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Clever Hans the horse is best known for his human-like intelligence. He was able to solve arithmetic functions, identify colours, read and spell, and even identify musical tones. Clever Hans was able to complete these feats by simple behavioral responses to cues led by his trainer Wilhelm von Osten. Wilhelm von Osten was a german mathematics teacher who believed people underestimated the intelligence of animals.

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Identify the history of the animal involved and how the relationship formed. 

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Identify the history of the animal involved and how the relationship formed. 

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Wilhelm Von Osten had a theory that animals had more cognitive abilities than humans gave them credit for. To test this theory, Von Osten decided to teach animals mathematics. When Wilhelm tested his theory with Hans, he was amazed to see how Hans was able to tap his foot based on the number of the chalkboard. For example, if the number 4 was written on the chalkboard, Hans would tap his foot 4 times. After realizing that Hans was able to understand mathematics, he decided to make Hans solve some more complex math problems by including addition and subtraction. Hans was able to solve all of Von Osten's questions. Hans cognitive abilities were so amazing that he was able to not only learn mathematics, but learn to identify colors, the alphabet, and spell out names. Wilhelm would debut his horses abilities to the world in 1904. People were stunned at Hans cognitive abilities and some believed that Wilhelm was somehow manipulating Hans to give the right answer. Wilhelm quickly disproved this accusation by leaving Hans by himself. Von Osten didn't have to be present for Hans to solve problems. Hans' cognitive abilities changed the way people look at animals cognitive behavior. Hans' accomplishments and incredible cognition would go on to earn him the nickname "Clever Hans".

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Originally it was believed that Han's was the first ever thinking animal. That Han's was the first animal that was able to think in a human way and express human ideas in non-verbal human language! However, it was when Professor Oscar Pfungst a biologist and psychologist that discovered Han's could not answer the problems if the person giving the problem did not know the answer. Han's was also unable to answer the questions given to him if he was unable to see the persons face.  Even though it wasn't Han's actual intellectual ability to solve and answer problems, it still is a major accomplishment that Han's was able to read human facial indications. It was through Han's that future studies in ethology often have no face to face contact between the examiner and the experimental animal. The Ethology community even came up with a phrase called the "Clever Han's effect," which was used to denote the dangers of unintentional cueing of desired behaviors by the person performing the study. Which was why experiments are more carefully designed now taking many components such as facial exposure into consideration.

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Nelly the Clever Pig is similar to Hans (Ryan Mai)

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Nelly the Clever Pig is similar to Hans (Ryan Mai)

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Nelly is able to recognize a bunch of different objects around her. She is also able to realize that purposes and materials of the each object. For example, She knows how to put a round object into a hoop. But when told to put a strange shaped object into the hoop she questions that kind of command because of the logic behind it. In the video we see nelly staring at the hoop and staring at the wierd shaped object. She is also able to spell out the word HAM among a bunch of letters. Many would have believed that she was a very intelligent pig that knew how to spell. But in fact, the letters HAM were made of wood while the other letters were plastic. This is just like how people thought Han's knew how to solve arithmetic operations and spell out letters. So Nelly is able to distinguish the texture of the letters , exactly like how Han's was able to distinguish the facial expressions to do their task!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YKgfCH_Phk

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Hans introduced the concepts of unconcious cueing and the observer expectancy effect (Ryan Mai)

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Hans introduced the concepts of unconcious cueing and the observer expectancy effect (Ryan Mai)

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Cueing has different definitions and representations when used in different context.  But, is mainly the reaction or response to a given stimulus. Cueing is usually performed thorugh signals, directions, hints, gestures, and even expressions. Expressions that Hans was able to read! The interesting factor was that Hans was doing this unconsciously and unknowingly made the study biased. Which is why today certain studies take many steps to ensure that there is the least amount of biases present, that any actions or behavior shown is natural.
It could be safe to say that it Hans that helped Pfungst discover the earliest ideas of the observer-expectancy effect. Which when a researcher's cognitive bias causes them to subconsciously influence the participants in the study. Such as Hans reading the facial expression on his masters face to know whether or not a answer was correct.
I believe it is safe to say that Hans indirectly helped many future researchers conduct better studies

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So does Hans prove that animals are clever?  abstract thinking? (Ryan Mai)

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So does Hans prove that animals are clever?  abstract thinking? (Ryan Mai)

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Animals certainly are clever because they can do many things that humans aren't capable of. They are also clever in the way that they can be trained to remember certain things and do certain things. However, it is important to make the distinction between this kind of behavior with abstract thinking. For example, many believed that Hans really did know how to form sentences and solve math problems. But he was never taught the human language, grammar and the alphabets. Nor was he taught basic mathematical knowledge. He was able to do these task because of perceptual thinking as opposed to abstract thinking. He couldn't have possibly solved all the problems given to him abstractly because he was never taught of the concepts behind each problem given. As stated by Michael Egnor, In animal cognition research, it is of the utmost importance to distinguish clever perceptive thinking from abstract thinking.

