Why use Animals? Flashcards
(10 cards)
Psychologists use animals to gain greater insight into human behavior and psychology because…
some research cannot be done with humans.
3 reasons why we use animal models
Reason 1: Procedural Reasons
Reason 2: Lifespan Reasons
Reason 3: Control reasons
Procedural reasons
We can carry out procedures on animals (such as isolation and surgery) that would be unethical to carry out on humans.
Lifespan Reasons
The lifespan of animals are significantly shorter than a human lifespan, so the effects of a particular variables - let’s say stress - can be studies over an entire lifetime, or even several generations.
Control reasons
We can introduce very controlled conditions in way that would be impossible with humans (e.g. learning being highly controlled in Rogers and Kesner)
Endophenotype
Measurable biological or physiological markers that are more common in people/animals with a certain disorder
When are animal models of behavior used? and what does this allow them to do
When an animal has similar endophenotypes to what can be seen in humans.
This similarity allows them to:
- Study the underlying causes
- Test treatments or interventions before trying them in humans
3 criticism of animal models
- Question of external validity (can we generalize animal models to people?)
- Quality of data
- Ethical concerns
Question of external validity (can we generalize animal models to people?)
This is especially relevant in regards to drug therapies.
It is often the case that what is observed in animals does not predict what will happen in humans. Is it the physiology of the animal that leads to this lack of predictability, or is it because of the low ecological validity – that is, the highly controlled environment and the way that variables are operationalized.
Quality of data
Animals cannot communicate their responses, they can only be observed. This means that we cannot know the cognitive processes of the animal, which means research may be open to researcher bias.
