Carl becomes nervous whenever he senses he is out of step with his peers. he has a good nine-to-five job, dresses well (or at least like everyone else he works with), and has a house, wife, two children, and two cars. carl is not happy. which theorist might use carl as an example to support his/her theory

This example can be explained by the theory of Karen Horney. She postulates that the human being develops a self-real and a self-ideal, the self-real is our identity, and the self-ideal is what we want to be. As we grow we identify more with the real self and accept that identity. Sometimes, due to bad upbringing, we can not get to identify with our self-real and that leads to a neurosis where we do not appreciate our reality correctly by continuing to wish to be like our self-ideal.

I hope my answer can help you.