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Ferguson, Philip M.. "Clever Hans". Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Oct. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/topic/Clever-Hans.

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Egnor, Michael.. "The Clever Hans Problem and Research on Animal Cognition". Evolution News & Science Today, 4 Dec. 2015,
https://evolutionnews.org/2015/12/the_clever_hans/

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Samhita, L., Gross, H.., "The "Clever Hans Phenomenon" revisited, COmmunicative & Integrative Biology, 6 Nov. 2013
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.4161/cib.27122

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What was unique about their relationship.  Wilhelm von Osten relationship with his Horse Clever Hands was able to show how Perception or Abstract thought can be brought into question. Oskar Pfungst concluded in his report that clever hands was mearly using associations to certain repeated movements and his reaction to them had become habitual in response. Horses are prey and flight animals and have the ability to perceive the slightest movements- even a tensed muscle can sensed by a horse, and this innate sensory source  far exceeds that of the average man (Pfungst, 1911).  Another example can be seen in how a mentalist is able to read the unconscious cues of their  audience and seemingly be performing amazing feats ( Ignor, 2015).
Do Animals have Language?Psychologist Oskar Pfungst disputed through reasonable doubt that Clever Hands The Horse was using abstract thought. But communication to a degree should not be dismissed, the horse was using a form of  language,. he was  using sounds and body language and  in combining these he was responding  to cues.

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As Denyse O'Leary will likely discuss in her new series " Animal Minds," a number of research studies claim to show that under some circumstances animals are capable of abstract thought. I believe that those conclusions are wrong, and that animals are not capable of abstraction.

Animals think particularly, not abstractly. That is, animals think about particulars (individual things) and about perceptions connected to the particulars, but they are not capable of abstracting universal concepts from particulars and contemplating the universal concepts in isolation from individual things that evoke them. For example, my dog certainly thinks of my kindness and responds by wagging her tail, but there is no evidence she is capable of contemplating kindness as a concept, abstracted from my particular behavior.

That is not to say that animals can't be clever. Animals can be very clever - sometimes more clever than humans. Try to build a spider web yourself. But animal cleverness is always tied to particular things and situations and instincts. A spider builds a very effective web to catch his meals. There is no evidence the spider contemplates the beauty of spider webs or that it understands "web" as a metaphor for a complex set of associations.

In animal cognition research, it is of the utmost importance to distinguish clever perceptive thinking from abstract thinking. Animals can be trained to do very clever perceptive things, and some of these clever things seem like abstract thinking. A parrot could be trained to recite Godel's Theorems, but the parrot knows nothing of mathematical logic. To be trained in perceptual cleverness is not to think abstractly.

The pitfall of mistaking training in perceptual thought for abstract thought is clearly illustrated by a famous example in animal cognitive research - the case of Clever Hans.

Wilhelm Von Osten was a German mathematics teacher and phrenologist at the turn of the 20th century who was convinced that animals were capable of abstract thought. He tutored several animals in the hope of demonstrating the truth of animal reason. The cat and the bear didn't turn out well (he actually tried), but he claimed to have success with Hans, an Arab stallion. Osten drew mathematical problems on a blackboard, and, after a while, the horse seemed to understand some of what was written, and could even answer mathematical questions (by counting with his hoof). Hans responded to a "6" on the blackboard with six taps of his hoof. He responded to "What is the square root of nine" with three taps. He was able to answer correctly consistently, over a broad range of problems. He was even able to calculate dates - if asked "if Tuesday is the 4 th of the month, what date will the following Friday be?" he would tap his hoof seven times. Osten announced that Hans' mathematical skills were those of the average 14-year-old child.

Osten exhibited Hans across Germany to large crowds (the horse was even featured in the New York Times). The horse's accuracy was about 90 percent, and the exhibitions attracted much attention from the scientific community.

In Germany, the educational establishment formed a Hans Commission, staffed by scientists who studied Hans's abilities. They observed the exhibitions carefully and studied Hans extensively. The Hans Commission concluded that Hans' abilities were genuine, and there was no evidence for deception. The horse was capable of abstract mathematical reasoning.

