Article ID: CBB001420417

Making Organisms Model Human Behavior: Situated Models in North-American Alcohol Research, since 1950 (2014)

unapi

We examine the criteria used to validate the use of nonhuman organisms in North-American alcohol addiction research from the 1950s to the present day. We argue that this field, where the similarities between behaviors in humans and non-humans are particularly difficult to assess, has addressed questions of model validity by transforming the situatedness of non-human organisms into an experimental tool. We demonstrate that model validity does not hinge on the standardization of one type of organism in isolation, as often the case with genetic model organisms. Rather, organisms are viewed as necessarily situated: they cannot be understood as a model for human behavior in isolation from their environmental conditions. Hence the environment itself is standardized as part of the modeling process; and model validity is assessed with reference to the environmental conditions under which organisms are studied.

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Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB001420417/

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Authors & Contributors
Kirk, Robert
Thomas Muller
Brad Bolman
Georg Striedter
Erica O'Neil
Holmes, Tarquin
Concepts
Experimental organisms
Animal experimentation
Standards and standardization
Alcoholism
Alcohol
Laboratory techniques and procedures
Time Periods
20th century
19th century
21st century
20th century, late
18th century
Places
United States
Great Britain
Washington (state, U.S.)
Institutions
International Committee on Laboratory Animals
Hanford Nuclear Site (Washington)
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