Ethological Explanation of Aggression

• The ethological explanation of aggression is an evolutionary explanation that attempts to understand aggression in humans by looking at aggression in other species, when they’re in their natural habitat.
• According to the ethological explanation, aggression helps animals…

  • gain or maintain access to reproductive partners
  • protect their territory
  • gain or maintain access to food
• According to the ethological explanation of aggression, the purpose of aggression is ritualistic (used to threaten others without harming them)
• A fixed action pattern is is an innate, fixed set of behaviours that occurs in response to specific sign stimuli.
• Aggression only occurs in response to triggers in the environment, called sign stimuli.
• The innate releasing mechanism is the specific set of neurons that produces a fixed action pattern.
• The ethological explanation attempts to understand aggression by looking at aggression in other species, when they’re in their natural habitat. It is similar to the evolutionary explanation as it says that aggression is adaptive and has evolved. This explanation also says that aggression is ritualistic and is a fixed action pattern, in response to particular stimuli in the environment.
• Tinbergen’s study of sticklebacks supports the ethological explanation of aggression. Tinbergen found that, whenever male sticklebacks see a big red circle, they display the same fixed set of aggressive behaviours. Tinbergen’s study supports the idea that aggression is a fixed action pattern triggered by sign stimuli.

  
• One limitation of the ethological explanation of aggression is that evidence indicates that aggression isn’t always ritualistic. For example Jane Goodall found that chimpanzees will fight and kill chimpanzees from neighbouring groups. This is a problem for the ethological explanation because it shows that aggression isn’t always adaptive.
• Limitations of the ethological explanation

  • Evidence indicates that aggression isn't always ritualistic
  • Cannot account for cultural differences in aggression
  • Lacks generalisability due to being based off animal studies
• Nisbett found that white American men from Southern states were more prone to aggressive behaviour than American men from Northern states, which indicates that there are cultural differences in aggression. Therefore, Nisbett’s study can be seen as evidence against the ethological explanation of aggression, which says that aggression is evolutionarily determined, and not influenced by culture.