Lesson 4.2.2

4.2.2 Animal research and ethics Quiz: Pearson Edexcel Psychology, Unit 4

20 questions

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Lesson 4.2.2, Animal research and ethics: 20 multiple choice questions for the Pearson Edexcel Psychology (9PS0), Unit 4: Learning theories, written with Revision Ninja.

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The 20 questions

  1. Why are animals used in laboratory experiments in psychology?

    • Because animals are the only participants that can give informed consent, which is needed for any psychological research study
    • Because animals never experience pain or distress, so no ethical issues arise from any procedure carried out with them at all
    • Because animals are always more intelligent than humans, so their behaviour can be used to predict human intelligence in full
    • Because their results can sometimes be related to humans, and some procedures cannot ethically be carried out with people

  2. What is the Scientific Procedures Act (1986) concerned with?

    • The regulation of the publication of research findings in journals, including the rules for peer review of all psychology papers
    • The regulation of the use of living animals in scientific procedures, including the licensing of researchers and establishments
    • The regulation of the use of human participants in medical trials, including the process for obtaining informed consent from patients
    • The regulation of the funding of psychology research by government agencies, including the amount of money each study may receive

  3. Which of these is a key ethical principle for animal research in psychology?

    • Competition, which means encouraging animals to race each other in the lab to see which animal learns the fastest
    • Reduction, which means using the smallest number of animals needed to obtain valid results from the research
    • Deception, which means lying to the animals about the purpose of each procedure to obtain more natural behaviour
    • Confidentiality, which means keeping each animal's data secret from other researchers in the same laboratory building

  4. Which of the 3Rs refers to using procedures that minimise pain and distress for animals?

    • Refinement, which means changing procedures to reduce pain, distress and suffering for the animals used in research
    • Repetition, which means repeating each experiment on the same animals several times to confirm that the findings are real
    • Replacement, which means substituting animals with computer models or other methods wherever this is possible
    • Reduction, which means cutting the number of animals in each experiment to the minimum needed for valid results

  5. A researcher argues that animal research in psychology is limited because findings may not generalise to humans. Which evaluation point does this illustrate?

    • A point about the id, since animal research always studies unconscious drives, which humans do not possess at all
    • A point about culture and gender, since animals cannot be classified by gender and so their results are always invalid
    • A practical issue in research design, since animal findings may not transfer directly to humans
    • A strength of animal research, since animal findings always transfer perfectly to humans in every psychological domain

  6. Which ethical concern is most closely associated with animal research in psychology?

    • The payment of animals for their participation, which is required in every laboratory by the Scientific Procedures Act
    • Pain and distress caused to animals, which must be justified by the potential benefits of the research and minimised
    • Informed consent from the animal, which must be obtained in writing from each individual rat before any procedure begins
    • The confidentiality of animal data, which must be kept private from the public at all times during the research project

  7. Why might a researcher choose to use rats rather than primates in a learning experiment?

    • Rats are often used because they are cheaper and more practical to house and breed, which reduces costs and welfare concerns
    • Rats are used because the law forbids the use of primates in any psychology research at any time under any circumstances
    • Rats are used because they always show more human-like social learning than primates, which is the main reason for their use
    • Rats are used because they can give informed consent, which primates are unable to do in any experimental setting at all

  8. Which statement about the Home Office regulations relevant to animal research is most accurate?

    • They set the standards for the publication of research in psychology journals, including the format of every results section
    • They set the rules for the teaching of psychology in secondary schools, including the subjects taught at each stage
    • They set the legal standards for the care, housing and use of animals in research in the United Kingdom
    • They set the rules for the payment of human participants in university studies, including the amount of compensation

  9. Which evaluation point about animal research is most accurate?

    • It is always valid, since animal behaviour is identical to human behaviour in every psychological context studied so far
    • It allows controlled experiments that cannot ethically be run with humans, but its costs must be weighed
    • It is always unethical, so no animal research should ever be carried out in any psychology study under any conditions
    • It is always ethical, since animals are not capable of suffering in any way, so no ethical weighing is ever needed

  10. A researcher uses a computer simulation of rat behaviour instead of live rats. Which principle does this best illustrate?

    • Replacement, since the simulation substitutes for live animals in the research where this is possible
    • Deception, since the simulation pretends to be a real rat so that the researcher can hide the procedures from the animals
    • Refinement, since the simulation causes more pain to the rats than a live experiment would produce in the same setting
    • Reduction, since the simulation uses more animals than live rats would in the same study for statistical power

  11. A researcher reduces the number of rats in a study from 40 to 20 while keeping the findings valid. Which principle is applied?

