ethological explanations

• what is the proccess of trigger to behaviour

  stimulus- environmental trigger

  innate releasing mechanism- built in physiological proccess

  fixed action pattern- causing behvioral sequence to be triggered
• what was tinbergens research

  Male stickleback

  •Attacks other males that invade it's territory.

  •Only males have a red belly - never females.

  innate releasing mechanism for aggression, triggered by red bellies of other male stickle back resulting in FAP or aggressive behavouir
• What are the six features of FAPs?

  according to leah;1.Stereotyped;the behaviour always occurs in same form2.universality; the behaviour is found throughout the species3.independence of experience; the behavoiur is innate with no learning4.ballistic; the FAP cannot be changed, once initiated5.triggering stimulus; the behavoiur is triggered by certain known stimuli6.complex;
• what is a FAP?


  fixed action patternsan adaptive sequence of ritual behavioursusually within a speciesritual is ballistic- cannot be stopped once initiated and situation specific.FAPs occur when innate neural circuits respond to specific environmental stimuliact to release or trigger the behaviour
• what research is support for ethological expanation

  •research byBrunner et al. (1993)which showed that low activity MAOA is closely related to aggressive behaviour in humans, suggesting there is an innate basis for aggressive behaviour.There is also further evidence as activity in the limbic system has also shown to trigger aggressive behaviour in humans evidence that demonstrated the genetic and physiological basis of aggression
• what evidence for cultural differences in aggression

  •Nisbett et al. (1993)found that in the US,homicide rates for white males were higher in the south than in the northdue to a ‘culture of honour’ attitude i.e. their response to impulsive aggression was a learnt norm.•This was supported in a later study byNisbett et al. (1996)who found thatwhen white males from thesouth were insulted in a research situation, they became more aggressive than white males from the north.The ethological views aggression as instinctive therefore ethological explanations can’t explain how culture can override innate influences.
• what research support is there for IRMs & FAPs

  •Goodall (2010)observed chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania during what she called the ‘four-year war’.•During this war, the male chimps from one communityset about systematically slaughtering all the members of another group – they did this in a coordinated and premeditated fashion.•The violence continued like this despite the fact that the victims were offering signals of appeasement and defencelessness.
• what support is there that FAPs are not that fixed?

  •Hunt (1973)points out that sequences of behaviours that appear to be fixed and unchanging are in fact greatly influenced byenvironmental factorsandlearning experiences.•So FAPs are more flexible than implied by the term ‘fixed’(many ethologists now prefer the term ‘model action pattern’ to reflect this.)•For example, a FAP is typically made up of several aggressive behaviours in a series. The duration of each behaviour varies from one individual animal to another, and even in the same animal from one encounter to another.
• what did lorenz and tinbergen do that is a limitation?


  Findings from animal studies arenotgeneralisable to humans. It is difficult to conclude whether humans would behave with the same aggressive behaviours (due to the same Ethological principles) as non-human animals due to the massive differences in the complexity of their nervous systems.
• what is the ethological approach?

  the study of the interaction between organisms with certaininnatespecies-specific structures and the environment for which the organism is genetically programmed. Remember the ethological approach would argue that there isinnate knowledgefor aggression.