ethological explanations

• The adaptive function of accepting defeat is that defeated animals are rarely killed but are forced to establish territory elsewhere meaning the species is spread over a wider area, reducing competition for resources e.g food and mates.
• The adaptive function of dominance establishes social hierarchies.
• Lorenz observed that most aggressive encounters between animals involved signalling and many aggressive confrontations ended in ritualistic appeasement displays but rarely life-threatening violence. This means ritualistic aggression is beneficial to the survival of the species.
• An innate releasing mechanism is a biological structure or process that is triggered by an environmental stimulus and sets off a FAP.
• A fixed action pattern is a specific sequence of behaviours that is released by an IRM.
• FAPs are seen in Tinbergen’s (1951) study on stickleback fish where he introduced differently shaped models to a male stickleback, who only reacted aggressively when triggered by a red spot stimulus, no matter the shape of the model.
• Previous research from Brunner, and Papaz and McClean involving the MAOA gene and the limbic system respectively suggests a biological innate basis for aggression which can be inherited supports the existence and function of innate releasing mechanisms
• Nisbett showed differences in the number of homicide rates between northern and southern states in the US in white males. Southern states had a higher number of killings. Nisbett attributed this to honour killings as part of a culture of honour to reactive aggression. This is a limitation as it is difficult for the ethological theory, with its view of aggression as instinctive, to explain how culture can override innate influences
• Evidence from Goodall (2010) demonstrates that the ritualistic killings of chimps by chimps in the Gombe Stream National Park was conducted in a premeditated and co-ordinated way. Even when the victims demonstrated appeasement and defencelessness the chimps continued.
• It is not valid to make generalisations from animal to human aggression without evidence. Lorenz and Tinbergen assumed that the behaviour they had observed in birds and fish must also be typical of humans.
• The flexibility of FAPs may imply that aggressive behaviours can be learned, or are at least affected by environmental influences, which does challenge the validity of the ethological explanation