Animal & Human Experimentation Learning Goals: Understand the use of animals in psychology experimentation

Humans utilize animals in many ways. More than 95% of animals are used for food & clothing Research = small percentage Is the use of animals in research, teaching, and other potentially harmful endeavors justified by the outcomes? The answer to this particular question is a matter of individual opinion, of course, although majority opinion often becomes codified in our body of laws.

Minimizing Pain Surgical Anesthesia Use of electrical shock is infrequent and mild. Most research seeks to avoid pain to animal subjects Concern for animal welfare Legal regulations (APA) It’s a confound. Pain can release hormones and alter neurotransmitter systems that can induce other changes. “clean” data would be impossible.

Some pain is intentional. To understand spinal injuries & tumors researchers do things to animals that cannot be done with humans. Pain must be understood before it can be controlled/treated. Consider the alternatives? Would you accept implantation of a very painful and probably fatal tumor in order to protect other people? You might be wiling to endure great pain or sacrifice your life to protect a member of your family. Would you prefer that one or more laboratory rats make the sacrifice? The goal of these experiments is to understand pain and he neuropsychological mechanisms that govern it. There are costs in terms of the pain to which a relatively small number of animals is subjected, but researchers hope that the outcome will benefit both humans and other animals that now suffer excruciating pain as a result of injuries or diseases.

Should animals be excluded from research that only gives “basic knowledge?” Even “basic” research applies to clinical situations. Most research applications are unknown when research begins (oncogenes) Understanding disease requires first understanding the “normal” functioning

Should research use mathematical models instead of animals? Even the best models cannot predict how the complete organism behaves. There are very good mathematical models of how airplanes fly that are far more accurate than our models of how drugs work, for example. Even if we know as much about how a drug worked as we do about how airplanes fly, we would not be ready to give it to humans. W/O knowing the bad effects, which might be lethal, we cannot administer the drug. Side effects cannot be known w/o animal testing. Even so, mistakes happen.

APA Guidelines/Humans Informed Consent May not be coerced Minimize physical/mental discomfort Researcher must detect & remove any undesirable consequences. Deception must be justifiable (debriefed) Confidentiality Must honor any commitments made