Use of Animals in Psychology Research

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Use of Animals in Psychology Research

Introduction

The field of developmental psychology is not very old. Even when the foundations of this field were laid down by Aristotle and Plato, it has only developed in the last one century. It was the theory of Darwin that led to the interest in studying cognitive development in children. Furthermore, social changes like the provision of mass education also resulted in an increased interest in studying cognitive development of children as affected by social processes. Accordingly, this profound interest in the cognitive and psychological development of children has only developed in the twentieth century.

The development psychology was developed in North America by G. Stanley Hall and James Mark Baldwin. Accordingly, the former developed the study of children's mind content while also laid down the foundation of the American Psychological Association. The theoretical underpinnings of developmental psychology were laid by Baldwin by giving theories with respect to child cognitive development (Bennett, 1999).

Nevertheless, it is clear that most of research in psychology, including developmental psychology, occurs through the use of animals. Most research has used rats, and other animals like cats and dogs to determine their psychological behavior and processes to understand those of humans. However, it is not very clear as to why animals are used in all psychology research. Furthermore, it is also not clear as to what is the utility of certain animals in psychological research and how well do they mimic the psychology of the humans. It is reasonable to assume then that all psychological research should be conducted on apes or chimpanzees as they are more similar to humans than other animals like rats that are used in all psychology research.

Use of animals in psychology research

Developmental psychology

The field of development psychology in Europe was developed by Alfred Binet who is credited mostly for his work on IQ testing. However, he also worked in other fields like development of children's perceptions and memory. Then, the wave of behaviorism in psychology brought a halt to the study of developmental psychology. Accordingly, the decades of 1920s to 1950s saw the study of functional relationships with various stimuli in psychology, while the development and cognition in psychology were not researched or studied. However, Jean Piaget in Europe continued to work on developmental psychology by considering it as the cognitive biological response to external conditions. This way he was able to explain the entire development process as understood from structural and functional explanations of change. This research also resulted in the development of the concept of constructivism in psychology. Therefore, Piaget significantly contributed to the field of developmental psychology. Hence, Piaget's work in developmental psychology is beyond explanation.

Then, the developmental psychology has flourished in both theory and methodology as it provides all the reasons in many content areas. Additionally, short-ranged theories of developmental psychology have also been developed. Moreover, the sources of development have also been vetted with respect to personality, intelligence, and perception to know how development affects inherited and ...