In one line: Some questions cannot be tested on people first, so psychologists study animals to learn about humans.
Imagine a new medicine that might calm anxiety. Nobody knows yet whether it is safe, so it cannot be given to people. Researchers test it on mice first.
An animal studied in place of humans is called an animal model. It works because mice and people share many brain parts and brain chemicals.
Why use mice?
Similar biology
A mouse's brain is simpler than ours, but its basic parts and chemicals work in similar ways.
More control
Food, cage and daily routine can be kept the same for every mouse.
Safety first
An untested medicine is tried on mice before any person takes it.
Faster lives
Mice grow up in weeks, so effects over a whole life show up sooner.
Similar · Controlled · Safe · Fast
Remember: Animal first, people later. The mouse stands in for a person.
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Key idea: A result in an animal is a strong clue about humans, not proof. It has to be checked in people.
Test in mice
the animal study
- One group gets the medicine, one does not
Find a result
what happened
- Treated mice explore more calmly
Check in people
small human trials
- Only if the mice stayed healthy
Applying a result from one group to another is called generalising.
It needs care. A calm mouse is not the same as a calm person: people worry about exams, money and friends, and mice do not. So the medicine may help mice more than it helps people.
Exam tip: Whenever you use an animal study, add one sentence on how far it applies to people.
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Key idea: Animal research showed which part of the brain we need for remembering places.
Morris and colleagues (1982)
The task
Rats swam in a pool of cloudy water to find a platform hidden just under the surface. They used pictures on the walls to learn where it was.
The change
In one group, the researchers damaged the hippocampus. The other group was not damaged.
The result
Normal rats soon swam straight to the platform. Rats with a damaged hippocampus kept searching: they could not remember where it was.
Pool · Damage · Lost
So the hippocampus is needed to remember places. Nobody could damage a person's brain to test this.
The finding fits people too. Patients whose hippocampus was damaged by illness or surgery struggle to form new memories. That is the check in humans.
Made-up or real?: In the exam, a made-up example like the mice and the medicine is accepted, as long as you explain it.
A real study, like the rats in the pool, makes the point more convincing.
Key idea: Animal research can show cause and effect. But rats are not people, and the animals can be harmed.
Strengths
- Cause: only the brain damage differed between the rats
- Can study things that would harm people
- The same brain part does a similar job in people
Limits
- A rat in a pool is not a person finding their way home
- People remember with words and meaning, rats cannot
- The rats were harmed on purpose
The last limit is about responsibility. You met the rules in 1.6.2: replace animals where possible, reduce their number, and refine procedures so that they suffer less.
An ethics committee must agree that the benefit is worth the harm before a study like this can start.
Remember: Strong on cause, weaker on people, costly to the animals.
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How this is asked: Paper 1 asks about animal research in two short ways: explain it with one example [4], or use it to explain a study you have never seen [6].
In the 6-mark question, every point must be about that study.
Context: Health and well-being. A group of researchers investigated whether regular exercise protects against stress. Rats were randomly allocated to two groups. One group had a running wheel in its cage for six weeks; the other did not. Both groups were then put in a stressful situation, and their stress hormone levels were measured. The rats with running wheels had lower levels. With reference to this study, explain the use of animal research in the study of human behaviour.
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