Editing Psychology (section)

=== Ethics with other animals ===
Research on other animals is governed by university ethics committees. Research on nonhuman animals cannot proceed without permission of the ethics committee, of the researcher's home institution. Ethical guidelines state that using non-human animals for scientific purposes is only acceptable when the harm (physical or psychological) done to animals is outweighed by the benefits of the research.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Sherwin | first1 = C.M. | last2 = Christionsen | first2 = S.B. | last3 = Duncan | first3 = I.J. | last4 = Erhard | first4 = H.W. | last5 = Lay Jr. | first5 = D.C. | last6 = Mench | first6 = J.A. | last7 = O'Connor | first7 = C.E. | last8 = Petherick | first8 = J.C. | year = 2003 | title = Guidelines for the Ethical use of animals in the applied ethology studies | journal = Applied Animal Behaviour Science | volume = 81 | issue = 3| pages = 291–305 | doi=10.1016/s0168-1591(02)00288-5}}</ref> Psychologists can use certain research techniques on animals that could not be used on humans.

Comparative psychologist [[Harry Harlow]] drew moral condemnation for [[pit of despair|isolation experiments]] on rhesus macaque monkeys at the [[University of Wisconsin–Madison]] in the 1970s.<ref>Blum 1994, p. 95, Blum 2002, pp. 218–219. Blum 1994, p. 95: "...&nbsp;the most controversial experiment to come out of the Wisconsin laboratory, a device that Harlow insisted on calling the 'pit of despair.{{'"}}</ref> The aim of the research was to produce an animal model of [[clinical depression]]. Harlow also devised what he called a "rape rack", to which the female isolates were tied in normal monkey mating posture.{{r|Blum 2002|pp=|q=}} In 1974, American literary critic [[Wayne C. Booth]] wrote that, "Harry Harlow and his colleagues go on torturing their nonhuman primates decade after decade, invariably proving what we all knew in advance—that social creatures can be destroyed by destroying their social ties." He writes that Harlow made no mention of the criticism of the morality of his work.<ref>Booth, Wayne C. ''Modern Dogma and the Rhetoric of Assent'', Volume 5, of University of Notre Dame, Ward-Phillips lectures in English language and literature, University of Chicago Press, 1974, p. 114. Booth is explicitly discussing this experiment. His next sentence is, "His most recent outrage consists of placing monkeys in 'solitary' for twenty days—what he calls a 'vertical chamber apparatus .... designed on an intuitive basis' to produce 'a state of helplessness and hopelessness, sunken in a well of despair.{{'"}}</ref>

Animal research is influential in psychology, while still being debated among academics. The testing of animals for research has led to medical breakthroughs in human medicine. Many psychologists argue animal experimentation is essential for human advancement, but must be regulated by the government to ensure ethicality.