MENTAL MODEL · M11709

Clever Hans Effect

BehaviorHigh supportPsychology

Included

Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-28

CORE DEFINITION

Clever Hans (German: der Kluge Hans; c. 1894 – c. 1916) was a horse that appeared to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks during exhibitions in Germany in the early 20th century.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Clever Hans (German: der Kluge Hans; c. 1894 – c. 1916) was a horse that appeared to perform arithmetic and other intellectual tasks during exhibitions in Germany in the early 20th century.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

The horse "Hans" appeared to do arithmetic, but in reality answered by observing subtle body language and facial cues from the questioner (unconscious leaning). This shows that the observer's expectations can leak through subtle signals, allowing the subject to "read" the correct answer; it also reveals that the performance of animals or humans may be unconsciously guided by the researcher.

MINIMUM ACTION

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Practice this model in one real situation:

Use blinding (double-blind) in experimental design to block the leakage of experimenter cues
have the questioner not know the correct answer
use control groups to test whether the "performance" depends on implicit cues
when training animals or children, be wary of leaking the answer yourself.

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Source support: Explicit

link
en.wikipedia.orghttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clever_HansZH · Explicit
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