Totally unfair. We also study pigeons.

It's sad but true - as a young man planning on going into a psychology course, I must wholeheartedly agree that the sample populations taken are abhorrent. But, you forgot dogs! Pavlov's dog is one of the most famous experiments (another interesting one, noted above is the use of pigeons (though, the only notable time I remember them being used is when a man created superstition within a population of pigeons)).

I laughed. I'm a first year psych student, and I go in to do studies for extra grades all the time lol. Also, if you're into animal behaviour, you study monkeys! Though not to the same extent as rats (ie. taking genes out of their brains- but that's more neuroscience anyway). ^.^