The Little Hans case is commonly cited as support for which Freudian concept?

The Little Hans case is commonly cited as support for which Freudian concept?

• A. Oedipus complex
• B. Operant conditioning
• C. Observational learning
• D. Self-actualization

Answer: (A)

Freud’s Oedipus complex involves a boy’s unconscious sexual feelings for his mother and rivalry with his father during the phallic stage. In the Little Hans case, Freud argued that Hans’s fear of horses was a disguised expression of those inner wishes: the horse stood in for the father, and the fear of being bitten mapped onto castration anxiety tied to the father’s authority. Through this symbolic displacement, the boy would work through the conflict by identifying with the father, which Freud took as showing the Oedipus complex in early childhood. The other options don’t fit because they describe learning or development ideas—operant conditioning, observational learning, and Maslow’s self-actualization—not Freudian concepts.

Freud’s Oedipus complex involves a boy’s unconscious sexual feelings for his mother and rivalry with his father during the phallic stage. In the Little Hans case, Freud argued that Hans’s fear of horses was a disguised expression of those inner wishes: the horse stood in for the father, and the fear of being bitten mapped onto castration anxiety tied to the father’s authority. Through this symbolic displacement, the boy would work through the conflict by identifying with the father, which Freud took as showing the Oedipus complex in early childhood. The other options don’t fit because they describe learning or development ideas—operant conditioning, observational learning, and Maslow’s self-actualization—not Freudian concepts.