Posted on 02/18/2011 1:40:13 PM PST by The Magical Mischief Tour
IN THE early 20th century, a horse named Clever Hans was believed capable of counting and other impressive mental tasks. After years of great performance, psychologists put the ruse to rest by demonstrating that though Hans was certainly clever, he was not clever in the way that everyone expected. The horse was cunningly picking up on tiny, unintentional bodily and facial cues given out not only by his trainer, but also by the audience. Aware of the “Clever Hans” effect, Lisa Lit at the University of California, Davis, and her colleagues, wondered whether the beliefs of professional dog handlers might similarly affect the outcomes of searches for drugs and explosives. Remarkably, Dr Lit found, they do.
The findings, which Dr Lit reports in Animal Cognition, reveal that of 144 searches, only 21 were clean (no alerts). All the others raised one alert or more. In total, the teams raised 225 alerts, all of them false. While the sheer number of false alerts struck Dr Lit as fascinating, it was where they took place that was of greatest interest.
(Excerpt) Read more at economist.com ...
It is telling how the tests designed to fool the handlers were twice as likely to produce false alerts as the tests designed to fool the dogs...
Makes you wonder...
Proves what I’ve always suspected. Time to let the dogs do their jobs and keep the handlers out of sight.
Anyone who has seen competitive sheep herding knows that dogs have an intense interest in picking up even the slightest cue from their handlers.
And these cues are “broad band” as well, which means gestures, facial movements, sounds, and smells.
I saw “Dogs Decoded” on Netflix. It’s an excellent documentary. It basically postulates that as far as social interaction goes, no animal is as smart as a dog.
They are the only animal that actually “reads” social cues in a persons face. Monkeys don’t. They are the only animal really competent at taking cues and directions naturally.
They had an incredible dog on, that they would show it a picture of an object, and the dog could fetch the object - over 400 of them (a Border Collie).
From my experiences in life, I have learned to never overestimate any man......or underestimate any dog.
Between the two, man and dog, I prefer friendships with the dog, as his intentions are honorable.......I trust the dog.
I have said for years that if the cops call in the drug dogs there will be a “positive” IF the cops want there to be one.
Under EVERY circumstance the dog will “find” something if the cops want it to.
Hounds are wonderful dogs. I currently have four. :)
Once I have whistled my dog to a turn-stop-sit and she is sitting out in the field awaiting my cast, if I so much as twitch she is OFF. I have to stand perfectly still before I give my cast. She has learned to watch my head tilt in the direction I am going to cast, but wait for my hand signal. But that took some doing.
Thanks for mentioning that documentary. I will have to look for Dogs Decoded and view it.
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