Clever Hans, the horse that did mathematical operations

Clever Hans, meaning ‘clever Hans’, is the name of a famous horse that impressed German society at the beginning of the 20th century. This animal had a large number of public presentations in which it was asked to perform mathematical operations, as well as other types of calculations, and it always “got it right.”

Clever Hans’s fame spread beyond the borders of Germany; Numerous notes were written about him in different places around the planet. Everyone was fascinated by that horse, which answered questions by raising its leg and hitting the ground..

The horse became so popular that several songs were composed in its honor. Toys were also made in the image and likeness of Clever Hans, as he became a hero to children. In fact, a liquor was created with his name and, After deciphering its complex history, today there is a bias known as the Clever Hans effect.

The origin of the story of Clever Hans

It all began in the summer of 1904, in a small country house located north of Berlin (Germany). A rumor began to spread that A man named Wilhelm von Osten, a retired professor, had a smarter horse than many humans. To prove it, he periodically put on a show in which the horse, in addition to trotting with great elegance, also did sums. Likewise, he counted people, told the time and had memorized the annual calendar.

Hundreds of people attested to the abilities of Clever Hans, the intelligent horse. Since he couldn’t speak, answered the questions which were done by hitting the ground with his paw either tilting or moving the head from side to side.

When they asked its owner what the origin of the horse’s abilities was, he responded by saying that He had educated him like one of his old students. She indicated that she had taught him with a blackboard and that she had taught him to count with an abacus. In this same way, she had taught him to read. Likewise, she was instructing him in music with a harmonica.

A growing suspicion

Although people gave credit to the old master, some scientists did not fully believe in Clever Hans’ remarkable intelligence. The animal aroused so much interest that A commission of professors from the University of Berlin was formed to study the phenomenon: the Hans Commission.

The experts traveled to the field house and witnessed firsthand the spectacle of the animal’s abilities. They then signed a letter, which included 13 headings, in which They attested to the horse’s skills and they certified that the teacher had not given him any special indication that could be suspected of cheating.

Wilhelm von Osten told them that he had used a teaching method taken from a small nomadic ethnic group, called Khoikhoi, who lived in Africa. Everyone was amazed and even an expert pedagogue went so far as to say that the good Clever Hans had the intelligence of a 13 or 14 year old child..

An in-depth investigation

Psychologist Carl Stumpf decided that the phenomenon was worthy of scientific study. So He commissioned his student Oskar Pfungst to examine the horse’s abilities in depth.. The student personally did the tests and, almost by accident, noticed that if he looked at the numbers, Clever was right; but if he did not know them, the horse made an error in its response.

Likewise, when the sum was whispered in his ear, the horse could not complete the operation. Pfungst suspected that Clever Hans was picking up some signal from the environment and that was how he arrived at the correct answers in mathematical operations. In this way, and through other experiments, The student discovered that Hans was able to “read” the attitude of humans and thus was right.

There were small body signals that the interrogators gave off. They looked at his paws when waiting for him to start counting and then tilted their bodies when he reached the correct answer. The interrogator’s posture and expression changed and the horse knew that this was the signal to stop pawing the ground..

It was a case of conditioning; besides, revealed how the presence of the researcher can condition the responses of the researched. Today, this bias in experimentation is known as the Clever Hans effect in memory of this beautiful animal.

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