Structure of Personality & Little Hans

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Freud's Structure of Personality

The mind can be divided into three levels of consciousness, which can be illustrated by the iceberg analogy. The unconscious mind, which is hidden below the surface, has the most influence on our personality.

Components of personality

Freud viewed the adult personality as having three basic components – Id, Ego and Superego.

Id

This is the instinct part of the personality and we are born with it.
It is the source of our unconscious desires and impulses.
It demands instant gratification of its needs, which consist of hunger, thirst and sex.
It is the primitive part of our personality and as it seeks to obtain pleasure, it is said to operate on the pleasure principle.

Ego

The ego represents our conscious mind.
It develops around the age of 2-3 years.
Its purpose is to balance the Id in society.
The child realises that the demands of the Id cannot always be met. The ego is logical and rational and seeks to satisfy the Id in socially acceptable ways. It operates according to the reality principle.

Superego

This is formed around the age of 5-6 years and contains our moral values. Therefore, it operates on the morality principle.
The superego is our internalised same-sex parent, so for females morality comes from the mother and for males, the father.
The superego ensures that the ego does not use unacceptable means to satisfy the demands of the Id.

Superego (cont.)

It is around the age of 5-6 years that parents start to demand that the child acts in more socially acceptable ways.
The superego gradually takes over this parental role and tells us inside our own head how we should behave.
It consists of two parts: the conscience and ego ideal.
- The conscience tells us what we should not do, right and wrong.
- The ego ideal tells us what we should do.
- The conscience makes us feel guilty; the ego ideal makes us feel proud.

Conflict: Sides of the Personality & Defence Mechanisms

Freud argued that when we are confronted with a situation we are unable to deal with, certain defence mechanisms are triggered.

Defence mechanisms

These are mainly unconscious and distort reality, so anxiety is reduced.
However, they are only temporary; the only way to deal with these situations is to directly confront them in therapy.
Defence mechanisms can be psychologically damaging.

Repression

Freud states that we unconsciously block out painful memories, such as a child blocking out memories of physical and sexual abuse.
For most of us though, painful memories tend to replay constantly in our minds and we wish we could block them out.
Evidence for repression comes from studies on childbirth; the vast majority of women do seem to repress the memory of the pain.

Denial

This is the refusal to accept reality.
- For example, an alcoholic refuses to accept they have a problem, even though they have been arrested several times and have lost their job and family.
Recovery is only possible once reality has been accepted.

Displacement

Displacement is the redirection of hostile feeling towards a more acceptable target.
- For example, having an argument with your partner and slamming the door or punching the wall.

Freud (1909) — The Case Study of Little Hans

Freud’s most famous example of displacement is ‘Little Hans’. He argued that his fear of horses was a displaced fear of his father due to an unresolved Oedipus complex.

Research aim & procedure

Aim
- To discover evidence to support the Oedipus complex and displacement theories.
Procedure
- A case study. Little Han’s father was a supporter of Freud and corresponded with him about his son’s fear of horses. He recorded the conversations he had with the boy between the ages of 3-5 and accounts of his dreams.

Results & conclusions

Results
- Freud argued that Little Hans’ obsession with his ‘widdler’ and his mother, showed that he was in the phallic stage of psychosexual sexual development and had an unresolved Oedipus complex.
Conclusion
- Little Hans’ phobia of horses was a displaced fear of his father.

Evaluation of Little Hans case study

Strengths
- In depth and detailed.
- Led to the development of therapy – the ‘talking cure’.
Limitations
- Unfalsifiable.
- Cannot generalise from a case study.
- Other more plausible explanations for his fear of horses - behaviourism.