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THE ALTERED RATIONALE FOR THE CHOICE OF A STANDARD ANIMAL IN EXPERIMENTAL PSYCHOLOGY: Henry H. Donaldson, Adolf Meyer, and "the" Albino Rat
Ist Teil von
History of psychology, 1999-02, Vol.2 (1), p.3-24
Ort / Verlag
United States: Educational Publishing Foundation
Erscheinungsjahr
1999
Link zum Volltext
Quelle
EBSCOhost APA PsycARTICLES
Beschreibungen/Notizen
The mid-20th-century dominance of albino rats in
nonhuman experimental psychology research often presumed that the
animal embodied fundamental psychological processes that could
generalize to a wide range of vertebrates. The author describes the
conceptual basis for the original choice of white rats by the 2
individuals most responsible for establishing rats as a prominent
animal model in the life sciences at the turn of the century: Henry
H. Donaldson and Adolf Meyer. The author stresses the comparative
rationale that justified their choice and argues that they sought
generality through attention to diversity and species differences.
Their approach contrasts sharply with the later view of the rat as a
generic animal model that could represent similarities shared by all
vertebrates. It is suggested that the change resulted from an
emphasis on standardization produced by the growing
industrialization of the life sciences in America.