The ethological explanation of aggression

Question 1

What is ethology?

Answer 1

The study of animal behaviour in natural settings

Question 2

Who is the founder of ethology?

Answer 2

Konrad Lorenz (1966)

Question 3

How did Lorenz define aggression?

Answer 3

The fighting instinct in beast and man which is directed against members of the same species

Question 4

What does Lorenz’s definition of aggression reveal?

Answer 4

1. Aggression is an instinct. It occurs in all members of a species without the need for learning. It is innate and mostly genetically determined
2. Ethologists study aggression in non-human animals and extrapolate the findings to humans because we are all subject to the same forces of natural evolution (Darwin 1859)

Question 5

What is the ethological explanation?

Answer 5

An explanation that seeks to understand the innate behaviour of animals (including humans) by studying them in their natural environment

Question 6

Define the innate releasing mechanism (IRM)

Answer 6

A biological structure or process (e.g. in the brain) that is activated by an external stimulus that in turn triggers a fixed action pattern

Question 7

Define fixed action pattern

Answer 7

A sequence of stereotyped pre-programmed behaviours triggered by an innate releasing mechanism