Ethological Explanations of Aggression

Question 1

Describe the belief ethologists have about aggression.

Answer 1

Ethologists believe that while the potential for aggression may be innate, actual aggression may be triggered by environmental stimuli.

Question 2

What are the environmental stimuli that trigger aggression called?

Answer 2

Releasers

Question 3

Why do we have releasers?

Answer 3

To increase chances of survival

Question 4

Explain what dominance hierarchies are.

Answer 4

Hierarchies within groups of animals showing status/strength

Question 5

What is ritualistic aggression?

Answer 5

Where aggression behaviours are carries out in the same order every time.

Question 6

What is an appeasement display?

Answer 6

One animal submits at the end of a fight by showing an area of them that is vulnerable, allowing the more dominant organism to have the resources.

Question 7

What are the advantages of an appeasement display suggested by Lorenz?

Answer 7

Prevents animals from being killed in fights, the losing animal admits defeat and just finds resources elsewhere.

Question 8

What is a fixed action pattern?

Answer 8

Innate behaviours that occur in certain conditions.

Question 9

What are fixed action patterns caused by?

Answer 9

Innate releasing mechanisms

Question 10

What are fixed action patterns triggered by?

Answer 10

Specific sign stimuli

Question 11

Give 6 characteristics of fixed action patterns.

Answer 11

Unchanging
Universal
Unaffected by learning
Ballistic
Specific
Response

Question 12

Describe the procedure of tinbergens stickleback research.

Answer 12

Placed a male stickleback in a fish tank. Then placed a plastic fish into the fishtank which the fish showed no response to. He then placed another plastic fish into the tank with a red painted underbelly,

Question 13

How did the fish respond to the shapes with the red underbelly in Tinbergens research?
What do these findings tell us about the sign stimulus?

Answer 13

Real fish became violent. Violence ended when the shape was removed.
It did not depend on the shape of the fish as the stickleback still attacked a square shaped ‘fish’ wish a red underbelly. This tells us the sign stimulus for sticklebacks is the red underbelly.

Question 14

Explain the strength of ritualistic aggression being beneficial.
Ritualistic aggression is useful in humans to prevent which type of aggression?
Give example of aggressive displays shown by the Yanomamo people when settling conflicts.
How do eskimos settle disputes?
How does this protect human life?

Answer 14

Anthropological evidence suggests that ritualized aggression was also useful in humans to prevent physical aggression. The Yanomamo of South America use chest pounding and club fighting to settle conflicts. Additional research for Hoebel found that eskimos use song duels to settle grudges and disputes. This prevents death of humans even in aggressive cultures and therefore encourages them to find resources elsewhere.

Question 15

Explain the strength that the FAP explanation can be extended to humans.
What role did Petit find aggression to have in play between young children?
Why is dominance an adaptive trait in children?
Give example of other FAPs humans display - are FAPs even useful for humans in modern times?
Why dont humans respond to specific sign stimuli?
Therefore, what cant we assume about FAPs on the other hand?

Answer 15

Pettit suggests that this explanation can be extended to humans. He studied young children at play and found that aggression played an important role in dominance. He theorized that dominance would be an adaptive trait because it alled greater access to resources and power. Another researcher suggested we have FAPs like smiling and eyebrow flashes but believes that FAPs such as aggression are not adaptive in modern times. Human behaviour is far more varied and less predictable than non-human species, so we don’t respond in the same way to specific sign stimuli. This means that it may not be appropriate to assume that human FAPs work in the same way.

Question 16

Explain the limitation that aggression isn’t always ritualistic that the theory cannot explain.
Ethologists say that killing should only happen by…
Which 2 types of animals kill more systematically?
Why do lions kill other males cubs?
Who are chimpanzees most likely to kill?
What does this cast doubt over?

Answer 16

If instinctive inhibitions prevent the killing of own species according to ethologists, then it should only happen due to accident. However, male animals such as lions and chimpanzees kill more systematically. Lions, for example, kill the cubs of other males so they can breed with the female and raise their own offspring, while chimpanzees are more likely to kill other members of the group. This casts doubt on the claim that aggression is ritualistic, as it may be real instead.