Question about animal abuse by early psychologists

I am not sure this is the right forum for this question although I looked at all of them, so if a mod wants to move it that is fine.

My question is: Some time ago I read or heard on a podcast about one of those early behavioralist psychologists, B. F. Skinner or one of his contemporaries, possibly not him but a Soviet scientist instead, maybe Pavlov, who believed so much in scientific materialism that they were literally pinning dogs to a wall, I don't want to be too graphic, they were basically torturing them and laughing because according to their belief system animals are just biological robots who cannot have any feelings and so their cries of pain meant nothing.

I want to know if that was true or just a wild rumor, and if it is true, do we have links to any documented evidence? I have tried searching on Google and not finding anything so I wonder if it was a lie or a rumor or a fact.

Thanks.

Don't think I've heard anything like that...even if it did coincide with their belief system, dunno the impetus for doing so..

a reply to: Nicorette

I did a few google searches out of interest but came up with nothing except the usual zoosadism articles/pages. I would also be interested to know if this in fact happened.

a reply to: Nicorette

I took many psychology classes in college that covered the full gamut of theories, and there was never a mention of anything like this. When did you hear it? Someone could have just made it up.

a reply to: new_here

I'm thinking I heard it on the Corbett Report but I don't want to blame that dude, and I can't find it on his site.

I'm not sure about pinning dogs to a wall, but Seligman in his learned helplessness trials placed dogs in a cage that shocked them with no escape.

a reply to: twfau

That's the guy. Thank you.

a reply to: Nicorette
Much info on the subject here
en.wikipedia.org...
Around 50–100 million vertebrate animals are used in experiments annually.

The idea that animals might not feel pain as human beings feel it traces back to the 17th-century French philosopher, René Descartes, who argued that animals do not experience pain and suffering because they lack consciousness

They did many horrific experiments using animal subjects because indeed they did not feel any moral obligation to animals.
1940's Russian Experiment
www.thelivingmoon.com...

Clearly historically many felt animals could not feel and so no one spoke up about the horrific testing done using them.
I don't think knowing they feel pain would stop them because many of the same scientists used humans also in painful experiments.

These same beliefs are still around.

Last year the infamous theologian William Lane Craig debated philosopher Stephen Law, and made the extraordinary claim that many mammals can’t feel pain, or, if they do “feel” pain, then they aren’t aware that they feel pain. Only “the higher primates and human beings,” claims Craig (“higher” of course, is a scientifically inaccurate term), are aware that they feel pain.

whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com...

A few monsters here
listverse.com...

Im curious why you would want to find out more about this?
It was 60+ years ago so theres nothing you can do now except get upset and angry over it.

Im an animal lover so seeing or even hearing about things like this really trouble me, I would personally never go digging for this type of stuff but thats just me