Freud

• The key theme is Understanding Disorders.
• Background

  The conscious mind is the state when individuals are aware of their motivations for behaviour that they can explain verbally.
• Background

  The unconscious mind is the state when behavioural motivations are often complex and often related to sex in some way. These are largely hidden from an individual's conscious mind, but are the driving force behind visible behaviour.
• Background

  Freud developed psychoanalysis (a set of techniques for treating the unconscious causes of mental disorders).
• Background

  Defence Mechanisms are used by the unconscious mind to protect us from anxiety.
• Background

  Repression is when the memory of a traumatic event becomes buried or inaccessible.
• Background

  Displacement is when we unconsciously move impulses from the threatening to the less threatening.
• Background

  Denial is refusing to acknowledge some aspect of reality and so continuing to behave as normal.
• Theory of Psychosexual Development

  • Sexuality isn't confined to mature adults but is evident from birth.
  • Different parts of the body are particularly sensitive at different times during childhood.
  • An important concept when understanding the development of personality is libido (life energy).
  • During the different stages of psychosexual development, libido is forced upon different parts of the body.
• Theory of Psychosexual Development

  1. Oral
  2. Anal
  3. Phallic
  4. Latency
  5. Genital
• Oral

  Age 0-1 years

  In this stage, the libido is focused on the mouth. Infants experience pleasure from sucking and biting.
• Anal

  Age 1-3 years

  The libido shifts to the anus. Children gain pleasure from achieving control over their own bodies and this will include retaining and eliminating feces.
• Phallic

  Age 3-5/6 years

  The libido becomes focused on the genitals. Children begin to display an interest in the differences between boys and girls as well as developing a strong attachment to the parent of the opposite sex.

  In this stage boys experience the Oedipus complex and girls experience the Electra complex.
• Latency

  Age 5/6- puberty

  There is no organ pleasure in this stage. Children focus on things such as schooling, and boys and girls do not interact.
• Genital

  Puberty to maturity

  The libido is focused on the genitals. People develop relationships with the opposite sex.
• The Oedipus complex

  1. In the Phallic stage of psychosexual development, young boys have an unconscious desire for an exclusive sexual relationship with their mothers.
  2. They are jealous of their fathers, who have a relationship with their mothers that excludes them.
  3. The young boys are afraid that there fathers will punish them for this and develop castration anxiety.
  4. To resolve this, they must become as much like their fathers as possible. Resolution comes when they identify with their fathers by developing the appropriate male behaviour.
• Aim

  The theoretical aim was to provide evidence to support Freud's psychodynamic theory.
• Aim

  The therapeutic aim was to cure Little Hans of his phobia of white horses and show how psychoanalytic theory can be used to successfully treat an anxiety disorder.
• Sample

  • Little Hans (Herbert Graf) was 5 years old at the time of the study.
  • Historical evidence started from when Hans was 3 years old.
• Sample

  Hans was described as a cheerful and straightforward child, but when he became ill (developed his phobia) it was obvious that there was a difference between what he said and what he thought.

  Freud thought this was due to things going on in Hans' unconscious mind that he was unaware of.
• Sample

  Little Hans was referred to Freud by his father- a keen supporter of Freud's work.

  Freud documented the case of Little Hans to show how his fears, dreams and fantasies were symbolic of his unconscious passing through the phallic stage of psychosexual development.

  Freud used the study to support his ideas about the origins of phobias, his theory of infantile sexuality, the Oedipus complex and his belief in the effectiveness of psychoanalytic therapy.
• Research Method

  This was a longitudinal case study.

  A case study gathers detailed data of either a single individual or very small group of individuals, an institution or event.
• Research Method

  Detailed data was gathered on Little Hans, in relation to his fantasies, fears and phobias, from the start of the Oedipus complex through to overcoming the complex.
• Research Method

  The study is longitudinal as it documents developments in Hans' fears from when he was 3 years old to when he was 5.

  This allowed Freud to link evidence gathered ti his developmental theory of sexuality.
• Research Method

  Data was gathered by Little Hans' father regularly observing and questioning Hans.

