Oskar Pfungst
Encyclopedia
Oskar Pfungst was a German
comparative biologist and psychologist. While working as a volunteer assistant in the laboratory of Carl Stumpf
in Berlin, Pfungst was asked to investigate the horse known as Clever Hans
, who could apparently solved a wide array of arithmetic problems set to it by its owner. After formal investigation in 1907, Pfungst demonstrated that the horse was not actually performing intellectual tasks, but was watching the reaction of his human observers. Pfungst discovered this artifact in the research methodology, wherein the horse was responding directly to involuntary clues in the body language of the human trainer, who had the faculties to solve each problem. The trainer was entirely unaware that he was providing such cues.
In honour of Pfungst's study, the anomalous artifact has since been referred to as the Clever Hans effect and has continued to be important knowledge in the observer effect and later studies in animal cognition
.
Pfungst never earned an advanced academic degree, though he later received an honorary MD from the University Frankfurt, where he lectured. According to Zusne (1984), Pfungst published only "about fifteen titles" in his career.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
comparative biologist and psychologist. While working as a volunteer assistant in the laboratory of Carl Stumpf
Carl Stumpf
Carl Stumpf was a German philosopher and psychologist.Born in Wiesentheid, he studied with Franz Brentano and Hermann Lotze...
in Berlin, Pfungst was asked to investigate the horse known as Clever Hans
Clever Hans
Clever Hans was an Orlov Trotter horse that was claimed to have been able to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks....
, who could apparently solved a wide array of arithmetic problems set to it by its owner. After formal investigation in 1907, Pfungst demonstrated that the horse was not actually performing intellectual tasks, but was watching the reaction of his human observers. Pfungst discovered this artifact in the research methodology, wherein the horse was responding directly to involuntary clues in the body language of the human trainer, who had the faculties to solve each problem. The trainer was entirely unaware that he was providing such cues.
In honour of Pfungst's study, the anomalous artifact has since been referred to as the Clever Hans effect and has continued to be important knowledge in the observer effect and later studies in animal cognition
Animal cognition
Animal cognition is the title given to the study of the mental capacities of non-human animals. It has developed out of comparative psychology, but has also been strongly influenced by the approach of ethology, behavioral ecology, and evolutionary psychology...
.
Pfungst never earned an advanced academic degree, though he later received an honorary MD from the University Frankfurt, where he lectured. According to Zusne (1984), Pfungst published only "about fifteen titles" in his career.