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Hans was a famous German Orlov Trotter horse trained by his owner, Wilhelm von Osten, who claimed that the horse was able to perform a variety of cognitive tasks, including solving complex arithmetic operations, giving the time, showing knowledge about calendar dates, understanding German language, and so on. His ability aroused worldwide interest at the beginning of the twentieth century, gaining the appellation of Clever Hans (der Kluge Hans in German). Experimental research conducted by the psychologist Oskar Pfungst found that the horse had no particularly complex cognitive abilities, although he was extremely skilled at gathering and using information from the most subtle movements of the questioners to give the expected response. This effect, later known as the observer-expectancy effect, shows the importance of keeping a tight control in experimental research using whenever possible an automated presentation of stimulation and recording of responses and, whenever that...
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References
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Pfungst, O. (1907/1911). Clever Hans (the horse of Mr von Osten): A contribution to experimental animal and human psychology. New York: Henry Holt and Company.
Skinner, B. F. (1951). How to teach animals. Scientific American, 185, 26–29. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1251-26.
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Rosas, J.M. (2017). Clever Hans. In: Vonk, J., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Animal Cognition and Behavior. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1283-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47829-6_1283-1
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