Marc Hauser

Hauser's research topics include evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, cognitive evolution, and language evolution.{{cite journal |url=http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/298/5598/1569 |title=The faculty of language: What is it, who has it, and how did it evolve? |author1=Marc D. Hauser |author2=Noam Chomsky |author3=W. Tecumseh Fitch |journal=Science |volume=298 |issue=5598 |pages=1569–79 |year=2002|doi=10.1126/science.298.5598.1569 |pmid=12446899|url-access=subscription }} Hauser's internet-based 'The Moral Sense Test' involved presenting participants a series of hypothetical moral dilemmas and requesting them to provide a judgment.{{Cite web |title = The Moral Sense Test |url = http://moral.wjh.harvard.edu/index2.html |website = harvard.edu |access-date = October 5, 2014 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141022121600/http://moral.wjh.harvard.edu/index2.html |archive-date = October 22, 2014 |url-status = dead }} Since his resignation from Harvard, Hauser has continued to publish his research in the fields of cognitive neuroscience and comparative psychology{{Cite journal|last1=Froesel|first1=Mathilda|last2=Goudard|first2=Quentin|last3=Hauser|first3=Marc|last4=Gacoin|first4=Maëva|last5=Ben Hamed|first5=Suliann|date=2020-10-21|title=Automated video-based heart rate tracking for the anesthetized and behaving monkey|journal=Scientific Reports|language=en|volume=10|issue=1|pages=17940|doi=10.1038/s41598-020-74954-5|pmid=33087832 |pmc=7578008|bibcode=2020NatSR..1017940F |issn=2045-2322}} and also in the field of education.{{Cite journal|title=How Early Life Adversity Transforms the Learning Brain|year=2021 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/mbe.12277|doi=10.1111/mbe.12277|last1=Hauser |first1=Marc D. |journal=Mind, Brain, and Education |volume=15 |pages=35–47 |s2cid=230601439 |url-access=subscription }}

; Books

• The Evolution of Communication (1996){{cite book |last=Hauser |first=Marc |year=2000 |title=The Evolution of Communication |isbn=0262082500 }}
• Wild Minds: What Animals Really Think (2000){{cite book |last=Hauser |first=Marc |year=2000 |title=Wild Minds |publisher=Harper Collins |url=https://archive.org/details/moralmindshownat0000haus |isbn=0060780703 }}
• Moral Minds: How Nature Designed Our Universal Sense of Right and Wrong (2006){{cite book |last=Hauser |first=Marc |year=2006 |title=Moral Minds |url=https://archive.org/details/wildmindswhatani00haus |isbn=0805056696 }}
• Evilicious: Cruelty = Desire + Denial (2013)[http://mdhauser.blog.com/evilicious/ Evilicious contents] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20131205235443/http://mdhauser.blog.com/evilicious/ |date=December 5, 2013 }} on Hauser's website[http://retractionwatch.com/2013/09/26/marc-hausers-second-chance-leading-science-writers-endorse-his-upcoming-book/ Discussion by Retraction Watch], a blog that tracked the earlier research controversy, and puts the book's mixed reviews in context.

In 2007, Harvard University announced an internal investigation of alleged scientific misconduct by Hauser.

On August 20, 2010, Michael Smith, Dean of Harvard's Faculty of Arts and Sciences, released a statement confirming that an internal investigation had found Hauser guilty of eight counts of scientific misconduct.{{cite web|title=FAS Dean Smith Confirms Scientific Misconduct by Marc Hauser |url=http://harvardmagazine.com/breaking-news/harvard-dean-details-hauser-scientific-misconduct|work=Harvard Magazine|access-date=2010-08-26|date=August 20, 2010}} Three counts involved published papers, and five involved unpublished studies. The statement said that Harvard was cooperating with further investigations by the US Office of Research Integrity, the National Science Foundation Office of Inspector General, and the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. They stated that they would conduct their own review and make their conclusions available to the public.{{cite news|title=Harvard Confirms 'Hausergate'|url=http://chronicle.com/blogPost/Harvard-Confirms-Hausergate/26198/|access-date=2010-08-26|newspaper=Chronicle of Higher Education|date=2010-08-12}}

