after all , just as a bruised and beaten torture victim would seem more gracious in partaking of such masochistic rituals when doing so voluntarily and for the thrill of exploring his or her own thresholds , so would these rats undergo the perils of experimentation : partly , because there was a certain taboo surrounding it , but , to a larger extent , because to exempt oneself from doing so was , in effect , to leave ones innate potential untapped .