Animal Testing in Psychological Research Proposal 2022

Running head: ANIMAL TESTING IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
Animal Testing in Psychological Research
Student’s name
University
Author’s note

ANIMAL TESTING IN PSYCHOLOGICAL RESEARCH
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Every human conduct is subject to a moral scrutiny, determining its merit as right
or wrong. The process of this discernment is grounded in the knowledge and
understanding of ethics or, as alternatively known, moral philosophy. Academically,
ethics is defined as a normative science that is concerned with the moral quality of
voluntary human conducts (Walsh, 2015). The principles of ethics serves as the
groundwork for distinguishing right from wrong, good from bad, or moral from immoral. It
is, therefore, also instrumental in determining the appropriate course of action during
psychological researches. In this sense, ethics acts more like a code of conduct for
researchers while carrying out a study, with the aim to establish the moral responsibility
of the researchers to protect the participants from any potential harm (Griffith, 2018). In
recent times, the focus of securing participants’ safety has also extended to the animals,
which are used in various scientific research, including psychology. However, there is a
growing voice against animal testing in psychological research, as the animal rights
advocates strongly oppose the practice on the grounds of cruelty, security and violation
of rights (Monamy, 2017). On the other hand, a large faction of scholars try to justify
using animals in research pointing to its benefits and necessities in psychological
research. Following the prompt, the present essay also tries to justify using animal
testing for the advancement of psychological research. To this end, the essay will
explore both sides of the debate, and will try to weigh in with its own findings. It will also
try to draw a limitation and ethical guideline for using animal testing.
According to Rob Garner, there has been a long-standing false narrative of
animal welfare standards among biomedical and psychological researchers, which
earnestly suppress the exploitation of animals used in the respective researches

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(Garner, Lyons & Roberts, 2016). Following PETA’s advocacy, animals are regarded to
have moral rights and are subject to respectful treatments (PETA, 2019). However, the
inherent moral value that animals are entitle with are not maintained during researches.
It is often ignored that animals can think and feel pain, sorrow and loneliness. They are
merely used as tools and not participants. Neither their willingness in participation are
considered. They, in utmost probability, do not wish to sacrifice their lives for the welfare
of humankind, although they are left with no choice. And this anthropocentric
supremacy indicates a stark violation of animal rights, as well as a significant code of
conduct, i.e. consent. Furthermore, some scholars also argue that animal testing cannot
provide any potential benefit to human beings. According to Michael Balls and Robert D.
Combes (2019), the LD50 test, the most common animal testing procedure to determine
lethal dosage to kill 50% of test population, is practically and scientifically unjustifiable,
since “...The precision it purports to provide is an illusion because of uncontrollable
biological variables” (Balls & Combes, 2019). Moreover, animal testing is entirely
opposed as viable alternatives are already available. The Body Shop, a leading
cosmetic and bath-product brand globally known for cruelty-free beauty products,
published a pamphlet Against Animal Testing that indicated alternative organic
products such as basil nut oil and bananas to be used for chemical testing
(Thebodyshop.uk, 2019). Hence, using animal testing for scientific research is neither
morally nor pragmatically justifiable.
The arguments opposing animal testing indeed present a strong case.
Nevertheless, it is argued in favour of the practice by scholars, especially
psychological researchers, that it is an essential, rather indispensable part of