fei75766_ch06_179-205.indd 200  02/06/20 11:32 AM
Part II    Psychodynamic Theories200
These inauthentic people compulsively engage intheneurotic needs tomeet thestan-
dards oftheidealized self,feelself-hate when theyfail,andreact withhostility toper-
ceived threat andunfair treatment from others. Horney called thisdrive toactualize 
theidealized self“theneurotic search forglory.”
Drawing from Horney’s theorizing, Pinto andcolleagues (2012) predicted that
undergraduate students whoweremore inauthentic would behave more aggressively 
inunfair situations. Totestthishypothesis, theyusedaversion ofthe“point subtrac -
tionaggression paradigm” (PSAP; Carre &McCormick, 2008), which isalaboratory 
taskwhere participants playagame formonetary rewards against an“opponent” 
(thegame isplayed onacomputer, withaprogrammed opponent). Behaviors coded 
inthegame included rewards earned, aggressive responses, andprotective responses. 
ThePSAP wasprogrammed toprovoke theparticipant by“stealing” points every 
sooften. Aggression wasoperationalized byamove participants could make that
resulted instealing apoint from theopponent thattheparticipant himselforherself 
could notkeep. Inother words, thismove didnotincrease theplayer’s monetary 
prize, andinfacttheplayer losttheopportunity toearnrewards while engaging inthe
stealing move, soitwasstealing forstealing’s sake. 
Sixty twoundergraduates completed anauthenticity scale which included ques-
tions about self-alienation (e.g., “Idon’t know howIreally feelinside”) andaccepting 
external influences (e.g., “Iusually dowhat others tellmetodo.”) andalsoplayed the
PSAP game. Results revealed thataggressive responses werepredicted byauthentic -
ity,suchthatlowlevels ofauthentic living predicted greater aggressive responses. The
authors wrote thattheirfindings were“consistent withHorney’s perspective which 
suggests thatinauthentic individuals engage inself-serving punitive behaviors toward 
others. These self-enhancing aggressive behaviors aredirected tothose whothreaten 
theindividual’s sense ofrightness” (Pinto etal.,2012, p.43).Thisclever study cer-
tainly highlights theimportance ofde-idealizing, foritshows thattheneurotic search 
forglory islikely tobeadeeply lonely andalienating one.
Can Neuroticism Ever Be a Good Thing?
Forthemost part,Horney’s theory, aswellasmost ofthework inpersonality psy-
chology, paints neuroticism rather negatively. Based ontheresearch reviewed inthe
previous section, thenegative biastoward neuroticism isunderstandable. ButHorney 
herself didacknowledge thattheneurotic needs areemployed byallofusfrom time
totimeasprotective strategies toguard against rejection andhostility. Thissuggests 
thatneuroticism might notbeallbad,ifindividuals feelfreetochoose theiractions 
anddonotexperience extreme conflict. Indeed recent research hasbegun investigat -
ingconditions under which neuroticism might notbeallnegative and,ironically, may
actually havesome benefits.
Robinson, Ode,Wilkowski, andAmodio (2007) asked thequestion “How could 
onebeasuccessful neurotic?” Surely it’stough tobeasuccessful neurotic. People high
inneuroticism areconstantly drawn toward avoidance goals anddealing withbasic anx-
ietybyusing allthedetrimental neurotic defenses described byHorney. Butthere may
besome cases where neuroticism isgood, specifically indetecting threats. Neurotics 
arepredisposed toavoid threats (andanynegative outcome). Therefore, Robinson andFinal PDF to printer