The Hornevian Groups: A Psychoanalyst Twist
A forgotten triad of human social styles, revealed again through the Enneagram.
Do you seek approval, assert your will, or retreat into solitude? Each of us leans into one of these social strategies, but we rarely see the deeper needs underneath. Karen Horney’s ideas merge strikingly with the Enneagram, revealing not just who we believe to be, but why we behave the way we do.
The brilliant psychoanalyst Karen Horney identified ten needs which all human beings exhibit to various degrees. Whenever we are stuck deep in our personality patterns however, these needs become neurotic and the means by which we try to fulfil them become more desperate. Karen Horney also found that there are three different ways in which human socially interact and try to get their needs met.
Compliant Personalities (moving toward people), Aggressive Personalities (moving against people) and lastly Withdrawn Personalities (moving away from people).
According to Horney, the Compliant Personalities tend to exhibit a need for affection and approval. They might also foster the belief that, if they find a partner to trust in, all of their problems would be solved. Equally, individuals that fall into this group often show a lack of demands and a desire not to draw too much attention to themselves.
The Aggressive Personalities share a need for power and control, to maintain a facade of all encompassing strength. Because of this they often exhibit anger or some form of hostility toward those around them. They might be driven by personal admiration and personal achievement and could potentially do whatever they can to satisfy their own needs, not shying away from hurting others in the process of fulfilling them.
Whenever compliance nor aggression manage to attain one’s needs, humans fall into the group of Withdrawn Personalities and try to become self-sufficient. They may disregard others in a non-aggressive manner, regarding solitude and independence as the strategy to go. The striving for perfection can also be characteristic, to the point where being flawed becomes completely unacceptable. Withdrawn types often suppress or deny feelings towards others, especially love and hate.
The ten neurotic needs of Horney can then be grouped or categorized along these three social strategies as follows:
Compliant Personalities (Moving Toward People)
1. The need for approval and affection, being liked by others and pleasing them.
2. The need for a partner, one whom they can love and who will solve all problems.
Aggressive Personalities (Moving Against People)
3. The need for power, the ability to achieve control over others.
4. The need to exploit others, to get the better of them and to become manipulative.
5. The need for social recognition, prestige and limelight.
6. The need for personal admiration, for both inner and outer qualities, to be valued.
7. The need for personal achievement, though virtually all persons wish to make achievements, the neurotic may be desperate for achievement.
Withdrawn Personalities (Moving Away from People)
8. The need for self-sufficiency and independence. While most desire some autonomy, the neurotic may simply wish to discard other individuals entirely.
9. The need for perfection. While many are driven to perfect their lives in the form of well being, the neurotic may display a fear of being slightly flawed.
10. Lastly, the need to restrict life practices to within narrow borders, to live as inconspicuous a life as possible.
When we lay the three social strategies over the Enneagram and form yet another trialectic pattern of 3 personality types per triad, we can gain valuable insight. Not only into the specific ways of how each type interacts socially but also the specific ways in which each type tries to get its needs met.
Let’s dig deep into a fascinating mix of Karen Horney’s three social Styles and the Enneagram!
The Compliant Types
As written by Horney, the compliant types are characterized by their movement toward people. Enneagram types One, Two and Six fall into the compliant category. They share a need to be of service to other people. Interestingly enough, they are not necessarily compliant to others, but highly so to the demands of their superegos.
The superego represents all the internalized rules, principles, morales and values we have learned during childhood. Compliants try to find out what would be the right thing to do in difficult situations, and they do so by consulting their superego - obeying these internalized rules.
When a compliant type enters a room, they often have an unconscious feeling of superiority:
Ones see the faultiness in the room and think to themselves “This is such a mess. If I would be in charge, things would be different.”
Twos put themselves above others by placing themselves in the position of the “loving and caring” person, that can take care of the other “helpless” people.
Sixes are usually ambivalent, but they might get a sense of superiority from their identification with a group or club. “Nobody is better than my team.” or “We here in California are simply the best.”
