Clever Hans was a horse owned by German schoolteacher Herr Von Osten. Towards the end of the 19th century Herr Von Osten, who was also a keen horse trainer, decided to try and teach Hans mathematics.

Before very long Hans was touring Germany demonstrating his abilities not only with very basic math, but with fractions, telling the time and understanding the calendar. To his credit Herr Von Osten never charged anyone for watching the impressive displays put on by Hans.

A typical show would see Hans be given both oral questions and written ones to which he would tap out the answers using his hooves. He was extremely accurate and thus appeared to not only understand spoken German but to have the ability to read it too.

Hans became quite a celebrity and his fame grew to such an extent that he was even featured in The New York Times.

So outstanding were the demonstrations that in 1904 The German Board of Education, suspecting some kind of fraud, decided to investigate the matter. They assembled what became known as The Hans Commission, a body of people charged with the responsibility of investigating the claims of Herr Von Osten.  The Hans Commission consisted of 13 men including a cavalry officer, a vet, a circus proprietor and a number of schoolteachers. After rigorous testing in a variety of situations the Commission decided that no trickery of any kind was being used and that Hans was genuine.

The information gathered by the Commission found its way to a Psychologist called Pfungst who conducted a whole series of new tests, some involving using different questioners. But even these Hans answered correctly.  What eventually became evident though was, if Hans’ owner did not know an answer, then neither did Hans. Similarly if Hans could not see Herr Von Osten he would invariably get the answer wrong.

What Pfungst had discovered was that as Hans tapped out an answer, as he approached the correct number Herr Von Osten would imperceptibly tense his body. Upon reaching the correct answer he would relax, a signal that Hans would pick up and stop tapping.  There was never any intended deception, and  indeed Herr Von Osten  was quite upset by these results.

Possibly the most interesting finding made by Pfungst, became apparent once he himself had mastered the art of working successfully with Hans.  What he found was that no matter how hard he tried, he could not control his unconscious body movements enough to stop Hans getting correct answers. Despite his best efforts he was still giving Hans non-verbal cues.

This has had profound implications on all work with animals, as such cues transferred from trainers can distort results from the most meticulously planned experiments.

And Herr Von Osten?  He could never accept the findings of Pfungst and still believing Hans to be clever, resumed touring, drawing large crowds wherever he went.

About the Author

Nick Allen

Nick Allen is a 46 year old mental health nurse who lives and works in Manchester, England. He has long had the ambition to write short stories, but it was only after joining a local Creative Writing Group that he did anything about it.  Short stories by Jeffrey Archer and Jeffrey Deaver have been a source of inspiration, and writing a romance [as an exercise for his writing group was stepping outside his comfort zone a little!]