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September 1997 Mental Torture Book Review by Donald J. Barnes

 

Animal Models of Human Psychology by Kenneth Joel Shapiro, Ph.D. Hogrefe & Huber: Seattle (1997). $39.50 hbd. 250 pages

Faced with a mountain of work and a short deadline for this review, I fully intended to skim through this book and rely on topic sentences, lead paragraphs and the author's summations for my analysis. Perhaps if Dr. Shapiro had been a trifle less thorough in his scholarship, I could have done so. But the organization and presentation of the wealth of material contained within the relatively short space of 250 pages demanded my attention from the Introduction through the Epilogue.

Animals Models of Human Psychology is much more than a descriptive narration of experimental procedures with nonhuman animals. It is a well-developed and finely-tuned argument based upon empirically-derived data. To his credit, the author's tone is never bitter or accusatory. On the contrary, it is openly querulous, seeking answers rather than opinions as if to say, "Here's my data. These are my conclusions based upon these data. If you come to different conclusions, I'm willing to evaluate your data as well."

Using psychological research with nonhuman animals as a microcosm of animal-based research in general, Shapiro examines the history, rationale, philosophical underpinnings and utility of such research. Animal Models of Human Psychology goes far beyond its predecessors in artfully sketching the very construction of the "laboratory animal" as an anomalous entity with only acquired value for the research psychologist and, ultimately, little to no value for the clinical practitioner. Other authors have been satisfied with labeling a particular research project as trivial or even fraudulent and closing with a strong statement demanding the abolition of vivisection. But Shapiro rises above such level of discourse by providing an objective model for the evaluation of vivisection and insisting that, "If animal model research is found to be ineffective, we are not required to have an alternative strategy in place before we can justify abandoning it."

If this book has a fault, it may lie in Shapiro's facility with the jargon of psychology, a dilemma shared in some ways by this reviewer. On the other hand, a primary strength of the book is its compliance with the accepted language of the field, thereby lending it credibility in the eyes of those upon whom it could have the greatest impact. Will its publication stop vivisection? No. But I'm convinced that if Animal Models of Human Psychology was a required text for all psychology graduate students, future surveys would find a significant diminution of animal-based psychological research. I also believe that this book can have a much larger impact on vivisection in other areas, for Shapiro's arguments are not specific to psychological research even though he focuses on such research as examples of tautological and non-utilitarian endeavors.

In sum, this is a book for all animal advocates to study and adopt as a primary weapon in a growing arsenal of cogent arguments against the odious and unacceptable practice of vivisection. This is a work which will help legitimize our advocacy and bring a new voice for animals into the libraries of our nation. It is up to each of us to help place this book in those libraries.

Donald J. Barnes spent 16 years as an experimental/physiological psychologist working with monkeys at the School of Aerospace Medicine in San Antonio, Texas. Abandoning those endeavors in 1980, he currently lectures, debates and writes against vivisection and other cruel and unnecessary utilization of nonhuman animals.

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