The Case Study of Little Hans

• Aim: To discover evidence to support the Oedipus complex and displacement theories
• Procedure: Little Han’s father = supporter of Freud and corresponded with him about his sons’s fear of horses

  • He recorded the conversations he had with the boy between the ages of 3-5 and accounts of his dreams
• Results:

  Little Hans’ obsession with his ‘widdler’ and his mother, showed that he was in the phallic stage of psychosexual sexual development and had an unresolved Oedipus complex.
• Conclusion: Little Hans’ phobia of horses was a displaced fear of his father
• Stregnths of Little Hans Study:

  • In depth and detailed
  • Lead to the development of therapy - the ‘talking cure’
• Weaknesses of Little Hans Study:

  • Unfalsifiable
  • Cannot generalise due to it being a case study
  • Other more plausible explanations for his fear of horses - Behaviourism