Clever Hans (a horse’s tale).
November 18th, 2008
In 1891 William von Osten, a German, started displaying his horse “Clever Hans” before the public. His claim was that Hans could answer questions by tapping his hoof: numbers were simply counted, the alphabet was encoded as “A”=one tap; “B”=two taps etc.
Von Osten believed that animals possess an intelligence that is equal to that of a human. In his quest to prove this he attempted to teach animals, including a cat and a bear, how to do simple calculations; however, it was only Hans who showed any ability. (more…)
Filed under: Psychology | Tags: clever hans, ideomotor cueing, psychic animal, psychic horse
November 18th, 2008 11:35:31