... animal models behavior genetics constructionism elevated plus maze epistemic scaffolds anxiety scientific claims A mouse poked its head around the edge of a plastic wall. Whiskers twitching, it strained its neck around the wall, sniffing and darting its head from one side of the opening...

...Many people assume that the claims of scientists are objective truths. But historians, sociologists, and philosophers of science have long argued that scientific claims reflect the particular historical, cultural, and social context in which those claims were made. The nature of scientific...

...This chapter first sets out the book's purpose, which is to develop an understanding of scientific claims that mediates between the strong objectivism of most scientists, or the hard realism of many philosophers of science, and the constructivism found largely among historians and sociologists...