ethological explanations

• what is ethology?

  • study of animal behaviour in their natural settings
  • we learn about human psychology from studying other animals
• what is an innate releasing mechanism?

  • hard wired brain networks
  • that respond to specific stimuli from environment
  • by initiating set sequence of behaviours - including aggression
• what did lorenz say?

  • levels of aggression will build up continually in all animals until theres an opportunity for a release
• what are fixed action patterns?

  • sequences of innate behaviour that are often performed in a seemingly fixed & stereotypical manner of all members of a species
• 6 main features to describe nature of how FAP work?

  1. universal
  2. stereotyped
  3. a specific response to identifiable sign stimulus
  4. ballistic
  5. unaffected by learning
  6. situation specific
• what is universal?

  • all members of species display it
• what is stereotyped?

  • relatively unchanging & behaviours follow same pattern each time
• what is ballistic?

  • once triggered it follows an inevitable course & cannot be altered
• what is unaffected by learning?

  • all animals in that species seem to be born with it & not learnt - INNATE
• what is situation specific?

  • ritual only occurs in specific circumstance & not in another
• why are FAPs adaptive?

  • enhance our chances of survival & reproductive success
• 2 * of ethological explanations?

  1. evidence to support from cooper
  2. empirical evidence to support
• 2 X of ethological explanations?

  1. ungeneralisable
  2. may not actually be looking at aggression
• * evidence to support from cooper?

  • researched into aggression in vipers
  • found that all of them when they have bitten their prey they use chemical signal to help them locate body later
  • all viper species have FAP for aggression
  • so they can locate body later & enhance chances of survival as they can eat & survive
• * empirical evidence from tinbergen?

  • male stickleback fish responds to stimuli of red underbelly with set sequence of behaviours - being aggressive
  • tinbergen presented wooden models of different shapes to make stickleback fish
  • found no matter shape/how realistic it looked fish would attack if it had red spot on underbelly
  • if model did not have red spot - not attacked
  • fish have FAP as they only attack those with red underbelly (sign stimulus) can see they are males
  • environment is under threat (situation specific)
  • more chance of passing genes if theyre ballistic
• X ungeneralisable?

  • research does not lead to much in terms of conclusions that we can generalise to humans
  • we do share common ancestor but evolved quantitatively & qualitatively - different brains to animals studied
  • we have society/culture & rules/regulations to live by which prevent aggression
  • explanation suggests behaviour is universal within species
  • humans respond differently to certain situations
  • ? population
  • humans dont all have same FAP for same stimulus
  • so cant be said that same FAP for aggression occurs in all humans
  • cannot generalise
• X may not actually be looking at aggression?

  • most research in this area measures aggression as killing/injuring another creature
  • may be just predatory behaviour & doing it to survive to get food - not with aggressive intent
  • animals cannot communicate how they feel
  • IRM & FAP may not be about aggressive behaviour & actually about survival
  • due to lack of communication with animal species difficult to determine motive for these behaviours
  • means aggression in other non human species could be for different reasons