Running head: USE OF ANIMALS IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Ethics in Psychological Research Paper
Psych 540
May 29, 2010
Ethics in Psychological Research Paper
Use of Animals in Psychological Research
The ethics in psychological research paper will discuss the use of animals in psychological research. It will also define ethics and describe how the use of animals is used in psychological research. The paper will also discuss the concept of the risk to benefit ratio of using animals in psychological research. Finally, it will evaluate the impact of the use of animals in psychological research.
According to our textbook, “the APA Ethics Code makes clear that “psychologists seek to promote accuracy, honesty, and truthfulness in the science,” be “concerned about the ethical compliance of their colleagues’ scientific and professional conduct,” and commit themselves “to increasing scientific and professional knowledge of behavior and people’s understanding of themselves and others and to the use of such knowledge to improve the condition of individuals, organizations, and society” (American Psychological Association, 2002, p. 1062). Ethics is also defined as “a branch of philosophy that addresses questions about morality, that is, concepts such as good and bad, noble and ignoble, right and wrong, justice, and virtue” (Wikipedia, 2010).
There are many people who feel one way or another towards the use of animals in psychological research and while this paper is not going to take a stand either way, it will help explain different aspects of using animals for this type of research. The Experimental Psychology Society (EPS) supports research efforts directed towards finding new treatments for psychiatric disorders such as depression, schizophrenia and dementia (EPS, 2010). Research using animals has made, and continues to make, a vital contribution to this research (EPS, 2010). The use of some animals can help aid in the “contribution to different cognitive...