Individual differences - Freud Flashcards
aim
to document the case of Little Hans and confirm his theories of the Oedipus complex
research method
longitudinal case study
sample
.Freud put out a call to people he knew to send info about their child’s development
.Han’s brought up with minimal force, was lively and cheerful
.not quite 3y/o
.Vienna, Austria
procedure
.Han’s father recorded details of Han’s behaviours/conversations with his interpretations
.After a week he sent these to Freud
.Freud would reply with his own interpretations and guidance
Fear of horses aged 4 1/2 - Freud interpreted …
not scared of horse, scared of ‘widdler’ being cut off
giraffe ‘fantasy’ aged 4 1/2 - alternate
.His parents thought it was longing for his mother (crumpled giraffe)
.Could be memory of the zoo from 5 days earlier
Fear of horses, carts, vans, etc - alternate
may have seen it happen
summary (Freud interpretations)
.Little Hans was sexually attracted to his mother
.He fantasised about taking her away (giraffe fantasy)
.He was jealous and frightened of his father (horse symbolism - defence mechanism)
.He was jealous of his sister
conclusions
.Freud claimed to learn nothing new
.Study supported his psychosexual stages of development
.Boys develop Oedipus complex during phallic stage
.Phobias are result of unconscious anxieties which have been displaced onto external objects (fear of father finding out desires displaced onto horses)
Ethics kept
informed consent
withdrawal
protection from harm
deception
ethics broken
debrief
confidentiality
internal reliability
yes - can be repeated with any child
external reliability
no - sample too small so cant generalise
internal validity
no - leading questions could influence Hans’ behaviour e.g ‘when you fell of the horse did you think of daddy?
population validity
no - ethnocentric
no - androcentric
