week 8

Question 1

tinbergen’s 4 questions

Answer 1

1. how is it caused?
2. how does it develop?
3. what is its function?
4. what is its origin and how did it evolve

Question 2

Question 1 - how is it caused

Answer 2

motivation:
casual factors:
- external casual factors
- internal casual factors

Question 3

question 2 - how does it develop?

Answer 3

• influences from genotype and environment

Question 4

question 3 - what is its function?

Answer 4

• ultimately, to increase fitness but how?

Question 5

question 4 - how did it evolve and what was its origin?

Answer 5

natural selection?

Question 6

motivational system

Answer 6

a set of functionally related behaviours = behaviours with a common goal

Question 7

external stimuli

Answer 7

sign stimulus -> innate releasing mechanism -> fixed action pattern

Question 8

sign stimuli

Answer 8

• visual releasers
• auditory releasers
• chemical releasers

Question 9

learned stimuli

Answer 9

• preferred foods
• spatial learning
• emotionally charged things and places

Question 10

the id source of 3 energies

Answer 10

• libido
• self-preservation
• death instincts

Question 11

catharsis

Answer 11

the process of releasing, and thereby providing relief from strong or repressed emotions
- anger builds up as an internal energy - aggressive behaviour releases energy

Question 12

Lorenz (1950) psychohydraulic model applied to aggressive behaviour

Answer 12

action specific energy accumulates with time
- likelihood of aggression increases with time since last encounter
- aggression inevitable
Energy dissipated by action
- intensity of aggression declines through encounter
- motivation low at end of fight (catharsis)

Question 13

critique of Lorenz’s psychohydraulic model of aggression

Answer 13

1. aggression does not always increase with time since last encounter
2. once started encounters often escalate, not decline, in intensity
3. no evidence for energy accumulation

Question 14

problems with drive

Answer 14

• drive is a label - to say an individual drinks because it has a thirst drive does not explain anything
• Hull stated that drive energised all responses equally but this is no necessarily so
• ignores feedback from the consequences of behaviour

Question 15

control theory approach

Answer 15

provides a framework for building theories

• derived from engineering
• feedback essential for control of behaviour
• homeostatic system