• Constraints on the use of animals
• Arguments for and against their use in
psychological research
• Practical
• Moral & ethical
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The use of animals
• Many pitfalls for the unwary:
• Unsubstantiated assertion e.g. animals feel
as much pain as humans
• Naïve assumptions e.g. animal
researchers do it because they’re evil and
they enjoy it
• Irrelevance e.g. writing about medical,
surgical or cosmetic research, not
psychological investigations
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The use of animals
• Many examples are possible, from
many different areas e.g.:
• Developmental (maternal deprivation)
• Physiological (stress, sleep)
• Abnormal (drug treatments)
• Try to select a variety to show
synopticity
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The use of animals
• Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act
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•
•
Licensing & inspection
Constraints on numbers & species
Requirements for suitable facilities
Competence & qualification requirements
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Constraints on use
• BPS guidelines on animal research
•
•
•
•
Specific application to psychology
Requirement for humane treatment
Requirement to consider alternatives
Cost benefit analysis
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Constraints on use
• Practical arguments (is it useful?)
• Continuity
• Convenience
• Usefulness
• Ethical arguments (is it moral?)
• Utilitarianism
• Duty to species
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Arguments for
• We share common ancestry with other
animals (Darwin, 1859)
• Basic similarities in physiological structure
& functioning
• Behavioural similarities with some species
(e.g. primates)
• Animal research therefore gives valid
information about human processes
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Continuity
• Animals can be used in ways humans
can’t
• Short lifespans & breeding cycles enable
inheritance to be studied
• Behaviour can be controlled and monitored
in ways impossible with people
• Less reactivity
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Convenience
• Animal research is demonstrably useful
to psychologists
• Knowledge of nervous system structure &
functioning
• Understanding of stress, abnormal
behaviour, sleep…
• Our understanding of human behaviour
would be very limited if not for animal
research
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Usefulness
• Utilitarian
• The suffering of a small number of animals
is justified because it helps a large number
of people
• Moral duty
• We have a moral obligation to our own
species to advance knowledge and reduce
suffering. Animal research is justified if it
furthers this (Gray, 1991)
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Ethical arguments
• The constraints on the use of animals
protect animals sufficiently and prevent
unnecessary suffering
• This is shown by:
• Reduction in number and range of animals
used in labs
• Increase in non-invasive & field-based
studies
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Other points
• Counterarguments to those presented
in favour of animal research
•
•
•
•
Discontinuity or continuity?
Ecological validity
Generalisability
Moral arguments
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Arguments against
• Points out an inconsistency in continuity
argument
• If other animals are so similar to us they
should be afforded the same ethical
considerations as us
• Or, if they are so different from us, then
generalisation is of questionable value
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Discontinuity or continuity?
• Questions the value of the data
obtained from animal studies
• Lab based animal studies produce
unnatural behaviour (e.g. drug addiction
studies)
• Field studies disturb the environment &
consequently, behaviour
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Ecological validity
• Suggests that even when data are valid,
they can’t be applied to humans
• Differences in human and animal evolution
& genes
• Structural differences in nervous system
(e.g. cerebral cortex)
• Influence of language, culture, higher
cognitive processes
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Generalisability
• Utilitarianism gives human suffering
priority over animal suffering – this is a
form of discrimination (speciesism;
Singer, 1975)
• Animals have rights as people do. We
have a moral obligation to protect them.
No amount of regulation can justify
animal research
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Moral arguments
• Safeguards are difficult to enforce; abuses
may be undetected
• Cost benefit analyses as required by
guidelines easily skewed in favour of
research
• The fact that you never know in advance the
outcome of research means that some will
always be useless
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Other points
• These are up to you, but make sure
you…
• Look at both sides
• Present a balanced argument
• Use suitable examples to support your
claims
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Conclusions