BPS Guidelines for Psychologists working with animals-2007

Do the ends ever justify the means? Each person will have their own views on this. Is the animal suffering caused by certain types of reseach outweighed by the benefits to humanity? Bateson (1986) expressed this as a 3D graph – AS Brain book – pg255+ – A2 Brain book – pg309 The majority of this PP should be a recap – is here for your revision!

Bateson cube

The cube has 3 axes measuring suffering, certainty of benefit and quality of research. If the research is high quality, certain to be beneficial and not going to inflict suffering then it will fall into the hollow section (top front) meaning research should proceed. Painful, low quality research with lower likelihood of success will be bottom back in the solid and should not proceed. Most research will not be clear cut but the rule is solid should not continue, hollow should subjective measures. The problem of course is how to determine benefit in advance. Also who will decide on quality of research and the level of suffering? Both of which are subjective measures.

The 3 Rs 1.Replacement of animals by other methods such as computer models and simulations. 2. Reduction in the number of animals used. More advanced statistical methods can be used allowing significant results based on lower numbers. Sharing of information between institutions allows the number of replications to be reduced. 3. Refinement of experimental methods to inflict less pain and suffering.

BPS Guidelines for Psychologists working with animals-2007 States: Psychologists must adhere to the legal requirements of the country they are working in. Psychologists have to be aware of endangered species or threatened species and act appropriately. Research must be prefaced with a covering letter stating this.

Replacing use of animals Videos and computer simulations have to be used where possible. Ideal for teaching situations. e.g. Ratlife and Sniffy the Rat

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BPS Guidelines for Psychologists working with animals-2007 Choice of species and strain Species should be carefully chosen to ensure effectiveness with minimal suffering-knowledge of species and history of individual animals vital Choices have to be justified on project licence application Different strains of rodents are physiologically different and need to be chosen carefully. Transgenic mice may be used as no harm to organism is observed.

BPS Guidelines for Psychologists working with animals-2007 Number of animals 1986 Act-legally required to use smallest number of animals possible National Centre for 3Rs (Replacement, Refinement and Reduction) can provide advice on how the use of better methodologies/designs and statistical analysis can help achieve this.

BPS Guidelines for Psychologists working with animals-2007 Procedures Project licence Registered establishment Personal licence Local ethical review process (Committee) Home Office Identify costs to animals in reports/journals

BPS Guidelines for Psychologists working with animals-2007 Procedures (contd) Housing- caging needs to take into account the social behaviour of species Reward, deprivation, aversive stimulation- periods of deprivation of food should be short and species specific Aggression and predation - natural encounters preferable if staged animals should be protected Fieldwork- should not disturb the ecosystem or interrupt species reproduction and survival Anaesthesia, analgesia and euthanasia- animals should have access to pain relief and be destroyed humanely if suffering

BPS Guidelines for Psychologists working with animals-2007 Procurement Home Office Designated Breeding and Supply Establishments. Wild caught animals- refer to ASAB website

BPS Guidelines for Psychologists working with animals-2007 Animal Care Housing and husbandry conditions must be within guidelines Captive animals should be kept in conditions closely resembling their natural conditions as much as possible Need to foster habituation to minimise stress Animal care personnel must be trained

BPS Guidelines for Psychologists working with animals-2007 Disposing of animals Distribute to other colleagues if deemed possible by home office If disposed of- it must be done humanely Death must be confirmed before disposal Vets must be consulted

BPS Guidelines for Psychologists working with animals-2007 Animals in psychology teaching Teachers have a responsibility to educate pupils on ethical issues Coursework on animals may be possible but tests to show known facts are prohibited Use of film/video should be encouraged Undergraduates must work within a project licence Post graduates need personal licence

Sometimes it is hard to justify! Harry Harlow Rhesus monkeys Removed from mothers at birth and given surrogates, usually made from wire or terry cloth. Distress caused during procedure. Unable to develop normal social relationships with other members of species. Picked on by other monkeys who see them as very submissive and timid. Questioned the psychodynamic and behaviourist theories of attachment since it suggests food was not crucial. Evidence for the long term effects of privation.

Aim: to see whether schizophrenia-like symptoms could be induce in non-human animals by giving them amphetamines. Method: Injecting rats with doses of 1-20 mg/kg of amphetamines. They then went on to test chickens, pigeons, cats, dogs and squirrels. Results: Symptoms similar to schizophrenia were recorded including stereotypical activity. Conclusion: Study supports the Dopamine Hypothesis of schizophrenia. Randrup and Munkvad, (1966)

Aim: to look at how genes affect schizophrenia in rats Method: Bred rats with a genetic variation believed to be associated with schizophrenia in humans. Results: Genetically modified rats were apathetic and socially withdrawn (negative symptoms of schizophrenia) Conclusion: Study supports the role of genes in schizophrenia. Wood et al., (1998)

Important in developing new drugs that can be used to treat symptoms of schizophrenia in humans. Easy way to do experiments in order to understand the role of genetics in schizophrenia Can do research that would be ethically wrong to do on humans Evaluation of animal studies: Strengths

The nervous system between rats and humans is not the same, and different parts of the brain are different sizes (e.g., the fore-brain in humans is huge and the cortex is larger) Cannot replicate schizophrenia in mice, only approximate symptoms of schizophrenia Is it ethically okay to use animals for psychological research? Evaluation of animal studies: Weaknesses

Over to you 1.Read and make key point notes from your text book, materials on the Blog – ethical guidelines are worth a look at 2.Re-read the Caster study – this could be the study you choose for animal research (or you could use one mentioned today…) 3.Complete pages 16 in your packs Recap of the spec…. Describe and evaluate TWO research methods used in the study of schizophrenia, including one study for each of the two research methods