Developmental- Freud's Case of Little Hans Flashcards
Who was the participant?
The boy was jewish and from Vienna. He was five years old when the study begun and a few incidents of his were recorded before. He was called little Hans.
What was the aim of the case study?
To record a case of the Oedipus Complex
What was the method for the experiment?
A boy was followed through the course of a phobia of horses, to the end of the phobia. His dreams, anxieties and fantasies were recorded by his father and passed onto Freud, who interpreted them in line with his theory on the Oedipus complex
What results were found in this case study?
Horses represented Han’s father, white horses with black nosebands being most feared because of the moustache his father had
The anxiety Hans felt was really castration anxiety triggered by his mothers threat to cut off his penis and fear from his father banishing him from his parent’s bed.
The giraffes in his dream represented his parents, the crippled one being his mother while the large one being his father, he dreamed about carrying his mother away, linking to the Oedipus.
He resolved his Oedipus complex by placing his father in a grandfather stage during one of his fantasies
What conclusions were found?
Hans had anxieties about castration and experienced the Oedipus complex, but resolved these ideas and worries through fantasies as time passed
IV and DV?
Independent variables would be the fantasies and ideas and actions little hans made, There wouldn’t really be any dependent variables because this case study was very mainly observational
What was the design of the study?
it was an observational case study that Freud did barely anything to control or change
