I have personal observation to add to this. About 25 years ago
my wife and I were given some chickens from a student whose mother
owned an egg farm(?). At that time we lived in the country where
raising chickens was common. A neighbour volunteered to chop the
heads off the chickens. I remember the chickens running "around
with their heads chopped off." I just asked my wife and she confirmed.
She remembers that some did and some didn't and most didn't. I don't
remember the ones that didn't - in fact I remember the ones that
ran and flew so well that I thought this thread was a running joke
and it has been light natured. Anyway, given that some did and some
didn't it seems that the location of the cut is the best explanation.
As an aside and to support the position of cut hypothesis I also
remember when plucking the birds my wife picking up a bird (with
I assume a bit longer neck) and screaming in horror as the bird
gave a sound as she accidently squeezed the air out! I should add
that we were both from the city.
Ron
>Quoting from the 5th edition of Kalat's _Biological Psychology_ (1995),
>I (Jeff Ricker) wrote:
>
>> "Have you ever heard the expression 'running around like a chicken
>with its
>> head cut off'? A rather gruesome image, but a chicken with its head
>cut off
>> _can_ run around...for a little while. Naturally, it does not run
>toward
>> anything or away from anything; it just runs. Nevertheless, it
>maintains
>> its balance even while running on bumpy ground or up or down a slope.
>> In short, the spinal cord can control walking and running." (p. 285)
>
> Bob Keefer responded:
>
>>Ya know, growing up on an actual farm, I had often heard the expression
>
>>"running around like a chicken with its head cut off," but I never took
>
>>it to mean actual -running-, as none of the dozens (hundreds?) of
>>chickens I personally chopped the heads off of -ever- ran around. Oh,
>>they -all- would flop around, or at least twitch, and some would even
>>move a few feet or even sort of 'hop' if one of their spasming legs
>>happened to fall underneath them, but I never saw one run. I'm
>skeptical
>>that a headless chicken could run on bumpy ground or up/down a slope,
>as
>>the balance mechanism is no longer attached to the chick, AFAIK.
>
>Steven Voss agreed based on his experiences. Rick Stevens reported that
>he once observed a chicken run around after its head had been pulled off
>(yuck!). Stephen Black gave a reference to one anecdote supporting
>Kalat's claim and Pamela Shapiro suggested that it may have to do with
>the location of the cut. Richard Platt found support for Pamela's
>speculation.
>
>Since I have always assumed that the saying was true, I enjoyed
>tremendously having the claim subjected to skeptical analysis. In my
>courses, I like to make the point that we have been taught many things
>about psychological matters that often aren't true (such as the 10%
>myth). This may be another example. I sent Kalat an email to see if he
>had any references for his claim. My completely unsubstantiated guess is
>that, on rare occasions, a chicken (aren't roosters male chickens,
>Stephen??) has run around after its head has been chopped off. This was
>seen as so amazing that it was even turned into a saying. Does anyone
>know if people executed by guillotine ever got up and ran around? If
>more information is available on this, I probably would use this as
>another (somewhat morbid) example in my courses of widely believed
>claims that are not true (or, at least, that have qualifications).
>
>Jeff
>
>
>--
>Jeffry P. Ricker, Ph.D. Office Phone: (602) 423-6213
>9000 E. Chaparral Rd. FAX Number: (602) 423-6298
>Psychology Department [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Scottsdale Community College
>Scottsdale, AZ 85250
>
>"For every problem, there is a solution that is neat, simple, and
>wrong." H. L. Mencken
>
>
