Ethological Explanation Of Agg Flashcards
Define ethology
Who is founder?
Studying animal behaviour in natural settings
Lorenz
2 elements of ethnological approach
- Agg is an instinct - occurs without learning (natural)
- Ethologists study agg in animals + extrapolate findings to human
Definitely extrapolate
Generalise
What does the ethnological ex suggest?
The man function of agg is that is adaptive
Why would agg be beneficial for survival?
Look more fearful
Protects where they live (defeated animals aren’t killed, they go to look for a different area
Members of species spread out over wider area + have to discover recourses in a different places = reduces comp pressure +possibillity of starvation
Adaptive functions of agg
-to establish dominance hierarchies (male chimpanzees use agg to climb to troops social hierarchy)
-dominance gives them special status
Gregory petit et al study
Studied groups of young vids
Observed how agg played an important role in development of dominance hierarchies
-adaptive cause dominance over others - brings benefits such as access to resources (food + mates)
define ritualistic agg
-series of behaviours carried out in a set order
-lorenz observed that fights between animals of the same species produced physical damage.
-rit agg is a warning without any actual aggression taking place
lorenz ideas (intra)
-lorenz pointed out that intra-species agg confrontations end with ritual appeasement displays
-these indicate acceptance of defeat + inhibit further agg behaviour in the victor preventing damage to loser
-e.g at the end neck will expose its neck = submissive appeasement gesture making itself seem vulnerable bite to jugular vein
define innate releasing mechanisms (IRM)
environmental stim such as certain facial expression triggers the IRM which then releases a specific sequence of behaviours
-the sequence is called FAP (fixed action patterns)
define fixed action patterns
-sequences of innate behaviour that often performed in a seemingly fixed + stereotypical manner of all members of a species
-triggered by environmental cue
what are the 6 analyzed FAP’s by lea?
-stereotyped (behaviour follows a certain pattern each time)
-Unaffected (by learning, the same for every individual regardless of experience)
-Universal (all the animals in that species use the same type of threat
-Innate (all the animals in that species seem to be born with it + don’t have to learn it)
-Ballistic ( Once it starts, it cannot be simply stopped)
-Specific (triggers seem to set it off
describe Tinbergen’s research
-male stick backs (fish) r highly territorial + develop red spot on underbelly during spring mating season
-if another male enters territory - sequence of highly stereotyped agg behaviour is initiated (FAPs)
-red spot = sign stim triggers innate releasing mechanism
what were the findings of Tinbergen’s research?
-stick back displayed agg behaviour + attacked wooden shape fish with red spot
-wasn’t agg to wooden fish without red spot
lim of eth ex
FAPs r not fixed
-Lorenz orig view of FAPs is outdated
-saw faps as innate + unchanging
-hunt pointed out that faps greatly influenced environmental + learning experiences
-An aggressive FAP is typically made up of several behaviours in a series
-duration of each behaviour varies from one individual to another
-so patterns of agg behaviour r more flexible than Lorenz thought
