yearsofanimalexperimentationhavebeenawasteoftime
andofsubstantialamountsoftaxpayers’money,quiteapart
from theimmenseamountof acutephysical painthatthey
have caused.
Inthefirsteditionofthisbook,Ireportedonanexperiment
performedatBowlingGreenUniversityinOhiobyP.Badia
and
twocolleagues,andpublishedin1973.Inthatexperimentten
ratsweretestedinsessionsthatweresixhourslong,during
which frequent shock was “at all times unavoidable and
inescapable.”Theratscouldpresseitheroftwoleverswithin
thetest chamber in order to receive warning ofa coming
shock.Theexperimentersconcludedthattheratsdidpreferto
bewarned ofashock.^40 In 1984 thesameexperimentwas
stillbeingcarriedout.Becausesomeonehadsuggested that
thepreviousexperimentcouldhavebeen“methodologically
unsound,” P. Badia, this time with B. Abbott of Indiana
University,placedtenratsinelectrifiedchambers,subjecting
them again to six-hour shock sessions. Six rats received
inescapable shock at intervals of one minute, sometimes
precededbyawarning.Thentheywereallowedtopressone
oftwoleverstoreceiveeithershocksthatwereprecededbya
warningsignalorunsignaledshocks.Theremainingfourrats
wereusedinavariationofthisexperiment,receivingshocks
attwo-minuteandfour-minute intervals.Theexperimenters
found, once again, that the rats preferred shock that was
signaled, even if it resulted in their receiving more shocks.^41
Electric shock has also been used to produce aggressive
behaviorinanimals.InonestudyattheUniversityofIowa,
RichardVikenandJohnKnutsondivided 160 ratsintogroups
and“trained”theminastainlesssteelcagewithanelectrified