animals Flashcards
what model is animal research based on?
Cost-Benefit Model meaning that research which gains results which will benefit society, outweighs the ‘cost’ of animal suffering
As long as the results are valid and are useful to some extent, then research (which upholds Animal Ethics guidelines) can be justified
what is the legislation for research using animals?
Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act, 1986
what are the key legal requirements of the animals (scientific procedures) act 1986
- Researchers need a licence from the Home Office
- The premises the research takes place in and all individuals involved must be licensed for animal research and animal care
- Lab animals must be sourced from suppliers who comply with Home Office standards and who will provide ‘high quality animals’
what has the bps published in regards to animal research?
BPS has published ‘Guidelines for Psychologists working with Animals’ (2012) based on the 1986 Act
what are the guidelines for psychologists working with animals (2012)?
Legal Requirements
Replacement
Choice of Species
Reduction
Animal Care
Disposal
Procedures
what is meant by ‘Legal Requirements’?
Research must not break the law regarding endangered and protected species. This particularly restricts research involving great apes (chimpanzees, gorillas, orang-utans).
what is meant by ‘Replacement’?
Where possible, live animals should be replaced with research alternatives, like videos and computer simulations. Animals should only be used as a last resort.
what is meant by ‘Choice of Species’?
Species bred in captivity are ethically preferable to creatures taken from the wild, research should be minimised if it involves highly sentient (thinking, feeling) animals, like the great apes
what is meant by ‘Reduction’?
The number of animals used should be minimised as much as possible; this involves carefully designed experiments and good use of statistics to get the maximum amount of data from the smallest number of animals
what is meant by ‘Animal Care’?
When not being studied, animals must be housed, fed and watered in a suitable way as well as being given space and companionship appropriate to their species
what is meant by ‘Disposal’?
When the research is over, animals should be disposed of humanely; ideally they should be kept alive for breeding or as pets
what is meant by ‘Procedures’?
Animals must be treated humanely during research. The BPS gives special consideration to these three areas:
- Caging: Distress should be minimised during caging; social species need companionship and animals unused to other animals may be distressed if caged with them
- Deprivation: Some food deprivation is allowable (and may be normal and healthy for animals) but distress should be minimised
- Anaesthetics should be used to minimise pain; animals should be given medical treatment after research; humane killing must be considered if suffering cannot be reduced
Evaluation of using animals in research
+what can you test on animals, which you can’t with humans?
P = A strength of using animals is we can test new drugs on them.
E = for example, we can develop new treatments for mental health disorders, like antidepressants for depression and test these on animals to find out what side effects they produce.
T = This means we can make sure drugs are safe for human consumption, so using animals in research is useful.
Evaluation of using animals in research
+ test for long term effects
P = A Strength of using animals like mice in research is we can more easily test for long-term effects of drugs.
E = The lifespan of a rat/mouse is 2-3 years so we can carry out drug testing and assess the effects of this throughout their lifespan or into adulthood. This could be to test the long-term effects of heroin.
T = Animals are therefore useful as we can find out the long-term effects of recreational drug addiction.
Evaluation of using animals in research
+ control
P = A strengths of using animals in research is that it is easy for studies to have high control.
E = Animals like rats and mice can be easily kept in captivity and independent variables carefully manipulated and extraneous variables controlled.
T = This is good because research will be high in internal validity if researches are measuring the effect of specific variables on behaviour and no other factors influence the behaviour they measure (DV).
