You need to know about ethical considerations involved in animal research and be able to give ethical reasons for and against the use of non-human animals.
You should know about …(
- Animal (Scientific Procedures) Act (1986) – UK
- Home Office regulations which govern the use of animals in research – UK
- BPS Guidelines for working with non-human animals
These are covered in the following PowerPoint.
animal-ethics My PowerPoint on animal ethics in psychology.
Activity: This image sheet contains photos of various different animals which are mentioned in the chapters on animal experimentation; do some further reading from your textbooks, Gross, and “Themes issues and debates” to find out more about how these animals link to the debate. You can then cut out the images and use them in your notes: animal research image sheet
Useful Concepts
- The 3 Rs (replace, reduce, refine)
- Bateson’s Decision-Making Cube
- Speciesism
- People with views on this topic! Gray, Singer, Regan
Further Reading
Against the current use of animal testing. The site is about medical research rather than psychological but the arguments are still relevant as the two clearly cross-over: http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/04/10/522775456/drugs-that-work-in-mice-often-fail-when-tried-in-people
Practice Questions
- Topic 1: Discuss two or more ethical considerations in animal research when investigating the brain and behaviour. [22]
You must refer to research on localisation, neuroplasticity or neurotransmission.
- Discuss two or more ethical considerations in animal research when investigating the hormones and/or pheromones and behaviour. [22]
You must refer to research on hormones and/or pheromones.
- Discuss two or more ethical considerations in animal research when investigating genetics and behaviour. [22]
You must refer to research on genes and behaviour and/or evolutionary explanations of behaviour.
- Discuss two or more ethical considerations relevant to the use of animals in psychological research. [22]
You may refer to any research studies from in the biological approach.
psychologyrocks 