werethenfittedwithmetalcollarsaroundtheirnecks,through
which they were given electric shocks each time they received
afoodpellet.Theycouldavoidtheshocksonlyiftheywaited
threehoursbeforetryingtoobtainfood.Ittookeightweeks
oftrainingsessions,forsixhoursaday,forthemonkeysto
learn to avoid shocks in this way. This was supposed to
producea “conflict” situation, and themonkeys were then
givenvarious drugsto testwhethermonkeys on thedrugs
would elicit moreshocks. Theexperimenters reported that
theyhadalsoadaptedthetestforrats,andthatitwouldbe
“useful in identifying potential anti-anxiety agents.”^32
Experiments in conditioning have been going on for over
eighty-five years. A reportcompiled in 1982 by the New
YorkgroupUnitedActionforAnimalsfound1,425paperson
“classicalconditioningexperiments” onanimals. Ironically,
thefutilityofmuchofthisresearchisgrimlyrevealedbya
paperpublishedbyagroupofexperimentersattheUniversity
of Wisconsin. SusanMineka and her colleaguessubjected
140 ratstoshocksthatcouldbeescapedandalsosubjected
themtoshocksthatcouldnotbeescapedinordertocompare
thelevelsoffeargeneratedbysuchdifferentkindsofshocks.
Here is the stated rationale for their work:
Overthepast 15 yearsanenormousamountofresearchhas
beendirectedtowardunderstandingthedifferentialbehavior
and physiological effects that stem from exposure to
controllableasopposedtouncontrollableaversiveelements.
The general conclusion has been that exposure to
uncontrollableaversiveeventsisconsiderablymorestressful
for the organismthan is exposure to controllable aversive
events.