Ethological Explanation Flashcards
(14 cards)
1
Q
Ethological Explanation
A
- Seeks to understand the innate behaviour of animals by studying them in their natural environments
- Suggests that the main function of aggression is adaptive
2
Q
How is aggression beneficial to survival?
A
- A ‘defeated’ animal is rarely killed, but forced to establish territory elsewhere, meaning that members of a species spread out over a wider area and have to discover resources in a different place, which in turn reduces competition pressure and possibility of starvation
3
Q
Establishing dominance hierarchies
A
- Male chimpanzees use aggression to climb their troop’s social hierarchy, with dominance giving them special status
- This happens in humans too – Pettit et al (1988) studied play groups of young children and observed how aggression played an important role in the development of dominance hierarchies
- This would be adaptive because dominance over others brings benefits such as power to get your own way
4
Q
Lorenz (1966)
A
- Observed that fights between animals of the same species produced little physical damage, with most aggressive encounters consisting of a prolonged period of ritualistic signalling like displaying claws and teeth or facial expressions of threat
5
Q
What did Lorenz also observe?
A
- Intra-species aggressive confrontations end with ritual appeasement displays, which indicate acceptance of defeat and inhibit further aggressive behaviour in the victor, preventing any damage to the loser
- A wolf will expose its neck to the victor, a submissive gesture making itself vulnerable to a single bite to its jugular vein
- This is adaptive because if every aggressive encounter ended with the death of one of the combatants, that could threaten the species’ existence
6
Q
Innate Released Mechanisms (IRM) & Fixed Action Patterns (FAP)
A
- An IRM is an inbuilt physiological process/structure, like a network of neurons in the brain
- Environmental stimuli (like a certain facial expression) trigger the IRM, which ‘releases’ a specific sequence of behaviours – this sequence is called an FAP
7
Q
Main Features Of FAPs (Lea in 1984)
A
- Stereotyped/relatively unchanging sequences of behaviours
- Universal = same behaviour is found across species
- Unaffected by learning, the same for every individual regardless of experience
- ‘Ballistic’ – Once the behaviour is triggered, it follows an inevitable course and cannot be altered
- Single-purpose – Behaviour only occurs in a specific situation and not in any other
- A response to an identifiable sign
8
Q
Sticklebacks
A
- Male sticklebacks are highly territorial during the spring mating season, when they also develop a red spot on their underbelly
- If another male enters their territory, a sequence of highly-stereotyped aggressive behaviours is initiated (FAP) – the sign stimulus (the particular feature of a stimulus) that triggers the innate releasing mechanism is the sight of the red spot
9
Q
Tinbergen (1951)
A
- Presented sticklebacks with a series of wooden models of different shapes
- Regardless of shape, the stickleback would aggressively display and attack the model if it had a red spot; but if there was no red spot, there was no aggression even if the model looked realistically like a stickleback
- Tinbergen also found that these aggressive FAPs were unchanging from one encounter to another – once triggered, the FAP always ran its course to completion without any further stimulus
10
Q
Evaluation - Research related to genetics and evolution
A
- See Brunner et al’s study (1993), twin and adoption studies, Wilson & Daly (1996), etc
- These point towards an innate basis to aggressive behaviour, which suggests that the ethological approach is correct
11
Q
Evaluation - Real-life examples of ritualistic aggression
A
- Gardner and Heider (1968) found evidence to suggest ritualised patterns of intergroup aggression occurred within the Dani tribe in New Guinea
- Fox (1978) found similar evidence of ritualised fighting and threat displays among men of the Gaelic-speaking Tory island off the coast of Ireland
12
Q
Evaluation - Aggressive behaviour differs from one culture to another
A
- Nesbitt (1993) found that one type of homicide (result of reactive aggression – response to threats from someone else) was more common amongst white men in the southern US than in northern states, which he concluded was due to a ‘culture of honour’ in the southern US which is less prevalent in the north (hence why rates of that homicide are lower)
- This kind of aggressive behaviour comes from a learned social norm, which shows how culture can override innate predispositions, which is hard for ethological theory to explain
13
Q
Evaluation - Aggression against members of the same species is not just ritualistic
A
- Goodall (2010) observed a ‘four-year war’ during which male chimps from one community systematically killed all the members of another group (sometimes, a victim would be held down by rival chimps while others hit it in an attack lasting minutes – the violence continued even though the victims offered appeasement signals)
- This challenges the ethological view that same-species aggression has evolved into a self-limiting and relatively harmless ritual
14
Q
Evaluation - Lorenz’s OG view of FAPs is outdated
A
- He saw FAPs as innate and unchanging, but the psychologist Hunt (1973) has pointed out FAPs are actually greatly influenced by environmental factors and learning experiences
- (An aggressive FAP is typically made up of several behaviours in a series – the duration of each behaviour varies from one individual from another, and even in the same individual from one encounter to another)
- Because they are modifiable by experience, many ethologists now prefer the term ‘modal behaviour pattern’, which shows how patterns of aggressive behaviour are much more flexible than Lorenz thought
