FE3

Question 1

Identify Tinbergen’s four levels of analysis

Answer 1

• Proximate
• Ultimate
• Ontogenic
• Phylogenetic

Question 2

Proximate

Answer 2

o The mechanisms behind a trait
• What are the antlers made of? What resources did you put in to make the antlers bigger?

o What biological mechanism is responsible for male response to aggression?
o Testosterone levels increase when encountering a situation where their dominance is being tested or potentially compromised

Question 3

Ultimate

Answer 3

o Evolutionary aspect—adaptive significance
• What adaptive problem did this trait address?

o What challenges do men face that make them more susceptible to acting this way?
o Men have to show that they are able to protect the female and offspring and compete with other males to assert dominance

Question 4

Ontogenic

Answer 4

o Development within an individual life span
• Antlers developed at puberty when ready to reproduce
o Whenever they have to establish their position in society

o At what point does the behavior start to emerge and develop?

Question 5

Phylogenetic

Answer 5

o Evolutionary change—takes place over many generations
• Fossils; how it developed. Opposable thumbs.
• Antlers and how it’s developed over time

o Is this behavior present in hunter-gatherer societies?
o Yes if anthropologists found skeletal remains that indicated male trauma and violence versus female.

Question 6

Each of the four levels of analysis can potentially be linked to other levels. To illustrate this, explain the timing of the appearance of typical human adult male responses to transgression in regard to the postulated adaptive function of this trait.

Answer 6

• To assert your viability as a sexual partner, mechanisms would develop to show that you are more dominant and able to compete for female and win between other males.
o When it starts to develop—peaks when you’re still competing; once you’re married, aggression goes down