Karen Horney was a very important Neo-Freudian and one of the most prominent fem

Question

Karen Horney was a very important Neo-Freudian and one of the most prominent feminine psychologists of her day. Horney's theory included a person's consistent need for nurturance from others. In her earlier life, she told of her desire to seek approval and nurturing from her father, but did not believe that she ever received this nurturance from him. This helped her create her theory of neurotic anxiety because of the lack of approval and affection. Horney is purported to have slept with her students and had a long-term affair with Eric Fromm, another prominent psychologist, even while she was married. How would her behavior be viewed today as a (a) college professor in having sex with her students, AND (b) how would her affair with Fromm be viewed today by society at large, in comparison to when she was living in the 1920s and 30s? Would these behaviors be acceptable or unacceptable? Would these behaviors be viewed somewhat differently today? Why or why not? Give your opinions on the ethics/morals of this situation.

Explanation / Answer

Although we live in a society today that is much more liberal compared to the 1920s and the 1930s, I feel that Horney’s affair with her student is likely to still be unacceptable, as it would during that era as well. Back then, perhaps, it would be shunned as it maybe thought of as highly inappropriate and immoral. Although these patterns of thought may not exist today, a student-teacher relationship can be questionable from an ethical perspective, as personal relationships with the teacher themselves will have an impact in a students academic performance and how it is evaluated.

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