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Psychology of Abuse
Neal D. Barnard, M.D.
Why do people cut up animals and eat them? Why is burning animals, irradiating
them, locking them in cages, and killing them considered acceptable in science?
Why is shooting mammals and birds and hauling fish out of water on hooks
considered pleasurable sport?
When I was a student in psychology, it was routine to force metal bars through
the eardrums of live rats to hold them still in a stereotaxic frame. When I
complained that even anesthetized rats would not enjoy waking up with broken
eardrums, my professor joked that the rats were not going to be listening to
their stereos anyway.
Since that time, I have come to note the importance of several psychological
factors that allow abuse to continue: 1. The Failure of Inhibition
There is a substantial scientific literature linking aggressiveness toward
animals and aggressiveness toward people. When psychologists interview violent
criminals, for example, they often find a history of cruelty to animals. In
particular a triad of childhood symptomscruelty to animals, fire-setting, and
bed-wettingis predictive of aggressiveness in adulthood. What these symptoms
have in common is the failure of inhibition. Children who cannot control their
aggressive impulses toward animals will frequently grow into adults who have
difficulty inhibiting aggressive impulses toward people. Typically, their
parents failed to control aggressive behavior or actually received
gratification from it.
Aggression is not usually due to sadism. Anyone can have an aggressive impulse.
The problem is the failure to interrupt the progression from impulse to action.
The professor who asked me to break rats' eardrums was not deriving pleasure
from the pain of animals. Rather, he was unable to appreciate the suffering he
was causing. His problem, like that of most animal researchers, was that his
values were developed in a culture of science that does not recognize
suffering, and fosters defenses against the recognition of suffering and death
of sentient beings other than humans. This was why a psychological study of
cockfighters, practitioners of a "sport" in which 85 percent of the animals are
killed, was unable to find a greater degree of sadism or psychosis than in the
average nonparticipant from the same geographic area.
If aggression were always due to sadism, a major personality change would be
needed for anyone to recognize the cruelty of his or her actions. Happily, this
is not the case. Learning about the consequences of their actions has led many
to diminish their aggressive impact on those around them. 2. Rationalization
We tend to defend that to which we are accustomed. Rationalization allows us to
find reasons to explain our actions. For instance, dissections are rationalized
as "hands-on" experience for high school students. Rationalization is at its
worst when economics are a factor. Tobacco farmers fought the mountain of
evidence that weighed against them and justified their continued production of
a harmful crop. Cattle ranchers justify their activities by calling themselves
"environmentalists," and hunters do so by calling themselves
"conservationists." Animal experimenters, when criticized, defend their work by
resorting to reassuring images, such as afflicted children. 3. Animals as
Reminders of Childhood
As children, we naturally recognize our commonality with other creatures. We
feel a bond with them, and incorporate them into our stories and playthings. As
we attempt to leave the relics of childhood behind, however, associations with
animals make usespecially the males among usuncomfortable. To care about the
suffering of animals calls up the childhood one is trying to leave behind. Some
people use perverted animal images or involve themselves in cruel activities as
part of the struggle for recognition of their adulthood. For example, they keep
fighting dogs, boa constrictors, or tiger cubs to signify toughness.
Fortunately, as people learn about the complexities of nonhuman animals, and
the vital environmental roles played by even the smallest of them, an
appreciation of other lifeforms rapidly becomes a mark of sophistication rather
than of childishness. 4. Domination and Mating Strategies
It is not only the proud peacock who struts his stuff for a (hopefully)
admiring female. Human males are preoccupied with displays of strength that
indicate their genetic suitability. Hence the mark of a successful fisherman or
hunter is not a full stomach, but a huge stuffed fish or a mounted rack of
antlers. Domination plays a key role in hunting (note the importance of size in
trophy animals) and especially in rodeo, where virtually every event involves
throwing animals to the ground, tying them up, and keeping them immobilized.
These displays of dominance are intended, however unconsciously, to impress
available females and competing males. 5. Deferral to Authority
The language of science is often as far beyond our comprehension as was the
language of our parents when we were toddlers. Many of us have assumed that
doctors and scientists have knowledge, and also moral judgement, superior to
our own. In a classic experiment, psychologist Stanley Milgram told volunteers
to administer what they believed to be potentially fatal electric shocks to
human subjects. Unknown to the volunteers, the "shocked" subjects were actually
working for Milgram. As the "electric current" was increased, some volunteers
balked. But the experimenter's reassurance caused them to continue, even when
they believed they were risking the subject's life. Milgram has been
resoundingly criticized for conducting the experiment. But what was most
frightening was the willingness of normal volunteers to follow orders to harm
another living being. 6. Fantasies about Animals
We project our own aggressive impulses onto animals. Cats are sometimes viewed
as sneaky or aloof, probably because their facial muscles allow less
expression, compared to dogs or primates. It is not as obvious what they are
actually feeling. Those people for whom hostility is a major issue may tend to
imagine it in cats, or project their aggressive impulses onto cats. People who
torture animals victimize cats much more frequently than dogs. And because of
the association of felines with the female, men who behave violently toward
women are likely to have abused cats, too.
Rats, snakes, and insects are viewed by some as vessels of infectious evil.
Even though humans spread disease much more commonly than do rats, negative
fantasies about animals tend to exaggerate relevant characteristics and lead to
actions against them. 7. Thinking in Only Two Categories
Toddlers have trouble with complex thought. They tend to categorize their world
in terms of extremes: good vs. bad; us vs. them; clean vs. dirty; black vs.
white. More maturity is required to perceive shades of gray. Nevertheless, "us
vs. them" thinking often continues into adulthood, where it can be exploited by
politicians and movie directors alike. Differences between humans and animals
may seem to overwhelm similarities and confine them to a category distinct from
our own. This sort of thinking leads to the use of prejudice (e.g., rat vs.
baby), rather than morally relevant criteria, as a basis for ethical decisions.
There is reason for some long-range optimism about human psychology. As we
develop in infancy, our capacity to act on impulses matures before our capacity
to inhibit or modulate those actions. So, we go through a stage in which we
babble, wet ourselves, and throw and break objects. Only later do we learn to
speak, to control body functions, and to explore the nature of objects without
breaking them.
Civilizations mature in the same way. We developed the capacity for the most
grotesque aggressions before we learned, gradually, to inhibit those actions.
We gave up cannibalism. Human slaves were freed. Most of us have realized that
wife-beating is unacceptable.
With animals, we're just emerging from the babbling, wetting, destroying stage.
One day we will look back in embarrassment and shame at the suffering we caused
them for so long.
http://www.pcrm.org/resch/anexp/psych_of_abuse.html
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