Discuss how animal research may provide insight into human behaviour.

Refer to the paper 1 section B assessment criteria when awarding marks. These can be found under the “Your tests” tab > supplemental materials.

The command term “discuss” requires candidates to offer a considered review of the contribution of animal research in the understanding of human behaviour.

Responses may highlight that animal research has been a major contributor to our understanding of many aspects of human behaviour such as:

• basic learning processes, intelligence and memory
• motivational systems such as hunger, thirst and reproduction
• sensory processes of vision, taste, hearing, and pain perception
• fear, anxiety and stress
• strategies for prevention and treatment of mental health disorders
• drug abuse and dependence
• process of recovery after neural damage.

Research relevant to answering this question may include, but is not limited to:

• Harlow's studies (1958, 1971, 1975) on attachment
• Selye (1956, 1976), Brady's "Executive Monkey" (1959), Weiss's (1972) studies on stress
• Gardner and Gardner (1969), Patterson (1978), Savage-Rumbaugh's (1988) studies on language
• Held and Hein's "Kitten Carousel" (1963), Blakemore and Cooper's (1970) studies on perception
• Seligman's work (1970) on preparedness of phobias and his work (1973) on helplessness in depression
• Russon and Galdikas (1979), Gallup (1970), Savage-Rumbaugh and Lewin (1994), Foote and Crystal's (2007) studies on intelligence
• Rosenzweig, Bennet and Diamond's (1972) study on the effect of environmental stimulation on brain plasticity
• Meany's (1988) study on the role of glucocorticoids (stress hormones) in memory.
• Rogers and Kesner's (2003) study on the role of acetylcholine in the formation of spatial memory
• Sapoloky's case study on the role of cortisol on cardiovascular health.

Discussion may include, but is not limited to:

• factors that make animal research essential for the study of human behaviour
• conditions under which extrapolations may be warranted
• ethical considerations in animal research
• limits to the adequacy of animal models for social and cultural phenomena
• practical applications of animal findings. 

Many candidates simply described research using animals and then evaluated it without any explicit consideration of how it provided insight into human behaviour or simply presented examples of animal research without any explicit link to the demands of the question. These generic responses indicate that several candidates may not have been adequately prepared for the HL extension or were unable to use potentially relevant studies to good effect in light of the demands of the question. Studies of brain plasticity were used in many responses but with no explicit reference to human behaviour or were just evaluated and discussed in terms of the ethical considerations of the study so the question was not directly addressed. Critical thinking was often limited and focused on the studies rather than on how the studies could be used to demonstrate insight into human behaviour. Some candidates did include some relevant human research with the intention of using it to show insight into human behaviour but the study often ended up simply being a second study with very limited effective use in terms of the demands of the question.

Stronger responses to this question were in the minority but used examples of relevant animal studies very effectively to link to human behaviour and also demonstrated well developed critical thinking and relevant arguments beyond shallow coverage of methodological and ethical considerations.