This report, published in 1986, cited earlier experimental
work in this field going back to 1948.
AttheUniversityofKansas,aunitcallingitselftheBureauof
ChildResearchhasbeeninflictingelectricshockonavariety
ofanimals.Inoneexperiment,Shetlandponiesweredeprived
ofwateruntiltheywerethirstyandthengivenawaterbowl
thatcouldbeelectrified.Twoloudspeakerswereplaced on
eithersideoftheponies’heads.Whennoisecamefromthe
leftspeaker,thebowlwaselectrifiedandtheponiesreceived
anelectricshockiftheyweredrinking.Theylearnedtostop
drinkingwhentheyheardthenoisefromtheleftspeaker,but
not from the right. Thenthe speakers were moved closer
together,untiltheponiescouldnolongerdistinguishbetween
themandsocouldnotavoidshock.Theresearcherspointed
tosimilarexperimentsonwhiterats,kangaroorats,woodrats,
hedgehogs,dogs,cats,monkeys,opossums, seals,dolphins,
andelephants,andconcludedthatponieshavegreatdifficulty
in distinguishing thedirection of noisesas compared with
other animals.^44
It isnot easy to see howthis research isgoing to benefit
children.Indeed,ingeneral,whatissodisturbingaboutthe
examplesofresearchgivenaboveisthatdespitethesuffering
theanimalshavegonethrough,theresultsobtained,evenas
reportedbytheexperimentersthemselves,aretrivial,obvious,
or meaningless. The conclusions of the experiments cited
aboveshow,clearlyenough,thatexperimentalpsychologists
haveputalotofeffortintotellingusinscientificjargonwhat
weknewallalong,andwhatwecouldhavefoundoutinless
harmful ways with a
littlethought—andtheseexperimentsweresupposedlymore
significant than others that did not get published.