However, a leading psychologist - Oskar Pfungst - remained skeptical, and he was invited by the Commission and by Hans' owner to examine Hans in even more detail. This is what Pfungst found:

1. When his owner asked Hans a question, he did very well.

2. When someone other than his owner asked Hans a question, he also did very well.

3. However, when someone who did not know the answer to the question asked Hans a question, Hans almost never got the answer right.

4. When Hans was asked a question in such a way that he could not see the person asking the question, Hans almost never got the answer right.

The precondition for Hans' correct answer was that the questioner had to know the answer and Hans had to be able to see him.

Pfungst carefully studied the questioners. He noted that the questioner always gave subtle verbal or physical clues - a tone of voice at the right moment, a grimace, a tensing of muscles - and Hans' would tap his hoof until he saw the clue to stop. All of this was quite unconscious on the part of the questioners - volunteers did it, as well as Hans' owner. But Hans was not capable of abstract mathematical reasoning. He was capable of perceiving remarkably subtle particular clues. He was trained to respond to particular clues. This perhaps should come as no surprise in a horse - an animal that was selected, bred and trained to respond to the subtle cues of a human rider.

Hans was exceptionally skilled at perceiving cues from humans. He had no abstract mathematical ability at all.

This sublime perception of unconscious cues is familiar to mentalists who can do amazing feats of perception on audience members who are unaware that they are subtly signaling their thoughts.

The Clever Hans problem is well known to researchers in animal cognition, but it haunts the field. The difficulty is this: animals are capable of prodigious feats of perception - think bloodhounds who follow vanishingly subtle scents for miles - and animals are capable of high levels of training. Subtle perception reinforced with meticulous training can give the appearance of abstract thinking when in fact none is present.

An example of behavior that would suggest abstract thought would be Hans' apparent ability to calculate dates using the concept of a calendar. If an animal were to respond correctly, given a date and day of the week, to a question about the date of an ensuing day of the week, the inference that the animal was able to abstract the concept of "calendar" from the present and calculate according to a calendar would be reasonable. But in the absence of perceptual clues no animal has ever done it, or has ever done anything like it.

The Clever Hans effect is not merely an effect caused by the ability of the animal to see the trainer - it is an effect that can taint computer and flash-card training, even when the trainer is not visible to the animal. Just as a parrot can be trained to recite the words of a complex abstract theory, an animal can be trained to group objects according to type, color, shape, use, etc. Yet there is no reason to infer that the animal understands the concepts of the categories-the animal is merely responding to perceptual clues. Color, size and shape are cues just like grimaces.

Abstract thinking is not mere memory of similarities between particulars reinforced by training. Worms can be trained to avoid or tolerate encumbrance of a particular kind - that does not mean that the concept "encumbrance" means anything to a worm.

Abstract thinking is the ability to think conceptually without particulars. There is no convincing evidence for abstract thinking in animals. Research that is claimed to show animal abstract reasoning invariably shows sublimely trained perception, not genuine abstract thought.

Animals rely on particulars to think, and their perceptual skills can be prodigious. They do not think abstractly.
Image: Clever Hans, by Karl Krall (Karl Krall, Denkende Tiere, Leipzig 1912, Tafel 2) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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The Clever Hans Problem and Research on Animal Cognition | Evolution News

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As Denyse O'Leary will likely discuss in her new series " Animal Minds," a number of research studies claim to show that under some circumstances animals are capable of abstract thought. I believe that those conclusions are wrong, and that animals are not capable of abstraction. Animals think particularly, not abstractly.

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Behaviour and Ethology, and what can be gained by humans understanding horses

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Behaviour and Ethology, and what can be gained by humans understanding horses

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“Animals become reflections of the the humans around them”.- how well humans know their ethology is key ( Ignor, 2015).  Understanding ethology and cognition of a horse is primary to how they have evolved to live. For thousands of years horses have taught and helped people in broad ways. Today horses have taken another role in peoples lives.  Equine assisted counseling has been proven to help people in ever more profound ways than could be imagined. The horse and person dynamic of therapy has shown to help mentally and psychically in patients who are terminally ill, people living with sever disabilities, PTSD, anxiety and depression, people suffering with social skills and communication issues. ( Trotter, 2012).

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https://youtu.be/_1FY5kL_zXU (SC)

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As Denyse O'Leary will likely discuss in her new series " Animal Minds," a number of research studies claim to show that under some circumstances animals are capable of abstract thought. I believe that those conclusions are wrong, and that animals are not capable of abstraction.

