"According to Karen Horney, people who try to purchase love with self-effacing compliance, material goods, or sexual favors use as a strategy to protect themselves against the feeling of being alone in a potentially hostile world."

Imagine a child who consistently gets mediocre grades and is often picked last for a team when games are played at recess. however, he likes to make silly jokes and play pranks, and he notices that people laugh when he does those things. the child starts to think that others are laughing with him, not at him. this is part of the process that charles cooley