Ethological AO1

• What does the ethological approach propose?

  That the study of behaviour in non-human animals and species is the same as it is in humans; viewing all species as equivalent to one another
• How does the ethological explanation study aggression?

  Through an evolutionary lens; species and neuronal programming and their development as to why the animal species is aggressive
• Who is considered the father of etholocial explanations to aggressive, and how is it defined?

  Lorenz, defining aggressive as: 'the fighting instinct in beast and man which is directed against the members of the same species'
• What does the ethological explanation suggest about aggression on the nature/nurture scale?

  Aggression is an instinct and cannot be controlled; it is innate and mosly genetically determined
• What did Darwin (1859) say about ethological explanations?

  Study of aggression in non-human animals is extrapolated to humans because we are all subject to the same forces of natural selection
• What does the ethological explanations mean by the adaptive functions of aggression?

  Aggression is beneficial to survival because a 'defeated' animal is rarely killed but rather forced to establish territory elsewhere
• How is dominance established through hierarchies in chimpanzees?

  Males chimpanzees use aggression to climb their troop's social hierarchy; dominance over them provides a special status (i.e. mating rights over female)
• What research did Pettit et al., (1988) conduct?

  Play groups of young human children and observed how aggression played an important role in the development of some children's dominance over others
• What did Pettit et al., (1988) find?

  Aggression is an adaptive behaviour (naturally selected) because dominance over others brings benefits, i.e. power and access to resources
• What is an innate releasing mechanism (IRM)?

  A built-in physiological process or structure, i.e. a network of neurons (circuit) in the brain
• What triggers an IRM?

  An environmental stimulus (i.e. certain facial expressions)
• What does an IRM release once triggered?

  A specific sequence of behaviours; fixed action patterns (FAPs)
• Who identified six main features of FAPs?

  Lea (1984)
• What are six main features of FAPs?

  Stereotyped or relatively unchanging; universal; unaffacted by learning; ballistic; single-purpose; response to identifiable specific sign stimulus
• What is ritualistic aggression?

  A series of behaviours carried out in a set order (i.e. display of teeth)
• Who investigated ritualistic aggression?

  Lorenz (1966)
• What did Lorenz (1966) find?


  Early observations of fights between animals of the same species show little physical damage was done; most aggressive encounters consisted mainly of a period of ritualistic signalling (i.e. display of claws, facial expressions and threats)
• What do intra-species aggressive encounters end with?

  Ritualistic appeasement displays; indicate acceptance of defeats and inhibit aggressive behaviour in the victor, deliberately making itself vulnerable to a single bite to its jugular vein
• Why is ritualistic aggression adaptive?

  If every aggressive encounter ended with a death of one of the combatants, it would threaten the existence of the species
• Describe Tinbergen's (1951) study

  Male sticklebacks, known to be territorial and aggressive, develop a red spot on the underside of their bellies in mating season. Tinbergen observed that when other male sticklebacks pose a threat to their territory, the red dot acts as a sign stimulus which releases FAPs of sequenced and highly stereotyped aggressive behaviour and met completion. This was found regardless of the shape of the wooden models; the red dot was the specific stimulus.