PSYCHOLOGY STUDENTS BELIEFS ABOUT ANIMALS AND ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION

This study set out to ascertain the beliefs and knowledge about animal s and animal experimentation of over 200 students all applying to read psychology al University. The subjects completed a modified and exten ded version of the Furnham and Pinder (1990, The Psychologists, 10, 44 4-448) attitude to animals scale. They also indicated their knowledge about the amount and type of experimentation done in Great Britain. Fi nally they indicated what they believed that six groups of animals (ro dents, cats, primates, insects, birds and dogs) were capable of, in te rms of thought (e.g. 'what another animal is thinking'; 'what happened to them yesterday') emotion (e.g. 'happiness'; 'sadness' 'joy') and b ehaviour (e.g. 'unselfishly'; 'dishonourably'). The results were simil ar to those reported by Furnham and Pinder (1990) but subjects' knowle dge of experimentation was poor.