Classical conditioninc: phobias in 1909, sigmund freud published a case study about a four-year-old boy known as. "little hans." hans was deathly afraid of horses. hans was so afraid of horses that he would not leave his family's house. herbert's father described the boy's problems in a letter he sent to froud: 'during the last fow days [little hans) has developed a nervous disorder, which has made my wife and me most uneasy because we have not been able to find any means of dissipating it. ... he is afraid that a horse will bite him in the street." (spitzer, 1994). according to his parents, hans' fear first began while walking down a city street with his mother. he saw a large horse fall down and kick violently. hans developed a phobia, which is persistent fear of an object or situation, one that is so severe that it causes significant difficulties in daily functioning. typically the fear is disproportional to the actual danger posed. for example, a man who refuses to go into basements because there are spiders down there, might be suffering from a phobia unless there was actually large numbers of highly poisonous spiders in the basement. hans fear seemed irrational and it definitely interfered with his daily functioning: he refused to leave the house. freud blamed han's phobia on the unconscious, however the laws of classical conditioning could explain hans' fear as well.