Freud Flashcards
Sample of Little Hans
Jewish boy from Vienna, Austria
Had phobia of horses
Little Han’s father was fan of Freud’s work so sought his help
Why is Little Hans a Case Study
In depth detailed data gathered on Little Hans in relation to his fantasies, fears and phobias
Han’s father conducted regular discussions with Hans and passed these on to Freud
LONGITUDINAL STUDY TOO
= documents developments in Han’s fears from 3 to 5 yrs old
Aim and Method of Little Hans
AIM - demonstrate the existence of Oedipus complex
Method - little Hans had fear of horses, Freud asked his father to write and tell him about son’s developments so he could interpret in terms of psychoanalytic approach
Findings of Little Hans
the parenting fantasy-
Hans fantasised that he had several children. When his father asked who their mother was, Hans replied, “Why Mummy, and you’re the Granddaddy.” Freud said this represented a relatively friendly resolution of the Oedipus Complex which Hans replacing his father as his mother’s main love object, but the father still has a role as a grandfather
The plumber fantasy-
Hans fantasised that a plumber had come and removed his bottom and penis, replacing them with new and larger ones.
Freud said this represented identification with the father. Freud described Hans’ phobia as a result of his castration anxiety and the Oedipus Complex.
His fear of horses was a displaced fear of his father (who had a dark beard represented by the black around the horse’s mouth).
Freud said that Hans was jealous of his father as Hans unconsciously desired his mother and that his fear of horses falling down was in fact an unconscious desire for his father to die
Conclusions of freud
Boys in the phallic stage psychosexual development experience the oedipus complex
phobias are caused by unconscious anxiety which is displaced onto harmless objects eg. horses
Weakness of freuds interpetation
Little Hans father was a fan of Freuds work and may have described Hans’ behaviour in a biased way
Subjective interpretation
Little Hans phobia could be due to classical conditioning as he witnessed a horse fall + collapse in street and was scared
Problems of case study
unique and his behaviour may not be representative of wider population
not reliable as cant be replicated, carried out analysis alone so no interrater reliability
ethnocentric - single child as middle class Austrian society and generalised Oedipus complex to all boys
strengths of freud
case study provided a very in-depth picture of little Hans fears and fantasies so produced a lot of qualitative data
case studies can be useful in understanding abnormal behaviour as they can be used to look at people who are unusual
Freud relate to key theme ‘understanding disorders’
understanding disorders relates to understanding mental & developmental disorders
helps us understand the mental disorder, phobias better.
he suggested that little hans phobia of horses was linked to unconcious conflicts, specifically Oedipus complex and castration anxiety
Freud relate to psychodynamic perspective
psychodynamic perspective looks at how unconscious conflicts and childhood experiences affect out behaviour
fits in because it looks at how unconscious conflicts led to Little Han’s phobia of horses
Freud said his phobia of horses was caused by his fear of his father as a result of the Oedipus complex
> unconsciously desired his mother
> little Hans displaced his fear of his father onto horses
Freud relate to Individual Differences Area
individual differences area focuses on the individual recognises factors which differentiate people and make them unique
fits in as it looks at a unique boy, Little Hans, who had a phobia of horses
used a case study method and looked at his dreams and fantasies in depth
Individual, social , cultural diversity of Freud
INDIVIDUAL
looks at how people are different eg. how one boy had a phobia of horses
SOCIAL
no, it only looked at one middle-class Jewish boy from Vienna
CULTURAL
no, it only looked at one culture- Austria
Discuss the usefulness of Freud
1) useful as it explains how phobias can be caused by unconscious conflicts and led to psychoanalysis
2) psychoanalysis is a therapy that aims to uncover unconscious conflicts in order to resolve them
3) Freud said little Hans’ phobia of horses was caused by the Oedipus complex + believed that resolving these unconscious conflicts could get rid of Han’s phobia
4) not useful as his interpretation of Hans behaviour is subjective
