The Ethological Explanation Of Aggression Flashcards
Why is aggression adaptive and beneficial to survival
- To reduce competition
2. Establish dominance
Explain reducing competition
A defeated animal is really killed but instead forced into territory elsewhere, reducing competition pressure
Explain establishing dominance
Hierarchies - e.g. A male chimpanzees dominance gives him special status, including mating rights over females
What did pettit et al observe
How aggression in playgroups played an important role and how some children became dominant over others - this is adaptive because dominance over other brings benefits
What did Lorenz observe
Most intractable-species aggression consisted mainly of ritualistic signalling and rarely became physical
What does intra-species aggression usually end with
An appeasement display - indicates acceptance of defeat and inhibits aggression in the winner preventing damage to the loser
Why is admitting defeat seen as adaptive
Because it means there is no death and doesn’t threaten the existence of a species
What does IRM mean
An innate releasing mechanism
What is an IRM
A built in physiological process or structure that acts as a filter to identify threatening stimuli in the environment
What activates the IRM
And environmental stimulus triggers a fixed action pattern
What does FAP mean
Fixed action pattern
What is an FAP
Pattern of behaviour is triggered by an IRM
What are FAP’s said to be
A relatively unchanging behavioural sequence found in every individual of the species and follows an inevitable course which cannot be altered before it is completed
What did Tinbergen study?
Male stickleback and aggression
What was Tinbergen’s procedure
Another male entering a stickleback’s territory in the mating season initiates a sequence of aggressive behaviours (an FAP)
What acts as as a stimulus for male sticklebacks to be aggressive
The red of others underbelly
What did Tinbergen present the sticklebacks with
A series of wooden models of different shapes
What did Tinbergen find
If the model had a red underside the stickleback would aggressively display and attack it - but no read meant no aggression
What else did Tinbergen find
The aggressive FAP did not change from one encounter to another - once is triggered it always run its course to completion without any further stimulus
Name a strength of ethnological explanations
Supporting research evidence - shows the low-activity variant of the MAOA gene is closely associated with aggressive behaviour in humans, suggesting an innate basis - validity supported by evidence
