How Wonderful! I Was Wrong

This badge signifies completion of the course How Wonderful! I Was Wrong by Hillary Hankey of Avian Behavior International.

When Nobel Prize winning behavior economist and psychologist Daniel Kahneman was faced with a paper that showed evidence contradicting his own, he delightedly exclaimed “How wonderful I was wrong,” according to Adam Grant, psychologist at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. “It means I learned something,” Dr. Kahneman later explained, framing information that refutes our own data in this way can enrich our learning trajectory and enhance the welfare of animals and human learners in our peer group. Science is not only self-correcting but supports healthy and robust discussion and experimentation in order to keep moving forward. These last few components are necessary to call our methods evidence-based.

This presentation analyzes several topics over the history of the science of animal training in which we were wonderfully wrong on a larger scale. It will also look at everyday practices that help trainers establish a proper and necessary feedback loop to keep pushing their own practices forward.