week 7

Question 1

_______ in societies are often built around dominance

hierarchies

Answer 1

Aggressive behaviors

Question 2

__________ exhibit aggressive behaviors

Answer 2

Both males and female

Question 3

There are different categories of aggression

Answer 3

Predatory, intermale, territorial, predatory attack, etc.

Question 4

______________ organization of social dominance that creates stability

Answer 4

Pecking order:

Question 5

___________can be subordinate to one individual and dominant to another at same time

Answer 5

transitive system

Question 6

In chickens:

Answer 6

each bird pecks another lower in the scale without fear of retaliation and submits to pecking by one of higher rank

Question 7

The more organized the pecking order,___________
■ More weight gain, more eggs produced, less fighting, etc.
■ Create instability if introduce a new chicken, but stability is achieved quickly with pecking order
behavior

Answer 7

the more stable and healthier the flock

Question 8

Most organisms can be organized around ________________
○ Creates a stable social environment
○ Individuals learn their position in the hierarchy

Answer 8

dominance hierarchies

Question 9

Dominant males ________ their dominance

Answer 9

signal

Question 10

How do dominant male signal their dominance?

Answer 10

• Threat displays - hamadryas baboon
  ○ Vibrant face markings - mandrill baboons
  ○ Large antlers - red deer

Question 11

___________can participate in activating (1) signals of status and (2)
aggressive behaviors in males

Answer 11

Testosterone

Question 12

what are the two types of pecking orders

Answer 12

• transitive

- cyclic

Question 13

Aggression as a behavior can experience both

Answer 13

organization and activational effects

Question 14

○ ______________ → probable masculinization of aggressive circuits in brain

Answer 14

Organizational rise of testosterone (fetal testosterone rise)

Question 15

_____________ → aggressive and male

behaviors are activated

Answer 15

○ Activational rise of testosterone (puberty)

Question 16

● Proof of organizational effects: juvenile rhesus monkeys

Answer 16

○ Rough and tumble + pursuit play are ultimately used in aggressive
contexts later in life
■ Males show more rough and tumble + pursuit play
■ Pseudohermaphrodites (females treated with T developmentally)
also showed more male-like play behaviors

Question 17

________ play a role organizationally on development of behaviors used in aggressive interactions

Answer 17

○ Androgens

Question 18

Increase in T reflects increases in

______________

Answer 18

aggression/dominance displays

Question 19

Occurs during mating season to demonstrate
____________
Includes aggression to fight for these things and establish reproductive success

Answer 19

dominance (over territory/females)

Question 20

_________ are not always associated with

aggressive behavior

Answer 20

● T levels

Question 21

○ Red deer increase in testosterone results in

Answer 21

: T, antler growth, aggressive behavior all

increase during mating season

Question 22

○ Birds: increase in testosterone results in

Answer 22

T, aggressive behaviors increase during mating

season

Question 23

____________ outlines the dynamic relationship between testosterone and aggression in mating contexts. It proposes that testosterone promotes aggression when it would be beneficial for reproduction, such as mate guarding, or strategies designed to prevent the encroachment of intrasexual rivals

Answer 23

The challenge hypothesis

Question 24

Constitutive levels of T are low

Answer 24

○ No/little aggression

○ No reproductive behavior

Question 25

● Regulated, periodic levels of T:

Answer 25

make
sperm and male phenotype/behaviors
○ Sertoli cells influenced by T and FSH from brain to
make sperm
○ Behavior includes aggression and motivation to
copulate

Question 26

● Regulated, facultative levels of T:

Answer 26

“extreme”
male behavior
○ Defend/establish territory (fighting, songbird
singing)
○ Social systems are unstable, but needed to create
What region are T levels in outside of this mating “cycle”? the stable environment

Question 27

What are the three periods in the challenge hypothesis

Answer 27

• constitutive levels of T
• regulated periodic levels of Testosterone
• regulagted facultative levels of T

Question 28

In song birds, addition of a male into an enviroment

Answer 28

results in testosterone and Lh changes indicating there is a change in stability

Question 29

testosterone after a ________ results in further success. This pattern is not seen in women

Answer 29

win

Question 30

levels of testosterone are important because

Answer 30

low testosterone inhibits reproductive success

high testosterone suppresses immune function and survival

Question 31

There is a variation in the amount of testosterone men have. But the only significant difference was between

Answer 31

NFL football player and minister

Question 32

Song birds:

Extreme levels of T seasonally during mating season

Answer 32

● Rapid increase in T: intruder in one’s territory
● T promotes winning and creates memory of winning
● Adaptivity of T levels

Question 33

○ Highest individual fitness when

Answer 33

T becomes elevated only when needed

Question 34

Aggression is involved in social network of brain in __________________

Answer 34

hypothalamus

○ Receive sensory input that affects social behavior (affiliative and aggressive)

Question 35

● Stimulated _______________________

→ fighting immediately

Answer 35

ventromedial hypothalamic areas expressing estrogen receptors

Question 36

● Stimulated _____________ → fighting and copulation

○ Overlap between fighting and mating

Answer 36

ventromedial hypothalamus

Question 37

The challenge hypothesis explains fluctuations in ___________ as a function of reproductive fitness

Answer 37

testosterone

Question 38

Disruptions in social stability are largely caused and solved by ________________

Answer 38

androgen

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