understanding disorders: freud and baron-cohen et al Flashcards
freud sample?
little hans (actually herbert graf), only child studied by freud
studied between the ages of 3-5
son of max graf, freud’s friend and supporter
freud method?
longitudinal case study
data collected by little hans’ father and sent to freud via letters
freud only met hans twice
reported in 100 page book
freud book structure?
introduction: hans’ early life, sources of anxiety
case history: phobia, fantasies, cure
discussion: support for psychosexual development, origin & development of phobias
freud case history part 1?
has goes from being obsessed with ‘lumf’ to his ‘widdler’ at the age of 3
observed animals had big ones and expected this from both of his parents
freud oedipal leanings?
at 4.5, expressed sexual desire for mother, wanting her to touch his widdler
mother initiated castration anxiety when she found him touching his widdler and threatened to have it cut off so has to repress feelings for her
freud, hans competing with father for mother?
had holidays away with mother
wished father was permanently away
physically aggressive towards father, but conflicted as he also loves him
freud, giraffe fantasy?
little hans fantasized that there was a big giraffe (dad/his genitals) and a crumpled one (mum/her genitals)
big warns crumpled not to let him in bed, crumpled lets him in anyways and he sits on her
reveals sexual nature of hans’ desires
freud, hans competing with sister for mother?
at 3.5, hans gets little sister hanna
resents the attention given to her and wishes his mother would let her drown
leads to internal conflict between resentment and love
turns into desire for mother to let him drown
freud, the phobia starts?
at 4.5, hans develops fear of white horses biting him on the street
anxieties were repressed into the subconscious and have reappeared as a phobia
freud explains how?
the phobia is partially based on a real event of over hearing a father warn a girl not to touch a horse
links to mother’s refusal to touch his widdler and her disapproval of his ‘self-manipulation’
a coping strategy for the fear of his mother leaving him, libido is now connected to anxiety
freud claims anxiety became worse at realisation women don’t have widdlers, assuming they were castrated
freud, one phobia replaced with another?
freud discusses reasoning for phobia with hans
then able to go out onto the street
until he develops a fear of horses pulling heavy laden carts
freud, link phobia horse and carts?
linked to real event of seeing a horse and cart fall and thrash about, where hans feared the horse was dead
represents repressed anxieties of wishing his father dead, laden cart represents pregnancy and anxieties of sister
freud, plumber 1 fantasy?
in bath, plumber unscrews it and pushes hans with a big borer
interpreted as dad taking away mum and pushing him with his big penis
freud, plumber 2 fantasy?
plumber comes, takes away hans with a pair of pincers and replaces his widdler
interpreted as hans getting a new, bigger widdler, resolving feeling towards father
freud, final fantasy?
fantasy of becoming a father
seen as resolving oedipus complex as he is relating to his father
freud conclusions?
freud sees evidence for:
psychosexual development (oedipus complex during phallic stage)
explaining phobias as repressed anxieties
unconscious determinism
effectiveness of psychodynamic therapy
freud research method evaluation?
can gain deep knowledge of the situation
but may lose objectivity and cannot be generalised as on participant
freud data collected evaluation?
highly detailed qualitative data, but need to draw subjective conclusions
freud ethicality evaluation?
no deceit or procedure that could cause harm
issue with consent as max was dad and lead investigator
attempt to maintain confidentiality but it failed as known max graf was dad
herbert (hans) appeared to come out of it unharmed
freud validity evaluation?
leading questions coming from a friend and supported of freud reduces validity
freud’s conclusions were also subjective interpretations of second hand data
freud link to theme?
links to understanding disorders as it gives an explanation for phobias
they come from repressed anxieties, however the means in which he found this are questionable
freud link to area?
assumption: all individuals differ in their behaviour and personal qualities, so no one can be considered the ‘average person’
investigates the ways in which people’s behaviour differs, particularly through phobias and their origins in little hans
baron-cohen method?
quasi-expt, mpd
baron-cohen ivs?
the nature of Ps
and for neurotypical condition, the gender of the Ps
baron-cohen sample, group 1?