While Harvard confirmed that Hauser committed misconduct, scientists continued to criticize Harvard over a lack of transparency in the investigation. However, Harvard stated that "in cases where the government concludes scientific misconduct occurred, the federal agency makes those findings publicly available."{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/education/13harvard.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1348741556-BD4rXkNWm/ABwDH794ZTlA | work=The New York Times | first=Nicholas | last=Wade | title=Inquiry on Harvard Lab Threatens Ripple Effect | date=2010-08-12}} The lack of transparency evoked substantial speculation. Writing in The New York Times in August 2010, Nicholas Wade summarized:

{{Blockquote|There is a wide spectrum of scientific sins, ranging from wrist-slap offenses like bad data storage at one end, to data fabrication at the other. It is still not clear where on this spectrum Dr. Hauser's errors may fall. He has admitted only to unspecified "mistakes," not to misconduct.{{cite news | first = Nicholas | last = Wade | author-link = Nicholas Wade | date = 20 August 2010 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/21/education/21harvard.html | title = Harvard Finds Scientist Guilty of Misconduct | work = The New York Times}}}}

Although Hauser took a year-long leave of absence from Harvard in 2010, he was at first still planning to teach at the Harvard Extension School, which generated further controversy. On September 1, 2010, his classes at the Extension School were canceled.{{cite news| url=http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/09/01/citing_misconduct_inquiry_harvard_professor_cancels_classes/ | work=The Boston Globe | first=Carolyn Y. | last=Johnson | title=Citing misconduct inquiry, Harvard professor cancels classes | date=2010-09-01}}

In April 2011, he was barred from teaching in the Psychology department or any other Arts and Sciences department.{{cite news|url=http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-21/news/29459892_1_marc-hauser-scientific-misconduct-embattled-harvard |work=The Boston Globe |title=Embattled Harvard professor barred from teaching |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006150942/http://articles.boston.com/2011-04-21/news/29459892_1_marc-hauser-scientific-misconduct-embattled-harvard |archive-date=October 6, 2011 }}

In July 2011, Hauser resigned his faculty position at Harvard, effective August 1, 2011. In his resignation, Hauser stated that he had "some exciting opportunities in the private sector" involving education for high-risk teenagers, but that he might go back to academia "in the years to come."{{cite news|title=Marc Hauser Resigns From Harvard|url=http://chronicle.com/article/Marc-Hauser-Resigns-From/128296/|work =Chronicle of Higher Education|date=July 19, 2011 | first = Tom | last = Bartlett | access-date = October 27, 2011}}

In September 2012, after conducting a separate investigation, the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) found Hauser guilty of scientific misconduct.

They concluded that Hauser had fabricated data in one study, manipulated results in multiple experiments, and incorrectly described how studies were conducted. The ORI barred Hauser from certain types of research and required that other research be conducted under supervision.NIH, 2012. [http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-12-149.html Findings of Research Misconduct] Press release, September 10, 2012 [Accessed September 12, 2012]

They published a notice stating:

Notice is hereby given that the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) has taken final action in the following case:

Marc Hauser, Ph.D., Harvard University:

ORI found that Dr. Marc Hauser … engaged in research misconduct in research supported by

• National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
• National Institutes of Health (NIH), grants P51 RR00168-37 and CM-5-P40 RR003640-13,
• National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD), NIH, grant 5 R01 DC005863
• National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), NIH, grant 5 F31 MH075298.{{Cite web |title = Findings of Research Misconduct |url = https://www.federalregister.gov/articles/2012/09/06/2012-21992/findings-of-research-misconduct |website = federalregister.gov |date = September 6, 2012 |access-date = October 5, 2014 }}

In two additional published papers, some field notes or video recordings were "incomplete", although Hauser and his co-author replicated the experiments.{{cite news | first = Nicholas | last = Wade | author-link = Nicholas Wade | date = August 12, 2010 | url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/13/education/13harvard.html | title = Inquiry on Harvard Lab Threatens Ripple Effect | work = The New York Times}} The Proceedings of the Royal Society published the replication of the missing data in an addendum to one of the papers.{{cite journal | author = Hauser MD, Wood JN | title =Replication of 'Rhesus monkeys correctly read the goal-relevant gestures of a human agent'. | year = 2011 | journal = Proc. Biol. Sci. | volume = 278 | issue = 1702 | pages = 158–9 | pmc = 2992735 | pmid = 21155189 | doi=10.1098/rspb.2010.1441}}

