H567/02 Section A - Freud (1909): Little Hans

The psychodynamic explanation of a phobia

Freud's psychodynamic perspective explains behaviour through unconscious mental processes, childhood experiences and conflicts that a person may not recognise.

His theory of psychosexual development proposed stages in which different bodily areas became a focus of pleasure: oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital. The relevant stage for Hans was the phallic stage, approximately ages three to five or six. Freud proposed that a boy could experience an Oedipus complex: desire for his mother, rivalry with his father and anxiety that his father would punish him. These are Freud's theoretical claims, rather than established descriptions of all children.

Displacement means redirecting an emotion from its original source onto another target. Freud argued that anxiety about Hans's father was displaced onto horses. A horse could then provoke fear even when it was not an immediate physical threat. Unconscious determinism means that behaviour is influenced by causes outside conscious awareness; on this account, Hans need not know why he feared horses.

Hans's father referred him to Freud and already supported Freud's ideas. Freud aimed to explain the phobia using his theory, provide evidence about childhood sexuality and investigate psychoanalysis as a way of helping. Psychoanalysis sought to bring unconscious conflict into awareness so that it could be discussed and resolved. The study belongs to individual differences because it examines an unusual pattern of fear in one individual; its theme is understanding disorders, rather than measuring the prevalence of phobias.

How the case evidence was collected

This was a longitudinal case study of Little Hans, the pseudonym used for Herbert Graf, who was five when the phobia was analysed.

The account includes earlier events from around age three, allowing Freud to connect the development of fears with childhood experiences. One boy was studied in depth; he was referred through his father, rather than randomly selected from a population. There was no manipulated independent variable, randomly allocated comparison group or standardised phobia score.

The main materials were the father's written records of observations, conversations, fears and fantasies, together with correspondence through which Freud supplied interpretations and advice. Hans's father regularly observed and questioned him and sent accounts to Freud. Freud interpreted those accounts and advised the father how to continue the discussion. Thus the father was both a familiar adult with access to daily life and an intermediary who selected and framed the evidence.

The records were mainly qualitative: detailed descriptions of speech, behaviour and family circumstances. They show meaning and change over time that a single numerical score would omit. However, a reported conversation is not a direct measurement of an unconscious process. An answer may also reflect the wording of an adult's question or a child's wish to please that adult. Remembering the route of evidence—child, father, Freud—helps explain both its richness and its vulnerability to interpretation.

Events, fantasies and Freud's interpretations

The case contains a sequence of reported experiences and interpretations; keep those two levels separate.

Before age three Hans showed interest in his own and other beings' genitals, using the child's term “widdler”. His mother threatened to have it cut off when he masturbated. At three and a half his sister Hanna was born; the account describes jealousy and a wish relating to her drowning in the bath. These reports provided material for Freud's account of sexual curiosity, rivalry and anxiety.