I - Freud Flashcards
Aim
to explore what factors might have led to the phobia in the first place, and what factors led to its remission.
Background
Hans was described as a cheerful and straightforward child, but when he became ‘ill” (developed his phobia) it was obvious that there was a difference between what he said and what he thought. Freud thought this was because things were going on in Hans’ unconscious mind of which he was unaware.
Little Hans was referred to Freud by his father, a keen supporter of Freud’s work. Freud therefore decided to help Hans by interpreting his behaviour and telling him why he was thinking and behaving as he was. This is a process known as psychoanalysis.
Freud therefore documented the case of Little Hans to show how his fears, dreams and fantasies were symbolic of his unconscious passing through the phallic stage of psychosexual development.
Freud used this study to support his ideas about the origins of phobias, his theory of infantile sexuality and the Oedipus complex, and his belief in the effectiveness of psychoanalytic therapy.
Method
This was a longitudinal case study.
A case study gathers detailed data of either a single individual or a very small group of individuals, an institution or an event. Here, in depth, detailed data was gathered on one individual - Little Hans- in relation to his fantasies, fears and phobias.
The study is considered longitudinal as it documents developments in Hans’ fears from when he was three years old until he was five. This allowed Freud to link the evidence gathered to his developmental theory of sexuality.
Data was gathered by Little Han’s father (a firm believer of Freud’s ideas) regularly observing and questioning Hans. He then sent records of the events and conversations to Freud who interpreted the information and replied to Little Hans’ father with advice on how to proceed.
Sample
Little Hans (Herbert Graf) was five years old at the time of this study.
Historical evidence starting from when Little Hans was three years old is used by Freud to support his theory of psychosexual development and the Oedipus complex.
Procedure
Just before he was three, Hans started to show a lively interest in his ‘widdler’ and the presence/absence of this organ in others - human and non-human.
At this time he had a tendency to masturbate, bringing threats from his mother to send for Dr A. to cut it off.
When he was three and a half, Hans gained a baby sister, Hanna, whom he resented and subsequently, subconsciously, wished his mother would drop in the bath so she would drown.
Later Hans developed a fear of being bitten by white horses. This seemed to be linked to two incidents: (i) Overhearing a father say to a child, “Don’t put your finger to the white horse or it will bite you” (H) Seeing a horse that was pulling a carriage fall down and kick about with its legs.
His fear was then generalised to carts and buses.
Both before and after the development of the phobias (of the bath and horses), Hans was both anxious his mother would go away and prone to fantasies and daydreams. These included:
The giraffe fantasy.
Two plumber fantasies.
The parenting fantasy.
Having received help’ from his father and Freud, after the parenting fantasy, both the illness and analysis came to an end
Results
Little Hans’ fear of horses was considered by Freud as a subconscious fear of his father. This because the dark around the mouth of a horse the blinkers resembled the moustache and glasses worn by his father. He was fearful of his father because he was experiencing the Oedipus complex.
Hans’ fascination with his “widdler’ was because he was experiencing the Oedipus complex.
Hans’ daydream about giraffes was a representation of him trying to take his mother away from his father so he could have her to himself another feature of the Oedipus complex.
Hans’ fantasy of becoming a father again linked to his experiencing the Oedipus complex.
Hans’ fantasy about the plumber was interpreted as him now identifying with his father and the final family fantasy was interpreted as the resolution of the Oedipus Complex.
Conclusions
Freud believed that the findings from the case study of Little Hans supported his theories of child development known as psychosexual development
In particular, the case provided support for his theory of the Oedipus complex in which the young boy develops an intense sexual love for his mum and because of this, he sees his father as a rival and wants to get rid of him.
Freud believed these feelings occur at the phallic stage of development. Freud believed that much of Han’s problem came from the conflict caused by this wish. The final fantasy of being married to his mother supported this idea.
According to Freud, Phobias are the product of unconscious anxiety displaced onto harmless external objects.
Little Han’s unconscious fear of castration by his father was symbolically displaced as a fear of being bitten by white horses.
Methpd evaluation
Case study - in-depth analysis of a single individual with an unusual problem is hard to generalise to wider population + relationship between Freud and Hans’ father may have lead to loss of objectivity - father may have provided details to support Freud’s existing claims about psychosexual development.
Unstructured interviews - father often used leading questions in response Little Hans’ comments, its possible Hans gave answer that he assumed was expected.
Study can be seen as longitudinal one.
Data
2 mark responsese.g. Self report was often used so it allowed for lots of detail (1) to be gathered about Hans’ fears, dreams, fantasies. (1)
Hans was less likely to be stressed by his father asking questions because he was familiar with him (1) so will have answered willingly. (1)
Little Hans was unaware he was being asked questions to investigate his phobia (1) so he would have answered in an unbiased way (1).
Ethics
No deception + although Hans did not give formal consent, his father did on behalf of Hans which is expected for young children.
No harm/distress BUT lack of confidentiality + privacy was a concern - despite use of nickname, Hans real identity is well known.
Reliability
Only one individual exhibited the stages of psychosexual development - larger sample must be obtained to observe consistent effect.
Validity
- Han’ father was a fan of Freud’s work, its possible that this distorted his perception of the events he passed on to Freud (RESEARCHER BIAS).
- Interpretations of dreams/fantasies are very subjective (LOWERS VALIDITY) - there are many alternative explanations, e.g. classical conditioning caused fear of horse (behaviourist) or Bowlby’s theory of attachment.
- Use of leading questions may produce SOCIAL DESIRABILITY BIAS, but Freud expressed his frustration with the fathers direction towards a specific answer.
- Possible that Hans simply grew out of anxieties + was not a result the psychoanalysis.
Sampling Bias
Hans had an unusual phobia + use of only one individual as sample – limits generalisability to wide population.
Findings about psychosexual development on a boy may not apply to girls + children in other, less privileged areas may have diff. experiences.
Freud urged all his friends ‘to collect observations of the sexual life of children’ yet only one individuals case history is mentioned - possible that it provided the greatest support for his theory.
Ethnocentrism
Hans is a single individual from a specific cultural context - middle class Austrian family – generalisations to boys from other cultures may not be valid.
Diff. parenting practices + cultural meanings of child-parent interaction vary massively between cultures – highly ethnocentric.
