Definition of animal model
- The use of non-human animals to demonstrate a biological or psychological
phenomenon.
Key points:
The value of animal models in psychological research.
Whether animal research can provide insight into human behavior.
Ethical considerations in animal research.
- Psychologists need to consider the justifications for harming animals in order to study
brain/hormones/genetics and behavior. Where harm is justified, they should keep
suffering to a minimum.
What is an animal model?
An animal model is a concept that refers to using animal research to test certain cause and effect
hypotheses about a certain human behavior.
Animal research is useful because
- Variables can be manipulated in a way that would be unethical or impractical to do on
human participants.
- Researchers can control extraneous variables in experiments to determine cause and
effect relationships easily.
There are four main types:
- Genetic manipulation (animals are bred in a certain way)
- Invasive manipulation with the nervous system (parts of the brain stimulated with
electrodes, lesioned or removed)
- Invasive manipulation of other body parts (parts may be stimulated with substances or
damaged)
- Behavioral and environmental manipulations (deprivation of stimulation, etc)
Using animal research relies on the assumption that animal and human brains are similar. It has
been suggested that since some parts of the brain between animals and humans are quite similar,
our psychological functions may also be similar. This may not be true since even small
differences between human and animal brains can mean large differences in our psychology.
Assuming that similar brain structure reflects directly onto a similar psychological function is
reductionist as it oversimplifies the complexity of the brain and behavior.
, Studies using animal behavior only focuses on the biological variables involved in behavior. The
complex interactions of culture, society and cognition with biological variables has to be
overlooked. This makes animal research highly reductionist.
**Animal studies may give insight into the bigger picture, they never fully explain behavior by
themselves.
Advantages and disadvantages of animal research
Advantages
- Humans and animals are identical in many ways, both in terms of brain structure and
genetically.
- Studies with animal models to produce results: useful models of human behavior have
been developed based on animal experimentation.
- Some animals have a shorter lifespan, which allows for researchers to see how behavior
changes from generation to generation. This is especially helpful in genetics research.
- In animal research it is possible to control confounding variables more strictly than in
research with humans.
- Animal subjects are easily accessible, easy to handle and manage.
Disadvantages
- Even if animals are similar biologically, they can still differ psychologically. (Premack
2007)
- Successful trials from animal research still need to be replicated with human subjects to
ensure that the results are generalizable.
- Many studies that are successful in animals fail to achieve the same results with humans.
The reasons are usually unclear.
- Animal studies tend to be strictly controlled laboratory experiments, which creates issues
with ecological validity. There is a possibility that the animal may behave differently in
their natural habitat.
- There are ethical considerations related to experimentation with animals
Ethical considerations in animal research
Ethical considerations in animal research are regulated by professional bodies such as APA.
Most ethical considerations revolve around making justified research choices, carefully
monitoring potential pain inflicted on the animals and getting approval from independent review
teams.
APA (American Psychological Association) Guidelines (2012)
Justified choices
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