The Horse That Won't Go Away

by Heinzen, Thomas; Lilienfeld, Scott; Nolan, Susan A.

• ISBN13: 9781464145742
• ISBN10: 1464145741
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2014-12-30
• Publisher: Worth Publishers

Summary

The Horse That Wont Go Away explores the confounding story of Clever Hans, the horse who appeared to be able to do math, and how we continue to be deceived by beliefs for which there is no supporting logic or evidence all to affirm the importance of using scientific method to navigate our way through everyday life instead.

Author Biography

Tom Heinzen was a 29 year-old college freshman, began graduate school when their fourth daughter was one week old, and is still amazed that he and Donna somehow managed to stay married. A magna cum laude graduate of Rockford College, he earned his Ph.D. in social psychology at the State University of New York at Albany in just three years. He published his first book on frustration and creativity in government two years later, was a research associate in public policy until he was fired over the shape of a graph, consulted for the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, and then began a teaching career at William Paterson State University of New Jersey. He founded the psychology club, established an undergraduate research conference, and has been awarded various teaching honors while continuing to write journal articles, books, plays, and two novels that support the teaching of general psychology and statistics. He is also the editor of Many Things to Tell You, a volume of poetry by elderly writers. Tom's wife Donna is a physician assistant who has also volunteered her time in relief work following Hurricane Mitch and Hurricane Katrina. Their daughters are now scattered from Bangladesh to Mississippi to New Jersey and work in public health, teaching, and medicine. He is a mediocre French horn player, an enthusiastic but mediocre tennis player, and an ardent baseball fan (Go Cubs!).

Scott O. Lilienfeld is Professor of Psychology at Emory University in Atlanta. He received his bachelor’s degree from Cornell University in 1982 and his Ph.D. in Psychology (Clinical) from the University of Minnesota in 1990. Dr. Lilienfeld is Associate Editor of the Journal of Abnormal Psychology, past President of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology, and current President of the Society for the Scientific Study of Psychopathy. Dr. Lilienfeld has published over 300 manuscripts on personality disorders (especially psychopathy), dissociative disorders, psychiatric classification, pseudoscience in psychology, and evidence-based practices in clinical psychology. Dr. Lilienfeld is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and (along with Dr. Hal Arkowitz) a regular columnist for Scientific American Mind magazine. In 1998, Dr. Lilienfeld received the David Shakow Award for Outstanding Early Career Contributions to Clinical Psychology from APA Division 12, and in 2012 he was the recipient of the James McKeen Cattell Award for Distinguished Career Contributions to Applied Psychological Science from the Association for Psychological Science.

Susan Nolan turned to psychology after suffering a career-ending accident on her second workday as a bicycle messenger. A native of Boston, she graduated from the College of the Holy Cross and earned her Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Northwestern University. Her research involves experimental investigations of the role of gender in the interpersonal consequences of depression and studies of gender and mentoring in science and technology, funded in part by the National Science Foundation. Susan is the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies for the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as an Associate Professor of Psychology, at Seton Hall University in New Jersey. She has served as a statistical consultant to researchers at several universities, medical schools, corporations, and nongovernmental organizations. Recently, she advised Bosnian high school students conducting public opinion research. Susan's academic schedule allows her to pursue one travel adventure per year, a tradition that she relishes. In recent years she rode her bicycle across the U.S. (despite her earlier crash), swapped apartments to live in Montreal, and explored the Adriatic coast in an intermittently roadworthy 1985 Volkswagen Scirocco. She wrote much of this book while spending a sabbatical year in rural Bosnia-Herzegovina, where her husband, Ivan Bojanic, worked as an advisor to regional governments. Susan and Ivan fell in love with Bosnia – a beautiful country – and bought a small house in the city of Banja Luka as a base for future adventures. They currently reside in New York City, where Susan roots feverishly, if quietly, for the Red Sox.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1
Clever Hans: The Horse That Wont Go Away

Chapter 2
Clever Hands: The Facilitated Communication Story

Chapter 3
The Clever Hans Effect in Everyday Life