In April 2011 Hauser and Justin Wood (coauthor of the original paper) replicated the results of the 2007 Science study and published them—as an addendum—in the journal.{{cite news|last=Miller|first=Greg|title=Science Publishes Replication of 2007 Hauser Study|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/science-publishes-replication-2007-hauser-study|access-date=May 3, 2011|work = Science|date=April 25, 2011}}{{Cite journal | last1 = Wood | first1 = J. N. | last2 = Glynn | first2 = D. D. | last3 = Phillips | first3 = B. C. | last4 = Hauser | first4 = M. D. | title = The Perception of Rational, Goal-Directed Action in Nonhuman Primates | journal = Science | volume = 317 | issue = 5843 | pages = 1402–1405 | year = 2007 | pmid = 17823353 | doi = 10.1126/science.1144663| bibcode = 2007Sci...317.1402W | s2cid = 18180566 }}

In 1995, Hauser reported that cotton-top tamarins can recognize themselves in a mirror.{{cite journal|last=Hauser|first=M|author2=J. Kralik |author3=C. Borro-Mahan |author4=M. Garret |author5=J. Oser |title=Self-recognition in primates: Phylogeny and the salience of species-typical features|journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America|date=November 1995|volume=92|issue=23|pages=10811–10814|doi=10.1073/pnas.92.23.10811|pmid=7479889|pmc=40702|bibcode=1995PNAS...9210811H|doi-access=free}} Gordon G. Gallup questioned Hauser's findings, and reviewed some video recordings of Hauser's experiment, saying that "when I played the videotapes [for Hauser's experiments], there was not a thread of compelling evidence — scientific or otherwise — that any of the tamarins had learned to correctly decipher mirrored information about themselves.''

Upon requesting the remaining videotapes, Gallup was informed that the other tapes had been stolen.{{cite news|title=Scientific misconduct: Monkey business?|url=http://www.economist.com/node/16886218?story_id=16886218&CFID=141739115&CFTOKEN=94865933|access-date=2010-08-28|newspaper=Economist|date=2010-08-26}} Together with Anderson, Gallup published a critical response to Hauser's article.{{cite journal | last1 = Anderson | first1 = JR | last2 = Gallup | year = 1997 | title = Self-recognition in Saguinus? A critical essay | url = https://semanticscholar.org/paper/a13a1632e33a3e687765a8549bc0a4f695883899| journal = Anim Behav | volume = 54 | issue = 6| pages = 1563–7 | pmid = 9521801 | doi=10.1006/anbe.1997.0548| s2cid = 140206432 }}

Their criticism of Hauser's paper stated that the coding criteria were described in insufficient detail to code the monkeys' behavior and that, according to their assessment, the cotton-top tamarins did not show the behavior that they considered as evidence for mirror recognition in chimpanzees or other great apes.

Hauser and a co-author published a reply to these criticisms, clarifying their coding criteria.{{cite journal|doi=10.1006/anbe.1997.0549|last=Hauser|first=MD|author2=J. Kralik|title=Life beyond the mirror: a reply to Anderson & Gallup|journal=Animal Behaviour|date=December 1997|volume=54|issue=6|pages=1568–1571|pmid=9521802|s2cid=22836237}}

However, in 2001 Hauser reported that his subsequent attempts to replicate the experiments were unsuccessful, observing no evidence for the previously claimed result.{{cite journal|last=Hauser|first=Marc|author2=Cory Thomas Miller |author3=Katie Liu |author4=Renu Gupta |title=Cotton-top tamarins (Saguinus oedipus) fail to show mirror-guided self-exploration|journal=American Journal of Primatology|date=March 2001|volume=53|issue=3|pmid=11253848|pages=131–137|doi=10.1002/1098-2345(200103)53:3<131::AID-AJP4>3.0.CO;2-X|s2cid=17250348}}

The paper was published in the journal Cognition in 2002 and was later retracted.{{cite news | first = Carolyn | last = Johnson | date = August 10, 2010 | url = http://www.boston.com/news/education/higher/articles/2010/08/10/author_on_leave_after_harvard_inquiry/ | title = Author on leave after Harvard inquiry | work = The Boston Globe}}{{cite web|title=Monkey business? 2002 Cognition paper retracted as prominent psychologist Marc Hauser takes leave from Harvard|url=http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/monkey-business-2002-cognition-paper-retracted-as-prominent-psychologist-marc-hauser-takes-leave-from-harvard/|publisher = RetractionWatch |access-date=2010-08-26|date=August 10, 2010}}

In August 2010, after the initial allegations came out, various publications published other accusations and speculations about Hauser's research, often citing reports by his former students and research assistants.

