The Ethological explination of aggression Flashcards
What is the ethological explination about
It states that all members of the same species have a selection of steryotyped behaviours which occur in specific conditions and do not require learning. These are called fixed action patterns (FAPs). These are produced by a neural mechanism called an innate releasing mechanism and are triggered by a very specific stimulus known as a sign stimulus. This could create innate aggressive actions
What did Tinbergen discover
That male stickleback fish produced a fixed sequence of aggressive behaviours when another male enters it’s territory. The sign stimulus in this case was the sight of the males distinctive red underbelly, as if this was covered up the male would not attack
Who discovered the fixed action pattern in male stickleback fish
Tinbergen
What are the characteristics of Fixed Action Patterns
-Stereotyped, always the same
-Universal, same in all situations
-Independent of individual experience, innate so no learning involved
-Ballistic, once triggered cannot be changed or stopped
-Specific triggers, each FAP has a specific trigger
What is ritualistic aggression
Ethologists have shown that not all aggressive behaviour is fighting and instead aggression is ritualised in the form of threat displays. This allows individuals to assess their relative strength before deciding to escalate conflict. This makes costly and dangerous physical aggression less likely to occur.
How do gorillas display ritualised aggression
Vocalisations and gestures like chest pounding. Intended to make the opponent back down
How have anthropologists found evidence of human ritualistic violence
Gardner and Heider described how the Dani of New Guinea engaged in highly ritualised patterns of intergroup hostility.Fox also found evidence of ritualised ‘fighting’ among males on Gailic speaking Tory island, where threat displays took the place of physical aggression
Who studied the Dani of New Guinea
Gardner and Heider
Who studied Gailics on Tory Island
Fox
How does big daddy Lorenz sneak into this essay
Some animals have weapons like claws wich help them kill. Lorenz claimed that such species must have instinctive inhibitions that prevent them from using these weapons against members of their own species, such as Wolves. Non-hunting species don’t have these weapons, said Lorenz-chan, and so have not developed these inhibitions against hurting their own kind, such as Doves.
What is the implication of instinctive inhibitions
Humans do not naturally have dangerous weapons, and so we have not developed strong inhibitions against killing each other. However technology has made us incredibly good at killing each other
Why has there been criticism of the ‘instinctive’ view of aggression
Lehrman criticised Big Dick Lorenz on his flawless view of aggressive behaviour, claiming that Lorenz had underestimated the role of environmental factors in species type aggressive behaviour patterns (he would never). Environmental facotrs largely the result of learning and experience, interact with innate factors in complicated ways, and ethology nowdays uses behaviour pattern rather than fixed action pattern to reflect that these are not simply innate and can be modified through experinece. As there are subtle differences between members of the same species in aggressive behaviours, they may not be as fixed as Lorenz claimed.
Who claimed that King Lorez ignored environmental factors too much
Lehrman
Why might fixed action patterns not be adaptive for moden times (eval)
Because the environment in which humans exist changes so rapidly, Eibl-Eibesfeldt argues that FAP’s such as aggression are no longer adaptive to modern times. The flexibility of human behaviour and the ability to adapt to ever changing worlds has proved more adaptive than the production of stereotyped patterns of behaviour and so human behaviour must be far more varied and less predictable
Who suggested that humans can’t have FAP’s because they aren’t adaptable
Eibl-Eibesfeldt
Who studied ritualistic violence in south american tribes
Chagnon
Who studied rap battles in inuit eskimos
Hoebel
