Lecture 14 Flashcards
Define aggression
Any behaviour related to attack, threat or defence.
The appetite model states that aggression is the result of a build up of internal, action-specific energy.
However, the aversion model states that aggression is caused by frustration from competition for limited resources. This is the cost of animals living in groups.
Discuss what dominance is and its purpose
Dominance results in a social hierarchy which then increases competition. For someone to be dominant over another individual, there needs to be repeated agnostic interactions resulting in a constant outcome that is in favour of one individual. It is important to note that dominance is relative to dyads and is not an overall property of the individual.
Dominance might have evolved as a strategy for conflict management as it would reduce the amount of aggression and the probability of violence escalating.
Discuss signals of benign intent
Primates have signals to show that they are not looking for confrontation, which facilitates affiliative behaviour. It is a clear way to clarify an animals intent. For example, animals have greeting ceremonies or they silently bare their teeth.
What are the formal indicators of dominance/subordination
Silently baring teeth can be an indicator of benign intent, but it also is an indicator of who is dominant within a dyad. The subordinates bare their teeth to show that they do not want trouble.
The dominant primate in a dyad also has the tendency to mock-bite. This agnostic interaction shows their dominance over the subordinate.
When the power balance is asymmetrical, then there is a high predictability of agnostic interactions. However, when the power is symetrical then the behaviour is dependent on context.
In order to maintain the benefits of group living, post-conflict interactions need to occur. What are the 4 types of post-conflict interaction?
How would you research this?
Reconciliation Redirection Consolation Third party intervention You have to make sure that what you're observing is related to the conflict. Therefore, you need to compare it to a matched control sample.
Discuss reconciliation in non-human primates
Macaques are significantly more affiliative to each other after a conflict compared to the control sample. This occurred within the first 2 minutes post-conflict.
The likelihood of this reconciliation behaviour occurring depends on the proximity between the 2 primates, the closeness of their relationship pre-conflict and the relatedness of the 2 individuals.
There are 2 views about the function of reconciliation. The mainstream view argues that it resolves conflict and repairs relationships. However, an alternative view suggest that it is simply to indicate that the conflict is over and intentions are now benign.
Discuss redirected aggression in non-human primates
This is when an individual attacks a third party after being the target of aggression. This has been shown to reduce the stress caused from losing the original conflict. However, it could increase social instability. Furthermore, it has been found that macaques don’t attack a random third party. They are more likely to attack the aggressor’s kin. This could be to deter the original attacker from attacking again at a later date. Additionally, another species of macaque tend to attack younger members or lower ranking members. This could be as a way to show that they still have some dominance.
Discuss consolation in non-human primates
This is when the target has affiliative behaviour with a third party after conflict. Some argue that this is a sign of empathy but the empirical support for this is weak. This happens when there is not any reconciliation between the aggressors but does not happen when there is reconciliation. However, the same behaviours are used for both interactions; kissing, embracing etc. It is hypothesised that consolation happens in order to alleviate one’s stress, repair relationships and reduce the risk of aggression towards the consoler (redirecting their aggression to someone else). Research has found that it occurs between primates who are friends, so the alleviating stress hypothesis seems most probable. Consolation mainly occurs in apes and occurs significantly less in monkeys.
Discuss third party interventions in non-human primates
This is when a third party intervenes to end a conflict. The intervention can either be friendly or aggressive but they always choose a side. This asserts their dominance and ends the aggression whilst creating an alliance. When the conflict involves physical violence, then an intervention is more likely to occur and friendly interventions are more successful at ending the conflict. The individuals that intervene usually do it in favour of their kin, in order to protect their family, this usually occurs with aggressive interactions. When the intervention is friendly, the individual that intervenes always outranks those that are fighting. They use their high social status to end the fight, with minimal risk of the fighters fighting back.
Discuss Harlow’s study
Harlow did a famous experiment to explore attachment in monkeys. It was found that those raised without a mother had attachment issues and had misguided aggression towards others. This shows further that aggression might not be fully down to genetics and can develop through one’s lifetime.
Discuss Cheney’s study
They found evidence for reconciliation in baboons. The experimenters played potentially threatening screams from an insubordinate that had recently attacked the subordinate. It was found that the subordinate responded less strongly when the dominant partner had reconciled post-conflict earlier on via grunting. This was compared to baboons that had not interacted at all and similar behaviours were found in the reconciled group. This suggests that the grunts restored the previously damaged dyadic bond, perhaps to reduce ongoing conflict.
Discuss Aureli’s study
They found evidence for redirection and discussed how it only occurs within one minute of the agnostic interactions. Furthermore, redirection and reconciliation are interdependent; reconciliation occurred after redirection but redirection did not occur and reconciliation. This shows that reconciliation is regarded as the most important post-conflict behaviour, perhaps because it is a form of conflict management and reduces the amount of conflict occurring and conflict in future interactions.
Discuss Palagi’s study
They found that the consolation behaviours found in humans were found in a species of macaque. Furthermore, consolation was found to reduce behaviours associated with anxiety such as scratching. Thus, suggesting that it is an empathetic response used to help reduce the anxiety found from the macaque that had been hurt. Although, it is tricky to confirm this as this is an extremely anthropomorphic conclusion as the consolation might be carried out to reduce the likelihood of being attacked by this individual in the future, and thus, showing how it is a selfish behaviour potentially.
Discuss Rowell’s study
They found that defending the group or taking a leadership role was not correlated to the rank of the individual in the social hierarchy. However, policing was associated with higher ranking individuals. This could be because defending the group may protect their kin and thus, they will perform this behaviour so that their genes can be passed on. However, in regards to policing, there is no benefit to intervene other than promoting the cohesion of the group, which concerns higher ranking members more as they benefit from maintaining a social hierarchy.
