Freud little hans

• Sigmun freud - 1856-1939
• The Oedipus complex refers to the boy's desire for sexual intercourse with his mother while wanting to eliminate or kill his father. However, he is bigger and more powerful so the boy fears that his father will castrate him. He represses these thoughts into his unconcious mind but the anxiety is too much so a defense mechanism - 'identification with the aggressor' occurs. He copies his father's attitudes and mannerisms. He thus takes on the gender identity and moral values (superego) of his father.
• Aim - To report on the treatment of a 5-year-old boy for his fear of horses
• Case study with self report and observation of 5-year-old boy, from Vienna, Austria (born 1904)
• Procedure - It is a longitudinal case study gathering qualitative data over a 3-year period from age 3-5

  1. Han's father wrote detailed letters to Freud and sent back advice based on his interpretations.
  2. Freud only met the boy once but used that observation to draw conclusions over the phobias source.
• Results - QUALITATIVE ONLY - Any piece of information recorded through the letters or Freud's meaning is a result.
• Developed a fear of horses beecause he was afraid a white horse would bite him
• Giraffe fantasy - 'A big giraffe in the room and a crumpled one: and the big one called out because I took the crumpled one away'.
• Told Freud he had a fear of white horses with black around the mouth
• Had a fantasy where he married his mother, had his own children and his father was the grandfather
• The final fantasy was where a plumber came and removed his bottom and widdler giving him larger ones
• Conclusion - Freud saw this as evidence that Hans was going through the Oedipus complex and unconciously wanted to have sex with his mother and kill his father. The phobia symbolises his father - black bits were a moustache and glasses while the white his father's pale skin. The final dreams were of him resolving conflict as he is satisfied he will become an adult like dad with a big penis. The oedipus is resolved.
• Summary conclusion - The case study is evidence of Freud's theory of psychosexual development in children particularly of the phallic stage and the Oedipus complex.
• Hans wasn't actually the boys name but his actual name couldn't be used for ethical reasons.
• According to Freud's theory, sexuality isn't just found in physically mature adults. It is present from birth with different parts of the body particularly sensitive at different times during childhood.
• Background to the study - 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 psychoanaylsis.

  Freud therefore documented the case of Little Hands to show his fears, dreams and fantasies were symbolic of his unconscious passing through the phallic stage of psychosexual development.
• Research method - This case is longitudinal as it documents developments in Hans' fears from three years old until he was five. This allowed Freud to link evidence gathered to his developmental theory of sexuality.
• Hans later revealed himself as Herbet Graf.
• Outline of study 1 - Just before he was 3, Hans started to show a lively interest in his 'widdler' and the presence/absence of thus organ in others - human and non-human.

  He had a tendency to masturbate, bringing threats from his mother to send for Dr A. to cut it off.

  At 3 1/2 Hans gained a baby sister, Hanna, whom he resented. He developed a fear of the bath, of his mother allowing his head to go under the water, and agreed with his father when asked if it was really Hanna he wished his mother would drop in the bath so she would drown.
• Outline of study 2 - Later Hans developed a fear of being bitten by white horses. He reported two incidents: 1. Hearing a father say to a child, "don't put your finger to the white horse or it will bite you." 2. 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 developing the phobias, Hans was both anxious his mother would go away and prone to fantasies and daydreams.
• Plumber fantasy 1 - conception dream - 'I was in the bath, and the plumber came and unscrewed it. Then he took a bigger borer and stuck it into my stomach'. The borer represents his father's penis. The fantasy can then be re-worded as "with your big penis you bored me and put me in my mother's womb".
• Key findings - 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 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.
• Possible conclusions (Freud concluded that his study of Hans provided support for: ) - His theory of psychosexual development/infant sexuality.

  Theory that boys in the phallic stage of psychosexual development experience the oedipus complex.

  Theory that phobias are a product of unconscious anxiety displaced onto harmless external objects.

  Concept of unconscious determinism: people not consciously aware of the causes of their behaviour.
• Possible conclusions 2 - Use of psychoanalytic therapy to treat disturbed thoughts, feelings and behaviours by first indentifying unconscious cause of the disturbance and them bringing them into the conscious so they can be discussed and resolved.