Horney << HAWR ny >>, Karen (1885-1952), was a German-born physician and psychoanalyst. She became known chiefly for challenging the Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud over the stress he put on biology in explaining human psychology. Horney believed that people often behave as they do for social reasons.
Horney criticized Freud’s views on the psychology of women. Freud said that women feel inferior to men because of their anatomy and its effect on their psychological development. Horney agreed that many women do feel that way—but not because of biology. She argued that society teaches women to feel inferior.
Horney was born on Sept. 16, 1885, in Hamburg. She married Oscar Horney, a Berlin attorney, in 1909. She received her M.D. degree from the University of Berlin in 1912. In 1932, Horney moved to the United States. She helped form the American Institute for Psychoanalysis in 1941 and served as its dean until her death on Dec. 4, 1952. Her major works include New Ways in Psychoanalysis (1939) and Our Inner Conflicts (1945).
