Freud

Freud

1. Basic outline

   • After a number of years, Freud identified 3 aspects to the personality. The ID, the ego and the super-ego. The ID features the animal, survival instincts such as aggression and sexuality. He believed that the Libidinous drive is the source for our motivation.
   • Freuds theory of development. Freud believed that we go through 3 psychosexual stages in childhood. Each of these stages feature a physical body part in which the child becomes 'obsessed' with. The 1st is the Oral stage. (0-18mnths). the second is the anal stage (18mnths-3yrs) and the 3rd is the phallic stage (between 3-5/6yrs)
     • the idea is that in the phallic stage, the boy develops an intense sexual desire for the mother. However, the father is far bigger and more powerful and so the young boy develops a fear that as his rival, his father will castrate him. Due to this extreme anxiety, the boy develops a defence mechanism known as 'identification with the aggressor'. He stresses all ways in which he is similar to his father and learns that he will have his own 'mummy' one day. Freud argues that you do not remember this as you have repressed these memories.

2. Task 1

   • Freud believed that dreams about houses and rooms, are repressed wishes to go back to the womb. He also believed that dreams about cars, trains, and long/tall things are repressed wishes to leave the womb/ to separate from it.

3. Aim

   • Report on the treatment of Little Hans' phobia of horses
   • The sample was 1 boy; Little Hans. He was a son of Freud's friend. (Experimenter bias?)

4. Method

   • This is a case study method, where one person or small group is investigated in depth. This was mostly done through letters written my Hans' father to Freud., describing his sons dreams and fantasises. Freud also interviewed Little Hans once and asked him about his fear of horses.

5. Results/ Findings

   • Fantasy 1
     • Little Hans told his father about his fantasy of a big giraffe and a little, crumpled giraffe. In this, the big giraffe shouted at little Hans for trying to take the small one away. This was described as wish funfilment of having his mother. Freud said the large giraffe was the father (penis) and the small, crumpled one was his mother.
     • Freud asked Little Hans, what he was scared of about the horse. He said it was the black around the eyes (the blinkers) and the black around the mouth. This was linked to his fathers representation (glasses and moustache)
     • The questions that his father asked him and reported, were very leading. This could lead to demand characteristics as Hans' could have felt as if he had to say yes.
   • Fantasy 2
     • Hans had a dream that the plumber came and too away his bottom and replaces it with a bigger, better version. This was symbolic of the identification with his father, which triggers the end of the oedipus complex and the end to his phobia of horses.
   • Behaviourists would argue that this has got nothing to do with unresolved conflict with the father and that classical conditioning to associate fear with horses with his father and the over-exposure to it/ habituation would have removed it.

6. Evaluation

   • Strength
     • Case studies are particularly useful in revealing and treating abnormal behaviour. Forms of Psychotherapy build from long, detailed case history.
     • Special relationship between Hans and his Father allowed the progress of the discussions. Many children go quiet with adult strangers
   • Weakness
     • cannot generalise the results as they only relate to Hans himself. No way of assessing how generic Hans' phobia is.
     • Can be considered to have demand characteristics as the questions are very leading. This could affect the accuracy of the results.