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Free keywords:
Carl Stumpf; Oskar Pfungst; Clever Hans; experiment; objective measurement
Abstract:
Oskar Pfungst’s examination of Clever Hans is a mile stone in the history of experimental psychology. On the one hand Pfungst showed that Clever Hans was in fact unable to spell and read words, to count objects or to solve arithmetic problems. However, on the other hand he showed that Hans was clever in a special sense, detecting and exploiting minimal movements that his caretakers would involuntarily perform in their examination. This article summarizes and evaluates some of Pfungst’s major examinations of Clever Hans from both a historical and a systematic perspective.