Michael Tomasello, another well-known animal cognition researcher, claimed that some of Hauser's previous students personally told him that there "was a pattern and they had specific evidence". Tomasello also stated, prior to the official announcement, that he had information from "a Harvard faculty member and from former students of Dr. Hauser" that the investigation found evidence for eight counts of scientific misconduct;{{cite news|title=In Inquiry at Marc Hauser's Harvard Lab, a Raid and Then a 3-Year Wait|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/14/education/14harvard.html?pagewanted=2|page=2|work=The New York Times|date=August 13, 2010 | first=Nicholas | last=Wade}} this statement was later confirmed by Harvard's dean (see previous section).{{cite news|title=Updated: Harvard says Marc Hauser guilty of science misconduct |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/post/2010/08/marc-hauser-harvard-science-misconduct-/1|access-date=2010-08-26|newspaper=USA Today|date=2010-08-20}}

The Chronicle of Higher Education reported the contents of allegations made by a former research assistant of Hauser. The former research assistant stated that Hauser falsely coded videotapes of monkey behavior, resisted research assistants and students' requests to have them re-coded by another observer and pressured his students to accept his data analysis. When they re-coded the data without Hauser's permission, they allegedly found Hauser's coding bore little relation to what was on the tapes. According to the document, several other lab members had similar run-ins with Hauser.{{cite journal |url=http://chronicle.com/article/Document-Sheds-Light-on/123988/ |title=Document Sheds Light on Investigation at Harvard|journal=The Chronicle of Higher Education|access-date=2010-08-21 |date=August 19, 2010|last1=Bartlett|first1=Tom}}

An article in New Scientist claimed that Harvard opened its investigation of Hauser's lab after students who had worked there made allegations of data falsification.{{cite journal|last=Aldhous|first=Peter|title=Misconduct probe in Harvard animal morality lab|date=August 20, 2010|journal=New Scientist|url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19331-misconduct-probe-in-harvard-animal-morality-lab.html}}

Gerry Altmann, the editor of Cognition, subsequently posted his personal conclusion that Hauser fabricated data as part of a deception, after being given a summary of the relevant portions of Harvard's inquiry.{{cite web|last=Altmann|first=Gerry|title=Harvard misconduct: setting the record straight|url=http://homepage.mac.com/gerry_altmann/me/mind/blog/blog.html|access-date=2010-08-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100902030716/http://homepage.mac.com/gerry_altmann/me/mind/blog/blog.html|archive-date=September 2, 2010|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|last=Miller|first=Greg|title=Journal Editor Says He Believes Retracted Hauser Paper Contains Fabricated Data|url=http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/08/journal-editor-says-he-believes.html|access-date=2010-08-27|newspaper=Science Insider|date=2010-08-27|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100829154949/http://news.sciencemag.org/scienceinsider/2010/08/journal-editor-says-he-believes.html|archive-date=August 29, 2010|url-status=dead}}{{cite news|last=Johnson|first=Carolyn|title=Journal editor questions Harvard researcher's data|url=http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2010/08/journal_editor.html|access-date=2010-08-27|newspaper=The Boston Globe|date=2010-08-27}}{{cite news|last=Wade|first=Nicholas|title=Harvard Researcher May Have Fabricated Data|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/science/28harvard.html?hp|access-date=2010-08-27|newspaper=The New York Times|date=2010-08-27}}

Altmann noted that the conclusion of fabrication was his own conjecture, and not that of the Harvard investigation, which offered no explanation for discrepancies between the video record and the published paper.

Charles Gross published an article in The Nation that detailed the Hauser case (Disgrace: On Marc Hauser. A case of scientific misconduct at Harvard).{{Cite journal |last1=Gross |first1=Charles |date=December 21, 2011 |title=Disgrace: On Marc Hauser |url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/disgrace-marc-hauser/ |journal=The Nation}}

• List of scientific misconduct incidents

{{Reflist|30em}}

• [http://video.pbs.org/video/1374007431/ PBS Video: The Rituals of Courtship] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131211152500/http://video.pbs.org/video/1374007431/ |date=December 11, 2013 }}
• [http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-OD-12-149.html Findings of Research Misconduct] - Office of Research Integrity

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Category:1959 births

Category:21st-century American biologists

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American psychologists

Category:Animal cognition writers

Category:Harvard University Department of Psychology faculty

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Category:20th-century American psychologists

Category:American evolutionary biologists