The laboratory rat is a well-known concept. Behaviourism, a way of looking at human activity, was developed through laboratory research by Harvard psychologist B F Skinner. What do children know about rodents? What do they think about experiments on animals?
Rodents
What are rodents? Can you give examples (highly successful species, can gnaw their way through most things; their incisors keep growing, and then are worn away; includes rats, mice, squirrels, beavers, porcupines; about 40 per cent of all mammal species)? What do rats do (live near human settlements, scavenge; may spread disease, bubonic plague killed half the population of Europe in 14th century and was spread by rat fleas)? How do people use the word “rat” (pejoratively, to describe a cad, a double-crosser or a sneaky, dishonest, unprincipled person)?
Behaviourism
What is behaviourism (a view of human behaviour developed from laboratory experiments studying animals’ learning from Professor B F Skinner at Harvard University and his followers)? What are the principles (that behaviour can be “conditioned” by “reinforcing” certain acts so they occur more frequently, for example, giving food to a rat when it presses a lever, or to a pigeon when it pecks a ball of a certain colour)? Do the principles apply to humans (we are more complex creatures, but when someone says “good” or “well done”, ask yourself whether you are likely to behave in a similar fashion again; consider gambling and slot machines: random reinforcement - you don’t know when you are going to win - is a powerful conditioner)?
Laboratory experiments
Do you think animals should be used in laboratory experiments (for example, to test medical treatments, to study behaviour, to discover the side effects of smoking, drugs or pollutants)? Do your attitudes to experiments change for different animals (a dog, a cat, a horse, a rat, a mouse, a beetle, a mosquito, a spider), or are they the same for all living creatures? What about plants?
Writing
There is a famous cartoon showing a rat in a laboratory cage saying about a scientist in the background,“Gee, have I got this guy conditioned: every time I press a lever he gives me some food.” (a) Think of a funny caption or speech bubble for the picture; (b) give a name to the rat in the jar and tell the story of what happens when it is first given super powers, and then escapes from the lab.
Ted Wragg is professor of education at Exeter University
TALKING POINTS
Should animals be used for experiments or should the practice be banned?
For
If you were ill, you would be glad of treatments and cures that had been developed on animals. Many experiments are harmless, looking at behaviour under different conditions, not causing pain to animals. When experiments are done they are carried out humanely, in keeping with the law.
Against
It is not necessary to use animals; there are other methods available. Studies of behaviour can be demeaning and humiliating for the animals. Testing the effects of chemicals can be distressing and painful. Animals deserve respect,as many possess qualities valued in humans, such as intelligence, loyalty and care for others.
