Freud

• Psychodynamic theory


  Theory that focuses on the unconscious mind and how it influences behaviour and personality
• Structure of the mind

  • Conscious
  • Pre-conscious
  • Subconscious
• Structure of personality

  • Id
  • Ego
  • Super ego
• Defence mechanisms

  • Displacement
  • Repression
• Phallic stage

  Stage of psychosexual development focused on the genitals
• Oedipus Complex

  Unconscious desire of a boy for an exclusive relationship with a female parent
• Freud's first aim

  Aimed to investigate the effectiveness of psychoanalysis for the treatment of unique phobia in a young boy
• Freud's second aim

  Aimed to find supporting evidence for Freud's theories of psychosexual development
• Freud's Sample

  Little Hans, a middle class 3-5 yo boy from Vienna, Austria (also had an educated family)
• Procedure of Freud's Study

  1. Utilised psychoanalytical talking therapy to help Hans resolve his internal mental conflict of the Oedipus complex

  2. Hans was regularly interviewed and questioned by his father from 3-5 years of age (phallic stage); this questioning pertained to his dreams, fantasies, and fears

  3. Data was collected in the form of written letters from Hans' father sent to Freud for interpretation
• Hans' parents noted that he had a fascination with his 'widdler' prior to the study, with his mother threatening to have him castrated at times
• What was Hans questionned about in Freud's study?

  Dreams, fantasies and fears
• Hans' development through phallic stage

  • Displaced his castration anxiety and jealousy of his father onto white horses in the form of a phobia
  • Developed an unconscious desire for an exclusive relationship with his mother
• Where did Hans' phobia of white horses come from?


  Stemmed from an experience where Hans saw a carriage horse fall over in the street
• How Hans' phobia relates to his jealousy of his father

  White horses supposedly resemble his father, e.g. Blinkers look like his glasses
• Hans' giraffe fantasy


  • Hans dreamt that he took a crumpled giraffe away from a big giraffe while the big giraffe was crying out and then when it stopped, he sat on the crumpled giraffe
• Interpretation of Hans' giraffe fantasy

  Symbolic of when he would take his father's place in his parents' bed next to his mother
• Interpretation of Hans' hostility towards his sister Hanna


  Hans was jealous that his sister was taking attention away from his mother, as Hans subconsciously wanted an exclusive relationship with his mother
• How Hans overcame the Oedipus Complex and his fear of white horses


  • Had the parenting fantasy (a fantasy in which Hans imagined himself becoming his father)
  • Went on to experience no difficulties in adolescence
• Hans' interest in his 'widdler' and his symbolic conflict between the love for his mother and fear for his father provided evidence for Freud's proposed Phallic Stage and Oedipus Complex
• Criticism of Freud's study: How can a behaviourist perspective explain Hans' phobia of white horses

  Hans' experience seeing a carriage horse fall over in the street conditioned him to feel fear, which later generalised to all white horses
• Hans' hostility towards his sister Hanna


  Hans wished that his mother would drop his sister into the bath so that she would drown