    • Reduction, since the number of animals used has been decreased while still giving valid and reliable results
    • Refinement, since the rats have been given a better environment that reduces their stress during the experimental procedures
    • Replacement, since the rats have been swapped for another species that gives the same results in the study at lower cost
    • Deception, since the rats have been told that the study has more participants than it actually does during the procedures

  12. Which of these is a potential benefit of animal research that must be weighed against its costs?

    • It can show the animal's legal rights, which are fully recognised by courts in every country in the world today
    • It can show causal relationships in controlled conditions, such as the effect of a drug on learning in a laboratory setting
    • It can show the feelings of the animal in a complete and verbal way, which is the main benefit of animal research overall
    • It can show the animal's own opinion about the research, which allows the researcher to skip ethical approval in every case

  13. Which statement describes the scientific status of animal research in psychology?

    • It contributes to the scientific method through controlled, replicable experiments, though its findings need careful interpretation
    • It is part of the scientific method only if the animals are allowed to choose the outcome of each experiment themselves
    • It is scientific only if it uses humans, so animal experiments cannot contribute to knowledge in any form at any point
    • It is outside the scientific method, since it relies on subjective observation of animals and cannot be replicated at any time

  14. Why are the results of animal research in psychology often compared with human research?

    • To check whether animals can be trained to speak, which is the main research question of every animal study ever conducted
    • To check whether animals can be classified by their gender, which is required by law before any study can be published
    • To check whether animals have the same unconscious drives as humans, which Freud proved in his early studies of animals
    • To check whether the findings from animals apply to humans, which tests the generalisability of the animal evidence

  15. A researcher says animal research is always justified because it helps humans. Which is the best evaluation of this claim?

    • The claim ignores the costs to animals and the limits on generalisation, so justification must weigh benefits against costs
    • The claim is incorrect, because humans never benefit from animal research in any way, so it is always entirely a waste
    • The claim is correct, because any research that helps humans is automatically ethical, with no need to consider animal welfare
    • The claim is irrelevant, because animals are not part of the human species and so cannot be affected by any research at all

  16. Which ethical principle would require a researcher to stop an animal procedure early if the animal shows severe distress?

    • Replacement, which requires the researcher to replace the animal with a human participant once distress is observed
    • Deception, which requires the researcher to hide the distress of the animal from the other members of the research team
    • Refinement and welfare, which require the researcher to minimise suffering and to end a procedure that causes severe distress
    • Reduction, which requires the researcher to continue the procedure until the planned number of trials has been completed

  17. Which of the following is a limitation of animal research specifically for learning theories?

    • Learning in animals always matches human learning in every detail, so no limitation applies to learning theory at all
    • Learning in animals can be studied only by asking the animals to describe their feelings after each learning trial
    • Learning in animals is never measured, which means that animal research has no relevance to learning theories of any kind
    • Learning in animals may not reflect the full range of human learning, especially social and cognitive learning in people

  18. A critic says that animal experiments on learning are unnecessary, since humans can be studied instead. Which response is best?

    • Animal experiments are necessary in every case, since human experiments are always unethical and can never be carried out
    • Some procedures cannot ethically be carried out with humans, so animal work can still offer controlled evidence where needed
    • Animal experiments are necessary only for research on the id, since learning theories never use any data from animals at all
    • Animal experiments are fully unnecessary in every case, since no procedure has ever been impossible to carry out with humans

  19. Why might a learning study with rats be described as having high internal validity?

    • Because rats are measured by self-report, so the results are free of any measurement error in the procedure used
    • Because rats cannot be affected by any variable, so every result is automatically valid across all studies conducted
    • Because the researcher can control the environment and the reinforcement schedule, so extraneous variables are reduced
    • Because rats always behave exactly like humans in any maze, so the findings transfer directly without any further checks

  20. Which statement about animal welfare in research is most accurate?

    • Animal welfare is the responsibility only of the animal's owner, so researchers have no duty to the animal in the lab
    • Animal welfare matters only when the research produces a publishable result, not during the procedures themselves
    • Animal welfare is irrelevant, since animals are classified as objects in all research regulations in every country
    • Researchers have a duty to house, feed and treat animals in ways that minimise harm throughout the study

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