Ethological explanations

• What broad area does the ethological explanation of aggression fall under?

  Animal behaviour in natural environments
• According to ethologists, what is the context for studying animal behavior?

  Evolutionary theory
• Why does Lorenz suggest aggression has evolved?

  It is adaptive
• According to Lorenz, what are the adaptive reasons for the evolution of aggression?

  • To ensure only the strongest and fittest males pass on their genes
  • To disperse members of a species more widely
  • To help maintain hierarchies in socially organised animals
• What is the purpose of ritualised aggression in animals?

  To minimise physical damage
• What behaviour do wolves display when submitting to end a fight?

  Exposing their neck
• What is the function of appeasement behavior?

  To prevent further aggression
• Who proposed that members of the same species show innate stereotyped behaviours?

  Niko Tinbergen
• What term did Tinbergen use for innate stereotyped behaviours?

  Fixed action patterns (FAP)
• What triggers a fixed action pattern (FAP)?

  Innate releasing mechanism (IRM)
• What is required to trigger an innate releasing mechanism (IRM)?

  Sign stimulus (SS)
• What animal did Tinbergen observe during mating season?

  Male stickleback fish
• What was the stimulus for attack in male sticklebacks?

  Red underbelly of an intruder
• What did Lorenz call the model where each FAP has a reservoir of energy?

  Hydraulic model
• According to Lorenz, what is the energy reservoir for each FAP?

  Action-specific energy (ASE)
• According to the hydraulic model, what happens when ASE is high enough?

  FAP may be produced without stimuli
• What is an Innate Releasing Mechanism (IRM)?

  Inherited neural network in the brain
• What stimulates the IRM?

  Sign stimulus
• What is a fixed action pattern (FAP)?

  Instinctive behavioral sequence
• What triggers the fixed action pattern (FAP)?

  Sign stimulus
• According to ethological explanations, what underestimates the role of aggression?

  The environment
• Why may 'Fixed action Patterns' not be entirely innate?

  Subtle variations have been observed
• What observation did Jane Goodall make that challenges the ethological explanation of aggression?

  Chimpanzees sometimes kill each other
• Why may chimpanzee killing contradict the ethological explanation of aggression?

  It may not be adaptive
• For what species does the ethological explanation of aggression work better?

  Fish
• What is the consistency between evidence for the amygdala and innate releasing mechanisms?

  The role of the amygdala
• What type of evidence suggests human aggression is innate?

  Evidence for the role of genes
• Are fixed action patterns universal across all members of one gender of a species in response to the same sign stimulus in humans?

  No
• Do ethological explanations suggest aggression gives an evolutionary advantage in humans?

  Yes
• How many women experience domestic violence in their lifetime according to the Office for National Statistics (2016)?

  One in four
• According to the Office for National Statistics (2016), how many women are killed each week by a partner?

  Two
• According to evolutionary explanations, why do present-day behaviours exist?

  They were adaptive for ancestors
• According to evolutionary explanations, what controls adaptive behaviors?

  Genes
• How do adaptive behaviours get passed on to future generations?

  Through genes
• What would ancestral males compete for?

  Access to females
• How would ancestral males eliminate competition?

  Through aggression
• According to the evolutionary explanation, what is higher in males than females?

  Testosterone levels
• What may the need to retain a mate help explain?

  Male aggressive behaviour
• What is the adaptive response to losing a mate to another male?

  Male sexual jealousy
• Why did female infidelity need to be deterred?

  To avoid bearing another man's child