Discuss the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Use of Animals for psychological Research.

A main weakness of animal studies is that animals have a different physiology to humans. This means that any studies on animals cannot be accurately related to humans, making them invalid. For example, humans do not express immediate imprinting on the first person they see, unlike animals such as ducks and dogs. Therefore, any attempts to relate inferences made about imprinting are futile.Another weakness of animal studies is that they are often incredibly unethical. This is especially present with Harlow's studies on baby Rhesus Monkeys. Harlow enforced imprinting of these monkeys on objects such as wire monkeys and toys, to test whether or not imprinting was related to food or comfort. This is incredibly unethical methodology, as the monkeys were attaching onto inaminate objects, who would never care for the monkeys. However, when separating the monkey from the imprinted object, the monkey would then experience serious distress and emotional harm. Therefore, animal studies, like Harlow's, are incredibly unethical and are not good practice for investigating behaviours.