16 adults, 4 with high functioning autism and 12 with aspergers
13 male, 3 female
18-49, mean of 28.6
iq normal
volunteers from adverts and doctors referrals
baron-cohen sample, group 2?
non-clinical controls
50 age-matched controls (18-48, mean 30)
half male, half female
no history of psychiatric illness (self-report)
iq presumed normal
selected from volunteer panel of cambridge public
baron-cohen sample, group 3?
10 adults with tourette’s syndrome
age-matched (18-47, mean 27.8)
8 male, 2 female
iq normal
volunteers from referral centre in london
baron-cohen, why tourettes?
normal iq
developmental disorder
disrupts schooling and peer relationships
involves disruptions in frontal cortex
evidence of a genetic cause
affects more males than females (4:1)
baron-cohen procedure?
eyes task
happe’s strange stories
control tasks: gender recognition and basic emotion recognition
baron-cohen eyes task?
magazine photos of 24 faces eye regions
all 15cmx10cm, black & white, midway down nose to just above eyebrow
forced choice between target and foil word, randomised for each pair of eyes
shown for 3 seconds and asked ‘which word best describes what this person is thinking or thinking?’
basic (friendly) and complex (hostile) states used
baron-cohen strange stories task?
used to check validity of eyes task as a ToM task
if performances match up between the two tasks, likely to be valid
concurrent validity
baron-cohen control tasks?
used to check if errors in eyes task came from other factors
gender recognition: Ps identified gender of photos from eyes task
tests facial perception, perceptual discrimination and social perception
basic emotion recognition: identify emotions of whole faces
happy, sad, angry, afraid, disgust, surprise
baron-cohen results first iv?
hfa/as: 16.3, 13-23
neurotypical: 20.3, 16-25
ts: 20.4, 16-25
only half of the hfa/as scored better than chance
all other ps did better than chance
baron-cohen results second iv?
neurotypical males: 18.8
neurotypical females: 21.8
females outperform males, but males still outperform hfa/as
baron-cohen conclusions?
hfa/as struggled with theory of mind despite having normal intelligence
tourettes group showed impairment is specific to autism
eyes task is a valid test for ToM as it tests not just emotions but states of mind, the results match happes strange stories and the control tasks show the results weren’t due to perceptual problems
females performing higher could be due to genetics or socialization
baron-cohen method evaluation?
highly controlled lab expt, can determine cause and effect, standardised
quasi expt may mean groups are poorly matched
baron-cohen data collected evaluation?
quantitative data allows for easy comparisons
however lacks detail of knowing what is being thought when looking at the eyes
baron-cohen data collected evaluation?
quantitative data allows for easy comparisons
however lacks detail of knowing what is being thought when looking at the eyes
baron-cohen ethicality evaluation?
volunteers mean consent
no deceit
no distress
baron-cohen validity evaluation?
lacks ecological validity
(static black and white images of the eyes isolated with a lack of context is unlike everyday life)
task both simpler and harder than everyday interactions
however it proved the eyes task as a valid test for theory of mind
baron-cohen sampling bias evaluation?
clinical groups are small, with 16 in as/hfa and 10 in tourette’s
trouble with generalising to all sufferers
heightened by volunteer nature of the samples
baron-cohen link to theme?
links to understanding disorders as it gives us insight into people with autism and asperger’s syndrome experiences when it comes to their theory of mind, or lack thereof
baron-cohen link to area?
assumption: people differ in their behaviour and personal qualities
is studying the ways in which people with a disorder (autism/asperger’s syndrome) differ to the neurotypical average person
freud and baron-cohen differences?
sample size: baron-cohen had 76 Ps in total and freud had 1
disorder being explored: baron-cohen looked into autism and freud looked at phobias
baron-cohen adding to understanding of the theme?
baron-cohen uses a controlled, standardised, experimental method to add to our understanding of disorders, unlike freud who uses self-report from the participant’s father
this shows us that studying individual differences can be done in a reliable and less holistic way than freud’s psychoanalysis (which for many is considered pseudo-science)
