A Critique of Animal Psychology Research at the University
of California at Berkeley
Brandon P. Reines, D.V.M.
Hormones and behavior research: Dr. Frank A. Beach, Dr. S. Glickman, Dr. S. Breedlove
A) Beach founded the research specialty known as hormones and behavior, as well as a journal of the same name. His 1948 book Hormones and Behavior was the first book-length review of the field (Beach 1948). Beach has received $2,659,235 from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) over the past 27 years to study rats and dogs copulating under a wide range of experimental conditions. Over the past decade, Beach has attempted to change female dogs into male dogs and vice versa by the administration of hormones. One of Beach's main recent conclusions is that "masculinized" female dogs cannot copulate because of the small size of their "penis." Currently, Beach is attempting to analyze the voluminous data from such sexual experiments in order to create a true science of hormones and behavior. Beach defended his use of public funds for such animal research as follows:
I do not conduct research in order to 'benefit the public,' but to illuminate basic problems relevant to unsolved problems. For example, currently I am much concerned with a comparative analysis of factors controlling ovulation in vertebrates, from cyclostomes to primates. I believe special study of certain avian species may throw some light on causes for rupture of the ovarian follicle. If anything I discover turns out to increase understanding of human ovulation - that would gratify me immensely. However, one can study only one species at a time ... (1986, p. 1).
Beach's tacit justification is that in order to understand mechanisms mediating the effects of hormones or human behavior, it is first necessary to study carefully a single species in depth. In fact, in 1956, Dr. Beach used precisely the same argument to justify his early experiments on male copulatory behavior in the rat. Beach wrote:
Interspecies differences in the normal (copulatory) pattern are so pronounced that it is difficult to imagine a theoretical interpretation which would apply with equal validity to rodents, carnivores, ungulates, primates, and other mammals, to say nothing of lower vertebrates. Nevertheless, a start must be made somewhere, and the most reasonable approach is to formulate a set of hypotheses which appear applicable to a single species. If we can frame a theory that deals satisfactorily with one species, then it will prove profitable to examine the generality of that theory ..." (1956, pp.18-19).
While most of Beach's recent studies focus on dogs, his original species of interest was the rat. It is the male copulatory behavior of the laboratory rat that has been by far most extensively studied, particularly by Dr. Benjamin D. Sachs of the University of Connecticut. In the 1960's, researchers in the field of hormones and behavior believed that the male copulatory behavior of the rat would soon be explainable on the basis of physiological mechanisms alone without recourse to studying psychological or behavioral variables. Sachs wrote, "There seemed every reason to believe that sexual behavior could soon also be understood in terms of physiological mechanisms, without recourse to hypothetical constructs or intervening variables (behavioral or psychological)" (1978, p.2'76).
B) Breedlove has received $207,992 between 1983 and 1985 from the National Institute of Neurological and Communication Disorders and Stroke. Breedlove has given male hormone to female rat pups to see how it effects the development of penile nerves and muscles. The administration of male hormone to female rats has caused them to develop a more masculine sexual apparatus. Approximately 1000 rats were used in Breedlove's research.
Notwithstanding the fact that Beach and his fellow hormones and behavior researchers have failed to evolve even a science of rat sexual behavior, Dr. Stephen Breedlove claims that his hormones and behavior research will lead to improved treatment of patients with the neurologic disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Ironically, while Beach himself would never be so strident as to suggest that research in the field of hormones and behavior constitutes neurologic research aimed at improving the treatment of neurologic disorders, Breedlove makes sensational claims in order to justify his animal experiments. In a November 17, 1986 memorandum to the UC Berkeley Committee for the Protection of Animal Subjects, Breedlove defended his hormones and behavior research on animals by insisting that such research is the best hope for victims of ALS:
Between 2,000 to 5,000 Americans contract amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) each year and they will all die slow lingering deaths, usually within 3-5 years of diagnosis. There is no known treatment to slow the progress of this disease, which is characterized by the death of motoneurons. We know almost nothing about why motoneurons die either during ALS or any other condition. I am certain that learning about why motoneurons live or die in general will suggest ways to keep them alive during ALS."
The primary goal of Breedlove's research is identical to that of Beach: to elucidate the physiological mechanisms mediating adult sexual behavior. Breedlove himself reiterates this theme throughout his grant proposals. There is in fact only one paragraph in Breedlove's various publications that discusses the possible relevance of his research to ALS (Breedlove, 1982, p. 13). Breedlove refers to the earlier hypothesis of Weiner (1980) that androgens may hold the key to ALS. While Weiner clearly states that clinical studies are essential to confirm or deny his hypothesis, Breedlove claims his animal studies refute Weiner's idea (though Weiner's idea itself was based on rat data). In fact, androgens have already been used empirically to treat ALS patients without success (Weiner, 1980). As Breedlove tacitly concedes, even bona fide animal models of ALS (which Breedlove's animals are not) have failed to make inroads against this devastating disease. There is no evidence that animal research in the field known as hormones and behavior has improved the treatment or prevention of any mental or neurologic disorder.
C) Glickman has received $602,008 from the NIMH since 1984. Glickman has imported 32 African hyenas and surgically removed the gonads of half of them. By comparing the behavior of the animals without ovaries or testes with normal hyenas, Glickman hopes to understand the effects of different hormones on sexual behavior of the hyena.
1. Hormones and Behaviour Research