizes that what he did was wrong and that he did it through illegal actions. It seems as though Lady Macbeth conspired this plan and had n o feeling about what bad action she committed. In general, Lady Macbeth, and well as the witches, were responsible for turning Macbeth’s strong ambitions into his most major flaw. Lady Macbeth contributed to the deterioration of his character by challenging his courage and testing his manhood if he didn’t take the shortest way of obtaining the throne, which was by killing Duncan. When Macbeth tells his wife that he does not want to kill Duncan, she convinces him that he is weaker than a women, manipulating his kind and sensitive nature. The witches brought out another one of Macbeth’s major weaknesses, his superstitious nature. They suggest to the reader that his superstitious nature will lead to something fatal. After meeting the witches, Macbeth begins to worry, leading to hallucinations that he thinks tell him to murder Duncan, like his vision of the dagger. When Macbeth â€Å"sees† the dagger, he states, â€Å"Is this a dagger which I see before me, The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee: I have thee not, and yet I see thee still. Art thou not, fatal  vision, sensible To feeling as to sight? Or art thou but A dagger of the mind, a false creation, Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?† (Act 2, Scene 1, lines 33-39). Macbeth’s strengths fail, turning out to be his weaknesses, which makes him a tragic hero because he was once honorable and highly respected; his downfall caused by his own mistakes. After he starts committing murders, his guilty conscience comes out and leads to the deterioration of his character,  leaving him unhappy and remorseful. In Macbeth’s case, his negative traits such as his gullibility, lack of control and willpower overcome the strengths and advantages that he once had; his pride, honor, and strong, ambitious nature.