In the book I just finished reading there was a brief reference to some experiments that Harry Harlow did in the 1950s in America. I had never heard of these experiments before and I had not heard of Harry Harlow before but he sounded like a grade A bastard even by the standards of the time. I decided to look him up on Wikipedia and found this article.
It is very , very depressing reading.
The way I understand it, from the book I was reading, the first chimps were bred for other experiments and Harlow raised them in isolation to try and keep them free of cross-infection but found out that the isolation severaly damaged the chimps emotionally. I think most normal people would have regretted that, but he thought that the emotional damage was interesting in itself and then continued. The results of these experiments have really shed a lot of light on the workings of the human mind, but I don’t think that justifies the nature of them.
Jrdud that’s pretty grim by the standards of any time