Weshouldnot, ofcourse, judgeallanimalexperimentation
bytheexperimentsIhavejustdescribed.Thearmedservices,
one might think, are hardened to suffering by their
concentration onwar, death,and injury.Genuine scientific
research,surely,willbeverydifferent,won’tit?Weshallsee.
Tobeginourexaminationofnonmilitaryscientificresearch,I
shallallowProfessorHarryF.Harlowtospeakforhimself.
Professor Harlow, who worked at the Primate Research
CenterinMadison,Wisconsin,wasformanyyearseditorofa
leadingpsychologyjournal,anduntilhisdeathafewyears
ago was held in high esteem by his colleagues in
psychologicalresearch.Hisworkhasbeencitedapprovingly
inmanybasictextbooksofpsychology,readbymillionsof
studentstakingintroductorypsychologycoursesoverthelast
twenty years. The line of research he began has been
continued after his death by his associates and former
students.
In a 1965 paper, Harlow describes his work as follows:
Forthepasttenyearswehavestudiedtheeffectsofpartial
social isolation by raising monkeys from birth onwards in
bare wire cages.... These monkeys suffer total maternal
deprivationMorerecentlywehaveinitiatedaseriesofstud
iesontheeffectsoftotalsocialisolationbyrearingmonkeys
fromafewhoursafterbirthuntil3,6,or 12 monthsofagein
[a]stainlesssteelchamber.Duringtheprescribedsentencein
thisapparatus themonkeyhasnocontactwithany animal,
human or sub-human.
These studies, Harlow continues, found that