Ethological explanations

• Ethological explanation suggests aggression is an adaptive instinct which aids survival:

  • To ensure only the strongest and fittest males pass on their genes
  • To disperse members of a species more widely so territorial resources are exhausted less quickly
  • To help maintain hierarchies in socially organised animals
• Believes that animals are born with an innate releasing mechanism which is a built in structure in the brain when triggered by a sign stimuli (environmental trigger) causes a series of fixed action patterns to occur.
• Fixed action patterns are a sequence of stereotyped pre-programmed behaviours triggered by an innate releasing mechanism.

  Examples are exposing teeth or claws, facial expression of threat and making yourself look bigger.
• Fixed action patterns are known as ritualistic signalings and are designed to deter another male from entering an animals territory.
• Lorenz believed these behaviours re not designed to entice actual pysical fights as that would not be adaptive and in fact animals rarely engage in fighting as they do not want to kill another animal.
• Animals will show appeasment displays whereby they signal to the other animals that they surrender
• Ritualistic signals occur for a certain amount of time as fixed action patterns only have a certain amount of action-specific energy dedicated to them and after the aggressive action has been completed there will be a reduction in aggressive behaviour as energy resources will be used up.