  He then sent records of the events and conversations to Freud via letters and correspondence. Freud interpreted the information and replied to Hans' father with advice on how to proceed.
• Research Method

  Freud noted that it was the special relationship between Hans and his father that allowed the analysis to progress and for the discussions with Hans to be so detailed and intimate.
• Little Hans and his 'widdler'

  • When Hans was 3 years old, he developed an active interest in his 'widdler' and those of others.
  • ' Mummy, have you got a widdler too?'
  • Hans reasoned this organ was a key distinction between animate and inanimate things.
  • Freud interpreted this as meaning Hans was going through the phallic stage of psychosexual development, and therefore also the Oedipus complex.
• The fear of Baths

  • When Hans was 3 and a half, his baby sister Hanna was born.
  • He resented Hanna and subsequently subconsciously wished his mother would drop her in the bath so she would drown.
  • This was expressed indirectly by fearing baths.
  • Hans previously liked having a bath but now said he was afraid his mother would drop him when she was bathing him.
  • His unconscious desire was translated into the fear that his mother might equally let him go.
• The fear of Horses (1)

  • Hans had a fear of being bitten by a white horse.
  • Hans overheard a father warning a daughter "don't put your hand to the white horse or it will bite you".
  • This sounds similar to the warning he had been given about masturbating/ playing with his widdler (the doctor would come and cut it off).
  • His parents came to the conclusion that the fear of being bitten by a horse actually symbolised the fear of indulging his urges.
  • This links to the fear of castration and therefore the Oedipus complex.
• The Fear of Horses (2)

  • Hans didn't like horses with black bits around the mouth.
  • Freud suggested this was a subconscious fear of his father, meaning he was experiencing the Oedipus complex.
  • The black around the horses' mouth and the blinkers in front of its eyes were symbols of his father's moustache and glasses.
• The giraffe dream/ fantasy

  • 'In the night there was a big giraffe in the room and a crumpled one: and the big one called out because I took the crumpled one away from it. Then it stopped calling out: and I sat down on top of the crumpled one'.
  • His father and Freud interpreted this as a reworking of the morning exchanges in the parental bed. Hans enjoyed getting into his parents' bed in the morning but his father often objected.
  • The fantasy was seen as a representation of Hans trying to take his mother away from his father so he could have her to himself (a feature of the Oedipus complex).
• The Plumber Fantasies (1)

  • "Daddy I thought I saw something: I was in the bath and then the plumber came and unscrewed it. Then he took a big borer and stuck it into my stomach".
  • Freud interpreted this as a remoulding of the fantasy of procreation, distorted by anxiety.
  • The big bath of water was Hans' mother's womb.
  • The plumber was Hans' father with his big borer (penis) which he 'bored' Hans and put him in his mother's womb.
• The Plumber Fantasies (2)

  • "The plumber came and he took away my behind with a pair of pincers, and then he gave me another, and then the same with my widdler."
  • Freud believed this new fantasy was a triumphant, wishful fantasy, and with it, he overcame his fear of castration.
  • Hans wanted to be like his father and was therefore identifying with his father, and so was coming towards the end of the Oedipus complex.
• The Children Fantasy

  • Hans mentioned a fantasy game he played in which he had children.
  • At first, Hans was his imaginary children's mummy.
  • Hans then became their Daddy. Hans' mother was their Mummy and his father was their Grandfather, and his Grandmother their Grandmother.
  • This represents the end of the Oedipus Complex as Hans now identified with male role behaviours.
• Result: 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- a feature of the Oedipus complex.


  Conclusion: Freud concluded that his study of Hans provided support of his suggestion that boys in the phallic stage of psychosexual development experience the Oedipus complex.
• Result: Little Hans' fear of horses was considered by Freud as a fear of his Father, a feature of the Oedipus complex, which had been displaced (moved) onto horses to protect him from anxiety.


  Conclusion: The study provided support for the nature of phobias and Freud's theory that they are the product of unconscious anxiety displaced onto harmless external objects.
• At the age of 19, Hans appeared at Freud's consulting room having read his case history. Hans confirmed that he had suffered no troubles during adolescence and that he was fit and well.
• Alternative Explanations

  1. Bowlbly argued that Hans' phobias could by explained in terms of attachment theory.
  2. A further, simpler explanation is Hans was classically conditioned to fear horses.