ethological explanations of aggression

Question 1

what is the aim of an ethological explanation?

Answer 1

• to understand the innate behaviour of animals by studying them in their natural environment
• tries to account for behaviour in terms of its adaptive value to the specific series

Question 2

how can aggression be adaptive?

Answer 2

• aggression is believed to be innate, so it’s argued it must be beneficial to the organism
• it can aid survival, as it can protect resources like land and food. it can also establish dominance hierarchies which are vital to allow access to resources

Question 3

ritualistic aggression

Answer 3

• lorenz (1966) said aggression in animals is often ritualistic, which is more adaptive than direct aggression
• ritualistic aggression deters an opponent without causing physical harm (if they sustained an injury this could impair their ability to reproduce or could kill them)

Question 4

what is aggression the result of?

Answer 4

• it is the result of an evolved automatic biological response in the brain
• believed that animals have a built-in neural structure which, when exposed to specific stimuli like facial expressions, causes the release of an automatic behavioural response

Question 5

innate releasing mechanism

Answer 5

the inbuilt biological structures or processes, e.g. a network of neurons

Question 6

fixed action pattern

Answer 6

the consequential aggressive behavioural sequence initiated by a specific stimulus (signs of releasers)

Question 7

innate releasing mechanisms and fixed action patterns example

Answer 7

when a dog sees a cat run from them they have an instinctive reaction to chase them. when the cat is still the innate releasing mechanism isn’t activated. but when the cat runs the IRM is activated and the chasing behaviour of the dog is the fixed action pattern. the dogs desire to chase is automatic and innate

Question 8

give a strength of ethological explanations
1/1

Answer 8

tinbergen (1951) studied male sticklebacks who are highly territorial and aggressive, during their mating season they develop a red spot on their underside. it was observed that during this time they would attack others who entered their territory. they theorised that the red spot acted as an innate releasing mechanism, and when they saw another male stickleback with this they would initiate the aggression which is the fixed action pattern. he tested this by presenting male sticklebacks with a wooden model. if the model had a red spot, it attacked, but without the spot it would not react.

Question 9

give a limitation of ethological explanations
1/3

Answer 9

this explanation assumes that behaviour is innate, so should be the same cross-culturally. however, nisbett (1996) found in a lab experiment that when white south american men were insulted they were more likely to respond aggressively than white north american men. demonstrates cultural differences that would be hard for the theological explanation to account for due to the high variation in aggressive responses

Question 10

give a limitation of ethological explanations
2/3

Answer 10

evidence suggests that aggression isn’t always ritualistic. goodall (2010) studied chimpanzees for over 50 years, observing groups who waged a brutal war against neighbouring groups, killing all their members. this aggression however is hard to describe from an ethological perspective, as the risk of injury to the attacking groups isn’t an adaptive behaviour

Question 11

give a limitation of ethological explanations
3/3

Answer 11

not all fixed action patterns are fixed, and some evidence suggests that learning and environmental factors may create variation within a species. it therefore may be more appropriate to discuss modal action patterns, which are instinctual behaviours such as the desire to chase in dogs (the prey drive), that differ individually within the species. these differences may be the result of training, or due to species differentiation from selective breeding