Freud 1909 - Little Hans Flashcards
Who was Freud?
A psychoanalyst from Vienna
What were Freud’s beliefs?
That mental disturbances such as phobias were caused by things which resided in the unconscious mind due to childhood conflict and traumas
What were some of Freud’s techniques?
- hypnosis
- dream analysis
- free association
What is hypnosis?
A mental state of highly focused concentration
What is dream analysis?
A technique which interprets the content of dreams to reveal underlying motivations or symbolic meanings and representations
What is free association?
A process of discovering your genuine thoughts, memories, and feelings by freely sharing all the seemingly random thoughts that pass through your mind
How did Freud get into contact with Little Hans?
His father was a huge supporter of Freud and wrote to him regarding his son (Little Hans) phobia of horses
What was the phobia of Little Hans?
Horses
- A white horse with blinkers around its eyes and black bits around the mouth
What is the sample of this study?
One boy (Little Hans) was was from Vienna and was studied for 2 years from ages 3-5
What are strengths of this sample?
Due to it being so small it allows lots of in-depth details therefore making results valid
What are weaknesses of the sample in this study?
It lacks population validity
What is the method in this study?
A longitudinal case study
What are the strengths of this method?
Gathers lots of qualitative data therefore any data collected is more valid
What are the weaknesses of this method?
Not representative as Little Hans is from a western culture it cannot be generalised to other cultures
What was the procedure in this study?
- Little Hans’ father asked questions about his phobia of horses
- Little Hans’ was observed by his father
How did Freud get this information collected by the father?
The father wrote his findings into letter for Freud
What were some dreams and fantasies recalled about?
- Giraffes
- grandparenting
- plumbers
What was the grandparenting fantasy about?
Where he and his mother had several children with his mother and his father was ‘granddaddy’
What was the giraffe fantasy about?
Little Hans recalled a giraffe dream where “In the night there was a big giraffe in the room and crumple one; and the big one called out because I took the crumpled one away from it. Then it stopped calling out and I sat on it”
What were the strengths of the procedure?
As his father was collecting the results they are more likely to be ecologically valid alongside this there is a reduced chance of demand characteristics
What were weaknesses of the procedure?
As a fan of Freud Little Hans’ father was more likely to sway the child to favour Freuds theories by asking leading questions
What were some results of this study?
- he had a fear of castration
- he had unconscious sexual desires for his mother
- the horse of his phobia was a representation of his father
- He felt in competition with his father
How did the horse symbolise his father?
- The black blinkers = his fathers glasses
- Black bits around the mouth = moustache
What are weaknesses of the findings in this study?
The explanation is very reductionist and suggests phobias are pre-determined in the unconscious mind