Compliant Types generally attempt to earn something. They will try to be the “good” ones to get their needs met:
Ones fall into the triad of the Instinctive Types and are therefore primarily concerned with autonomy. One’s attempt to earn autonomy by trying to be flawless/perfect - because if they are, other’s won’t bother them, right?
Twos fall into the triad of the Feeling Types and are therefore mainly concerned with attention. Two’s attempt to earn attention by serving others and being thoughtful & caring - because who wouldn’t give attention to someone who showers them with affection?
Sixes fall into the triad of the Thinking Types and are therefore primarily concerned with security. Sixes attempt to earn security by doing whatever they feel is expected of them - because if they fulfil the expectation of others, everything is fine, no?
The Assertive Types
Assertive Types are characterized by their movement against people. Types Three, Seven and Eight belong to this group and they are all ego-oriented and ego-expansive. That means that their usual stress response is a building-up, reinforcement or inflation of their ego. All three share issues with processing their feelings.
Whenever an assertive type enters a room, they experience themselves as the center of attention. They are what’s important right now and they feel that anything meaningful happening has to do with themselves:
Sevens come into a room and think “Now, let’s bring some live into this boredom here!” because they are unconsciously motivated to keep the spirits up, things lighthearted and fun.
Eights naturally take up space and expect people to react to them in some way or another. It’s like they are thinking “Here I am. Deal with it!”.
Threes are a little different, in the sense that their self-worth is heavily dependent on the attention and approval of others. They will therefore find ways to become the center of attention, often by bragging about their achievements or adapting their persona to become what others want to see.
Assertive types insist or demand that their needs are met. They will actively & directly go after it, to make sure they get what they want:
Sevens fall into the triad of the Thinking Types and are therefore primarily concerned with security. They will actively go for whatever they need to feel secure - because if they don’t take care of their security, who will?
Eights fall into the triad of the Instinctive Types and are therefore mainly concerned with autonomy. They simply demand autonomy and everyone that tries to deny them the level of autonomy they expect, will notice very clearly that a boundary has been crossed.
Threes fall into the triad of the Feeling Types and are therefore primarily concerned with attention. As an assertive type they demand attention but more covert/passive than the other types, by doing or being what they feel wins them the recognition and attention they are craving.
The Withdrawn Types
Withdrawn types are characterized by their movement away from people. The Enneagram types Four, Five and Nine belong to the group of withdrawn personalities. They all share a very thin layer or barrier between their conscious and unconscious selves. Unprocessed thoughts, feelings and impulses continuously well up into their consciousness which leads to daydreaming and fantasizing.
They all typically respond to stress by disengaging from the world and move into a “safe space” of some sorts:
Fours withdraw into a romantic and idealized mix of feelings & thoughts, fantasizing about whatever they feel is missing in their lives.
Fives withdraw into complex mental constructs, removing themselves energetically or physically from the environment.
Nines withdraw into a safe and carefree “inner sanctum”, a peaceful mental & emotional space where they can rest and stay unaffected
Withdrawn types share the commonality to “zone out” frequently and have no trouble getting into their imaginations. They do struggle with the connection to their bodies, which is why they often have a hard time stepping into action. Whenever the withdrawn types step into a room they feel that they are not really part of what is going on:
Fours usually play the mysterious, unique character who has nothing to do with the “common mortals”. They want to feel different and special.
Fives might not have a clear agenda or interest in being in a room with other people. They could just as well sit as home and read a book, or learn something new. A context for the interaction helps them to participate.
Nines can enjoy the gathering and participate - at least physically. They might smile at you and nod along but are really in their imagination thinking about their next vacation or whatever brings them comfort.
Following the previous pattern of how the withdrawn types get their needs met, just briefly:
Fours fall into the triad of the Feeling Types and are therefore primarily concerned with attention. They withdraw into their heightened emotional states, hoping that someone will recognize and go after them.
