ETHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS

• Ethology is the study of animal behaviour. The study of animals can help us understand human aggression in three ways, i.e. it helps define aggression and looks at how it occurs with other behaviours such as reproduction and threat.
• The study of ethology by looking at animals in their natural setting, means we can understand the way it has helped the evolutionary process. This is more difficult with humans in the modern day habitat. When animal behaviour is studied in laboratory settings the conditions can be highly controlled, and this is not possible to the same extent with human participants. 
• LORENZ- IRM


  Aggression is an innate tendency that’s triggered by environmental stimuli.

  The innate releasing mechanism is the in-built physiological process or structure eg) neurons in the brain. Lorenz argued that aggression was similar to food, drink and sleep. It is a drive that needs satisfying.
• Aggression is an adaptive response (ability to pass on genes)


  • Gain the upper hand in competition for food, mates or territory.
  • Dominance hierarchies give animals special status
  • Therefore increasing survival and reproductive success.
  • Aggression is ritualised -  to stop confrontations being fatal.
• FIXED ACTION PATTERN (FAP)

   is the behavioural sequence that occurs throughout all members of the same species. The five characteristics of FAP by Lea are stereotype (unchanging), universal (found in every species) , ballistic (once triggered it follows an inevitable course) , unaffected by learning (regardless of experience) , and single purpose (only occurs in specific situations). 
• (+) ETHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS 


  COOPER =

  did research into Old World Vipers and New world pit vipers showing that fixed action patterns occur in reptilian species. For example, when they have bitten their prey both lizards and snakes use a chemical signal to help them locate the body later. This means that the aggressive or hunting act is always of use to them for survival and provides food, which supports the fact that it is innate and evolutionarily adaptive. 
• (+) ETHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS 


  REAL LIFE APPLICATIONS = CHAGNON =

  researched about the tribe yanomamo of south america who use chest pounding and club fighting to settle conflicts. Anthropological evidence suggests that ritualised aggression was also useful in humans to prevent physical aggression. 
• (-) CONTRASTING FAPS


  HUNT =

  points out that sequences of behaviours that appear fixed and unchanging are in fact greatly influenced by environmental factors and learning experiences. For instance, a FAP is typically made up of several aggressive behaviours and can vary in duration from one individual animal to another. This suggests that FAPs are more flexible than implied by the term ‘fixed’.
• (-) ETHOLOGICAL EXPLANATIONS 


  unjustifiable generalisations to human aggression. =

  Lorenz did not study higher mammals such as Primates and Tinbergen chose not to study the extreme destructive violence that is a feature of human aggression. But they both made generalisations from animal aggression to humans i.e. warfare. This therefore suggests that we need to be cautious about making such generalisations to complex behaviour such as warfare which is the outcome of many other interacting influences.