Animals think particularly, not abstractly. That is, animals think about particulars (individual things) and about perceptions connected to the particulars, but they are not capable of abstracting universal concepts from particulars and contemplating the universal concepts in isolation from individual things that evoke them. For example, my dog certainly thinks of my kindness and responds by wagging her tail, but there is no evidence she is capable of contemplating kindness as a concept, abstracted from my particular behavior.

That is not to say that animals can't be clever. Animals can be very clever - sometimes more clever than humans. Try to build a spider web yourself. But animal cleverness is always tied to particular things and situations and instincts. A spider builds a very effective web to catch his meals. There is no evidence the spider contemplates the beauty of spider webs or that it understands "web" as a metaphor for a complex set of associations.

In animal cognition research, it is of the utmost importance to distinguish clever perceptive thinking from abstract thinking. Animals can be trained to do very clever perceptive things, and some of these clever things seem like abstract thinking. A parrot could be trained to recite Godel's Theorems, but the parrot knows nothing of mathematical logic. To be trained in perceptual cleverness is not to think abstractly.

The pitfall of mistaking training in perceptual thought for abstract thought is clearly illustrated by a famous example in animal cognitive research - the case of Clever Hans.

Wilhelm Von Osten was a German mathematics teacher and phrenologist at the turn of the 20th century who was convinced that animals were capable of abstract thought. He tutored several animals in the hope of demonstrating the truth of animal reason. The cat and the bear didn't turn out well (he actually tried), but he claimed to have success with Hans, an Arab stallion. Osten drew mathematical problems on a blackboard, and, after a while, the horse seemed to understand some of what was written, and could even answer mathematical questions (by counting with his hoof). Hans responded to a "6" on the blackboard with six taps of his hoof. He responded to "What is the square root of nine" with three taps. He was able to answer correctly consistently, over a broad range of problems. He was even able to calculate dates - if asked "if Tuesday is the 4 th of the month, what date will the following Friday be?" he would tap his hoof seven times. Osten announced that Hans' mathematical skills were those of the average 14-year-old child.

Osten exhibited Hans across Germany to large crowds (the horse was even featured in the New York Times). The horse's accuracy was about 90 percent, and the exhibitions attracted much attention from the scientific community.

In Germany, the educational establishment formed a Hans Commission, staffed by scientists who studied Hans's abilities. They observed the exhibitions carefully and studied Hans extensively. The Hans Commission concluded that Hans' abilities were genuine, and there was no evidence for deception. The horse was capable of abstract mathematical reasoning.

However, a leading psychologist - Oskar Pfungst - remained skeptical, and he was invited by the Commission and by Hans' owner to examine Hans in even more detail. This is what Pfungst found:

1. When his owner asked Hans a question, he did very well.

2. When someone other than his owner asked Hans a question, he also did very well.

3. However, when someone who did not know the answer to the question asked Hans a question, Hans almost never got the answer right.

4. When Hans was asked a question in such a way that he could not see the person asking the question, Hans almost never got the answer right.

The precondition for Hans' correct answer was that the questioner had to know the answer and Hans had to be able to see him.

Pfungst carefully studied the questioners. He noted that the questioner always gave subtle verbal or physical clues - a tone of voice at the right moment, a grimace, a tensing of muscles - and Hans' would tap his hoof until he saw the clue to stop. All of this was quite unconscious on the part of the questioners - volunteers did it, as well as Hans' owner. But Hans was not capable of abstract mathematical reasoning. He was capable of perceiving remarkably subtle particular clues. He was trained to respond to particular clues. This perhaps should come as no surprise in a horse - an animal that was selected, bred and trained to respond to the subtle cues of a human rider.

Hans was exceptionally skilled at perceiving cues from humans. He had no abstract mathematical ability at all.

This sublime perception of unconscious cues is familiar to mentalists who can do amazing feats of perception on audience members who are unaware that they are subtly signaling their thoughts.

The Clever Hans problem is well known to researchers in animal cognition, but it haunts the field. The difficulty is this: animals are capable of prodigious feats of perception - think bloodhounds who follow vanishingly subtle scents for miles - and animals are capable of high levels of training. Subtle perception reinforced with meticulous training can give the appearance of abstract thinking when in fact none is present.

An example of behavior that would suggest abstract thought would be Hans' apparent ability to calculate dates using the concept of a calendar. If an animal were to respond correctly, given a date and day of the week, to a question about the date of an ensuing day of the week, the inference that the animal was able to abstract the concept of "calendar" from the present and calculate according to a calendar would be reasonable. But in the absence of perceptual clues no animal has ever done it, or has ever done anything like it.

