key study: little hans

Question 1

aims

Answer 1

freud wanted to provide evidence for the oedipus complex so he used hans who had a severe phobia of horses after seeing one collapse in the street to see if his behaviour fitted the theory

Question 2

method

Answer 2

freud didn’t study the young boy directly but exchanged letters with the boys dad discussing the boys behaviour, in particular his phobia of horses

Question 3

the three dreams

Answer 3

married to his mother with their own family, a crumpled giraffe was squashed by a larger giraffe, a plumber came to the house and removed the boys penis replacing it with a larger one

Question 4

the mother dream

Answer 4

interpreted as showing his romantic desire for his mother

Question 5

the giraffe dream

Answer 5

the giraffes represented the boys parents and illustrated his fear and hostility towards his father

Question 6

the plumber dream

Answer 6

interpreted as the boys desire to be a grown up man and marry his mother

Question 7

evaluation

Answer 7

freud and hans’ dad could have distorted evidence to fit the theory, in adulthood hans had no recollection of the dream or fearing horses, it is hard to generalise from one patient in a case study