Oskar Pfungst

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Oskar Pfungst (born April 21, 1874 in Frankfurt am Main ; † August 14, 1932 ) was a German psychologist . He became known through his investigations into "Klugen Hans" , a horse that supposedly could count.

life and work

In response to doubts about Hans's abilities, the horse was tested with the blinders on.

Oskar Pfungst was the son of a banker. Originally also intended for the banking profession, he received training for this in Frankfurt a. M. and London. At the age of 21, however, he left this career to turn to science. He began in Munich to study philosophy with Riehl and Theodor Lipps , and classical philology and German studies with Iwan von Müller and Hermann Paul . Then Berlin, where he studied medicine a. a. studied with Engelmann, Hertwig, Hugo Liepmann , Nagel, Max Rothmann and Rudolf Virchow as well as natural sciences with Möbius, Emil Fischer and Emil Warburg . Eventually he was encouraged to study experimental psychology by Professor Carl Stumpf. “As a volunteer assistant he worked for a long time at the Berlin Psychological Institute. The publication of his 'clever Hans' (1907) falls around this time. "During the First World War he was called to the 'Experimental and Dressage Institute for War and Police Dogs', where he 'successfully used the Bringsel method he had invented '". After the war he worked as an animal psychologist at the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Neuro-Biology. From 1921 in Frankfurt a. M. at the Brain Injury Institute, "which was headed by Kurt Goldstein". The Frankfurt medical faculty awarded him the doctorate hc for his services to research. When the Brain Injury Institute was dissolved in 1925, he accepted a call from the Berlin University, where he worked as a lecturer in comparative biology and psychology until his death in 1932.

On February 16, 1933, the members of the referral evening: “Cerebral Cortex” and the Berlin Society for Psychiatry and Neurology, numerous friends, employees and students of the deceased held a memorial session in the lecture hall of the Charité Psychiatric Clinic, chaired by W. Koehler , who was im Commissions from Carl Stumpf pointed to the services Pfungst made in psychology. Speakers were:

  • Professor Dr. Heinrich Poll, Hamburg, with the topic: Pfungst as a personality
  • Dr. Alfred Guttmann, Berlin: Pfungst's activity in the "cerebral cortex"
  • Dr. Oskar Heinroth, Berlin: Pfungst's relationships with animals
  • Dr. Ernst Schwarz, Berlin. From Pfungst's monkey studies
  • Professor Dr. Kurt Goldstein , Berlin: An obituary

The speeches were printed in the book "Oskar Pfungst zum Gedächtnis".

The "clever Hans"

In 1904, a 13-person commission headed by philosophy professor Carl Stumpf came to the conclusion that there were no tricks involved with Kluge Hans. After this clear statement from competent experts, Oskar Pfungst, a PhD student from Stumpf, examined the matter more closely and found a solution to the riddle. He systematically varied the horse's ways of seeing someone who knew the answers to the questions. The clear result of his study was: Only when Hans could see people who knew the answer (e.g. his owner Wilhelm von Osten or the audience) could he also "calculate", ie display the result of the arithmetic problem. In 1907 Pfungst published his study and thus helped experimental psychology to achieve a breakthrough.

The examination error discovered by Pfungst was initially referred to as the “Kluger Hans effect”; today it is better known as the “ interviewer effect ” in psychology and social science .

Fonts

  • The horse of the Lord v. East (The clever Hans). A contribution to the experim. Animal and human psychology with an introduction by Professor Dr. C. stump. Leipzig JA Barth 1907.
  • The clever Hans. A contribution to non-verbal communication. 3rd edition Frankfurt am Main: Frankfurter Fachbuchhandlung für Psychologie, undated (new edition of the original from 1907). (First English translation 1911)
  • On the psychology of the apes. Autoreferat in: Report on the 5th Congress for Experimental Psychology in Berlin 1912 , pp. 200–205.
  • About "speaking" dogs (with phonographic demonstrations) , ibid, pp. 241–245.
  • Experiments and observations on young wolves. Author's lecture in: Report on the 6th Congress for Experimental Psychology in Göttingen 1914 , pp. 127–132.

literature

  • Oskar Pfungst in memory: printed speeches that were given at a memorial session. This lecture evening took place on February 16, 1933 in the lecture hall of the Charité Psychiatric Clinic. Berlin. R. Henneberg, December 1933, Goedecke & Gallinek GmbH, Berlin W 35.
  • Helmut E. Lück , Rudolf Miller: Illustrated history of psychology. Beltz, Weinheim and Basel 2005.
  • Horst Gundlach: "Carl Stumpf, Oskar Pfungst, the clever Hans and a successful fogging operation". In: Psychologische Rundschau , Volume 57, Issue 2, 2006, pp. 96-105.
  • Britt from the mountain. The "New Animal Psychology" and its scientific representatives. (from 1900 to 1945), inaugural dissertation to obtain the degree of doctor in veterinary medicine (Dr. med. vet.) by the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover 2008, ISBN 978-3-86504-258-3 and digitalized pdf

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Oskar Pfungst on memory: printed speeches that were given at a memorial session. This lecture evening took place on February 16, 1933 in the lecture hall of the Charité Psychiatric Clinic. Berlin. R. Henneberg, December 1933, Goedecke & Gallinek GmbH, foreword and p. 40.
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g Oskar Pfungst on memorial: printed speeches that were given at a memorial session. This lecture evening took place on February 16, 1933 in the lecture hall of the Charité Psychiatric Clinic. Berlin. R. Henneberg, December 1933, Goedecke & Gallinek GmbH, p. 40.
  3. ^ Oskar Pfungst on memory: printed speeches that were given at a memorial session. This lecture evening took place on February 16, 1933 in the lecture hall of the Charité Psychiatric Clinic. Berlin. R. Henneberg, December 1933, Goedecke & Gallinek GmbH, foreword
personal data
SURNAME Pfungst, Oskar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German psychologist
DATE OF BIRTH April 21, 1874
PLACE OF BIRTH Frankfurt am Main
DATE OF DEATH August 14, 1932