The Clever Hans effect is not merely an effect caused by the ability of the animal to see the trainer - it is an effect that can taint computer and flash-card training, even when the trainer is not visible to the animal. Just as a parrot can be trained to recite the words of a complex abstract theory, an animal can be trained to group objects according to type, color, shape, use, etc. Yet there is no reason to infer that the animal understands the concepts of the categories-the animal is merely responding to perceptual clues. Color, size and shape are cues just like grimaces.

Abstract thinking is not mere memory of similarities between particulars reinforced by training. Worms can be trained to avoid or tolerate encumbrance of a particular kind - that does not mean that the concept "encumbrance" means anything to a worm.

Abstract thinking is the ability to think conceptually without particulars. There is no convincing evidence for abstract thinking in animals. Research that is claimed to show animal abstract reasoning invariably shows sublimely trained perception, not genuine abstract thought.

Animals rely on particulars to think, and their perceptual skills can be prodigious. They do not think abstractly.
Image: Clever Hans, by Karl Krall (Karl Krall, Denkende Tiere, Leipzig 1912, Tafel 2) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.

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The Clever Hans Problem and Research on Animal Cognition | Evolution News

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As Denyse O'Leary will likely discuss in her new series " Animal Minds," a number of research studies claim to show that under some circumstances animals are capable of abstract thought. I believe that those conclusions are wrong, and that animals are not capable of abstraction. Animals think particularly, not abstractly.

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Clever Hans was known as the horse who could do math. He was owned by Wilhelm von osten who was a mathematician and a horse trainer. Wilhelm was the one who taught Clever Hans math, german, reading, spelling e.t.c in both written and oral form. It was quite hard to believe that a horse could do all these. A commission was formed called the Hans commission to investigate if Wilhelm was a fraud or not as they could not believe that a horse could do math. The commission consisted of a circus manager, a vet, a calvary officer, school teachers, and directors of the berlin zoological gardens. It was proven that  Wilhelm was in fact, not a fraud. They went on to get a psychologist, Oskar Pfugnst to evaluate the matter even more. He decided to ask Hans the questions without Wilhelm being present and Hans still passed. He started to examine if the questioner was giving Hans unknown clues like the sound of his voice or his demeanor. Pfungst put a questioner that also did not know the answer beforehand to the questions given to Hans and he failed miserably. Hans was a horse that could answer questions based on external stimuli given by the questioner

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Brown, Erik. “Clever Hans - The Horse That Could Count.” Medium, Lessons from History, 12 Apr. 2019 

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Brown, Erik. “Clever Hans - The Horse That Could Count.” Medium, Lessons from History, 12 Apr. 2019 

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medium.com/lessons-from-history/clever-hans-the-horse-that-could-count-561cdd5a1eab

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 Oskar Pfungst, “Clever Hans (The horse of Mr. Von Osten): A contribution to experimental animal and human psychology”

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 Oskar Pfungst, “Clever Hans (The horse of Mr. Von Osten): A contribution to experimental animal and human psychology”

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https://archive.org/details/cleverhanshorse00pfungoog/page/n8/mode/2up
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2020/05/clever-hans-horse-who-could-do-math.html

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A double blind experiment is an experiment in which the participants and the researcher do not know of, which was what Pfungst did in relation to Clever Hans. Kind of like the placebo effect. If you were to receive "a drug" that makes you feel sleepy. Even though the drug does not, your brain makes you actually feel those things because you already think these are the things you are supposed to feel. If I were to ask you a question that you do not know the answer too but I do, you are most likely to get it due to the unconscious cue I would give to you like my voice getting higher at the right answer, or my facial expressions. If we both don't know the answer, you are most likely to fail it. Even when people know the answer, they're still most likely to go with other people's opinion which is also called the bandwagon effect in psychology. Clever Hans history is quite popular as there is a term called the Clever Hans effect which researcher try to avoid. There's also a game dedicated to Clever Hans called the art of thinking. It's a strategic game where the player has to make four in a rowe and be very "clever" about it. Player move their tiles like knight move” or "horse" in chess like Hans

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Trotter, Kay Sudekum, Harnessing the power of Equine Assisted Counsilling: Adding animal assisted therapy to your practice. New York: Brunner-Routledge, 2012. Web

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https://www.gaya-game.com/collections/strategy-game/products/clever-hans