Attitudes toward animal research among psychology students in Spain

Animal research plays a central role in psychology, and its use, prevalence and quality depends on the attitudes of students who enter psychology in Spain. Attitudes among psychology students about the use of laboratory animals are not known, so the aim of this work was to analyze the attitudes of Spanish psychology students toward animal research. An attitude questionnaire of 15 items was given to 661 undergraduate students of the School of Psychology at the University of Málaga, Spain. Several results were found: (a) 65.7% of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed with animal research. General support for animal research was significantly higher by men than by women. (b) Support for animal research was higher for senior students, suggesting that the psychology curriculum or self-selection to remain in the program might influence students' attitudes. (c) Attitudes toward animal research were similar among students independent of the type of animal being used for research in biological or psychological studies. (d) 58% considered that laboratory animals never or almost never are inappropriately handled. (c) 55.6% indicated that research in psychology on animals could be generalized to humans. Overall, these results suggest that among Spanish psychology students animals research is considered important for the advancement of the science. Likewise, a majority of students displayed positive attitudes toward animal research.