Strength and Weaknesses of Little Hans - Freud 1909

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Strength and Weaknesses of Little Hans

AdvantagesGetting Started

  • Studying Hans in this way provided Freud with a greater amount of detail than other research methods. It was conducted over a long period of time. This means a large amount of information and detail was gathered.
  • The case of Little Hans does appear to provide support for Freuds theory of Oedipus complex. Through analysis, Freud and Hans' father were able to use the idea of the Oedipus complex to explain the boy's phobia. For example, by recognising that horses symbolised the father and that Hans displaced his fear of his father onto horses. By resolving this conflict, Hans was cured of his phobia. This shows that Freuds explanation worked because Hans got better.

Disadvantages

  • Freud only met Hans twice and instead received most of his information from Hans' father.
  • He was already familiar with the Oedipus complex and interpreted the case in light of this. It is also possible therefore that he supplied Hans with clues that led to his fantasies of marriage to his mother and his new, larger widdler.
  • There are perhaps other more realistic explanations for Hans' fear of horses. Its has been reported that he saw a horse die in pain and was frightened by it. This might have been sufficient to trigger a fear of horses (classical conditioning). The Little Albert study by Watson and Raynor (1920) suggests that phobias can be learned responses developed through the process of classical conditioning

Evaluation

Overall, in this study by Freud he has collected lots of information in great amounts of detail however it was Hans' father who collected mean that it could be unreliable and not the total picture of what Hans is going through. Freud only sees Hans twice which could affect results as he is not collecting them himself, he could have also affected Hans thinking as he is a young child who would be impressionable.

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