Ethological and evolutionary explanations

Ethological and evolutionary explanations

1. Ethologist explanation

   • Ethology is the study of animal behaviour in natural studies. It helps us understand how aggression has helped the evolutionary process and looks at how it occurs with other behaviours ie. threat, reproduction.
   • Adaptive resonses
     • Lorenz argued that aggression is an adaptive response that has evolved as the individual will be more likely to pass on their genes if they have the upper hand in competition in food, mates and territory. Aggression is seen as an innate tendency that's triggered by environmental stimuli.
     • The urge to engage in aggressive behaviour builds up over time. The more time that has passed since the last aggression release the more internal pressure the animals feel. Eventually an environmental stimulus triggers this aggression (the larger the internal pressure the smaller the stimulus). This triggers a innate releasing mechanism which sets off a fixed action pattern.
       • Innate releasing mechanism: An 'innate pathway' in the brain ie. a network of neurons that release a specific sequence of behaviours (fixed action pattern)
       • Fixed action patterns: A sequence of unlearned acts linked to a stimulus, set off by the innate releasing mechanism. These are unchangeable, hardwired innate behaviours.
         • Red-bellied sticklebacks - During breeding season the male sticklebacks develop red bellies. In males, seeing another bright red belly of another male stickleback stimulates an innate releasing mechanism and a specific fixed action pattern. This produces fighting behaviour directed towards the rival.
         • Timbergen - Found that the fighting response was triggered more by unrealistic models with red undersides (a diamond with no features) than by real sticklebacks with no red bellies. This supports the idea that the behaviour is instinctive, and set off by a specific trigger (red).
   • Strengths
     • Research supports Lorenz's claims for fixed action patterns (Timbergen). It also can be applied to humans as we all have a 'startle' reflex when we're born when a threat comes in your face quickly
     • The explanation has face validity - A number of patterns of aggression in men are highly ritualised and are similar to behaviour found in animals. For example - We have nuclear weapons as a threat to 'scare' people but they are very rarely used.
   • Ritualistic aggression
     • A process of carrying out behaviours to stop physical aggression ie.the losing wolf shows their jugular vein at the end of a fight as a sign of submission. This stops the species from being wiped out so these behaviours are in place to stop confrontations being fatal.
   • Weaknesses
     • The presence of an innate releasing mechanism and fixed action pattern seem unlikley in humans. This is because not everyone reacts the same way to certain stimuli ie. some may act aggressively while others run or freeze. This suggests that humans can't have these innate processes as otherwise they'd all act the same in response to threats.

2. Evolutionary explanations

   • Explains aggression as a strategy that has evolved as an adaptive response to problems. Aggression was used to help individuals survive and reproduce in the past so this trait has been inherited down the generations to modern humans.
   • Survival of the fittest (Bullying behaviour)
     • Bullying occurs because of a power imbalance. The more powerful individual will use aggression towards a weaker person in order to increase the chances of survival by promoting health and creating opportunities for reproduction.
     • Tony Valk et al - Argued characteristics associated with bullying are attractive to the opposite sex. It suggests dominance, gaining of resources and strength. It also wards off rivals therefore females have more access to males with bullying behaviours so these traits are more likely to be passed down (naturally selected due to more reproductive success)
     • Strengths
       • Applications to society - Understanding bullying as an adaptive behaviour can help people devise anti-bullying interventions. This approach suggests individuals bully in order to gain advantages for themselves so they won't give up this power without compensation.Volk argues interventions should increase the costs of bullying and the rewards of pro-social behaviour ie. encourage bullies to compete aggressively but fairly in sporting activities allowing them to show off their power, strength and other attractive qualities.
       • No gender differences - Men use aggression to portray strength in order to attract a mate and women use aggression to secure fidelity. Both genders aggression will be inherited as in the past these individuals would have had the most reproductive success.
     • Females may bully their partners to secure their partner's fidelity so they'll continue to provide resources for their offspring.
   • Sexual jealousy
     • Men are never totally sure that they have fathered a child. This parental uncertainty is due to the threat of cuckoldry (raising offspring that isn't their own). This is a waste of their resources and means survival of their rival's genes rather than their own.
     • To avoid cuckoldry males developed adaptive strategies to keep a mate. Aggressive behaviour was used to stop their partner 'straying' or violence is used towards rivals to warn them off.
     • Buss - Identified strategies for male retention - Direct guarding: restricting the movements of females and Negative inducements: financial control, threat of violence if they're unfaithful etc. to prevent her straying.
     • Strength - Willson et al - Created a questionnaire that found that women who indicated their partners were jealous and didn't like them talking to other men were twice as likely to have experienced violence from their partners. This supports the link between sexual jealousy, male retention and violence.
   • Weakness - Doesn't take any other influences into consideration - Evolutionary explanations argue that behaviour is through gene selection and biology. We would then expect all males to behave violently to women is jealously is an adaptive response to female infidelity. This is not the case however as some men act differently. This suggests there must be alternative explanations ie. SLT