Fives fall into the triad of the Thinking Types and are therefore mainly concerned with security. They withdraw into their head and potentially physically away from others to maintain their (energetical) safety.
Nines fall into the triad of the Instinctive Types and are therefore primarily interested in autonomy. They withdraw (either into their mental & emotional comfort zone, or physically) to have and maintain their own space.
Connection to the 3 Centers of Intelligence & Practical Implications
When we take a closer look at the Hornevian Groups and remember that each Enneagram type is constituted by a specific imbalance of the three centers of intelligence it reveals yet another set of patterns. Each Hornevian group has the undeveloped (or least developed) center in common:
Withdrawn Types Four, Five and Nine all share an undeveloped Instinctive Center, while the Thinking & Feeling Centers are knotted together. Since they are not sufficiently connected with their bodies and instincts, they lack assertiveness and mistake their imaginations (mix of feeling & thinking) for real interiority - which can only be experienced by being connected with bodily sensations. This lack of connection with their physicality explains why they withdraw in the first place.
Compliant Types One, Two and Six all share an undeveloped Thinking Center, while the Instinctive & Feeling Centers are influencing their egos. Since they are not sufficiently connected to the quiet & receptive mind, they struggle with ambiguity and uncertainty while substituting beliefs, rules and authority systems for inner guidance and open perception - which can only come through a genuine connection with their head center. This lack of connection with their inner guidance explains why they try to be compliant to their superego in the first place.
Assertive Types Three, Seven and Eight all share an undeveloped Feeling Center, while they are identified with a combination of the Instinctive & Thinking Centers. The function of the awakened heart represented by the Feeling Center is to be genuinely connected to ourselves and others, as well as to be deeply affected and touched by our experiences. Since the assertive types are not sufficiently connected to the feeling center, they replace intensity for being truly open and affected as well as replacing accomplishment and status for a true sense of identity and value - all of which can only be felt when the heart is wide open. This lack of connection with the authentic qualities of the human heart explains why they are aggressive in the first place.
Types One, Two and Six can begin their journey of rebalancing the centers by focusing on the cultivation of a quiet mind. Of course there are many ways to achieve this, but mindfulness practices like Samatha & Vipassanā are ideal.
Types Four, Five and Nine should focus on grounding themselves in their bodies. Yoga, Breathwork or Martial Arts are potent ways to reconnect with the body, but even simple physical exercise, when done mindfully, helps a great deal. For breathwork I wholeheartedly recommend the YouTube channel of Sandy.
Types Three, Seven and Eight benefit the most from opening and reconnecting with their hearts. There are specific heart-opening meditations, especially for heart-brain coherence, that can help. See also this absolute gem of a podcast episode in regards to re-awakening the heart:
Summing it Up
The ideas and concepts of Karen Horney beautifully map onto the Enneagram and reveal yet another interesting trialectic that has considerable practical implication for inner work. Within each triad (Instinctive, Feeling and Thinking) we have the same repeating pattern of types trying to earn their primary objectives (Instinct = Autonomy, Feeling = Attention, Thinking = Security) in a specific way:
One type who tries to earn their primary objective
The Compliant Types One, Two and Six
One type who tries to demand their primary objective
The Aggressive Types Three, Seven and Eight
One type who tries to withdraw to get their primary objective
The Withdrawn Types Four, Five and Nine
A fun fact for the nerds: Karen Horney managed to describe in detail the different personality profiles for each of her three groups and was on her way to arrive at yet another three times three arrangement (9 in total). She was a bit inconsistent with the number of subcategories she employed, and created separate categories for what is really the same personality at different levels of psychological health. But would she have had more time, she’d probably arrived at 9 types that match accurately onto the now existing Enneagram types. You can read about this in Don Richard Riso’s and Russ Hudsons’ Personality Types: Using the Enneagram for Self-Discovery (pp. 435-436).
I sincerely hope that you enjoyed this weeks newsletter. Stay tuned for next weeks topic :)
Until then, take care and walk with awareness my friend.
In kindness
Kevin