Have you ever snapped at your parents or thrown your controller after losing at your favourite video game? Consider another response. Have you ever growled at your parents and hissed at them? Probably not. Even though humans display aggression differently from other animals, some theories propose that the same mechanism triggers aggression across species. So, do we have the same aggressive impulses as other animals?
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Jetzt kostenlos anmeldenHave you ever snapped at your parents or thrown your controller after losing at your favourite video game? Consider another response. Have you ever growled at your parents and hissed at them? Probably not. Even though humans display aggression differently from other animals, some theories propose that the same mechanism triggers aggression across species. So, do we have the same aggressive impulses as other animals?
Ethological explanations of aggression explore aggression in animals, and a few prominent theories attempted to apply these explanations to human aggression, too.
We'll describe the ethological explanation of aggression, including the role of innate releasing mechanisms and fixed action patterns in the animal kingdom.
Finally, we'll evaluate the ethological explanation of aggression as applied to human beh
Fig. 1: Ethological explanation of aggression proposes that aggression is an automatic, evolutionary mechanism shared across species.
Aggression in psychology is defined as acting with an intention to harm someone who does not want to be harmed (Baron & Richardson, 1994). Aggression can be associated with emotions like anger or rage, but the two do not always co-occur.
In the above definition, harm can take many forms, it can be physical or psychological, and it can involve acting to spite the other person, destroying their property using insults, threats, or violence.
We can distinguish different types of aggression based on how it is expressed.
For example, physical aggression and verbal aggression.
We can also differentiate between emotional and instrumental aggression.
Emotional aggression is impulsive, unplanned, and uncontrollable emotions influence the behaviour. On the other hand, instrumental aggression is planned and enacted with cold premeditation, often as a means to achieve one's goal.
There are several theories of aggression, ranging from biological explanations to cognitive and socio-cultural ones. Below, we'll describe the ethological explanation for aggression in detail and contrast it with other explanations by outlining the biological explanations for aggression.
Ethology is the study of animals in their natural environment to understand the evolution of behaviour. The ethological explanation of aggression defines aggression as an instinct common to humans and animals. It attempts to understand this instinct by studying other animal species.
In 1966, Lorenz and Latzke defined aggression as:
The fighting instinct in beast and man directed against members of the same species.
There are two important assumptions behind this definition:
According to the ethological explanation, aggression evolved because it had an important function that was adaptive, meaning it helped the species survive and successfully reproduce.
The ethological explanation conceptualises aggression as a sequence of stereotyped and automatic behaviours called a Fixed Action Pattern (FAP). FAPs are triggered by the activation of a neural structure – the Innate Releasing Mechanism (IRM), which responds to very specific environmental stimuli.
Six features characterise FAPs. They involve a set of actions carried out in an unchanging order, which is universal across the species and unaffected by learning. The behavioural response is specific to a stimulus that triggers it and must be completed in full once initiated.
In summary, ritualistic aggression means that the behaviour is:
Male sticklebacks go through behavioural and biological changes during the spring mating season. Their hormone levels change, their bellies turn red, and they become highly territorial – if another male enters their territory, a highly aggressive FAP is triggered.
They turn upside down and display their spine to the intruder while spreading their fins. This position is supposed to scare the intruder away; if it doesn't, the fish will start to engage in jerky movements or even a biting fight.
To investigate what stimulus or feature of the other fish specifically releases this response, the researchers created different wood models of fish, adding or removing some features systemically.
Fig. 2: Tinbergen explored fixed action patterns in male sticklebacks.³
The ethological explanation proposes that aggression evolved because it is adaptive; the individuals who are aggressive in a species are thought to have a better chance of survival and reproduction.
We already mentioned the first adaptive benefit of aggression – scaring away the competitor without within-species killings. However, this is controversial, as researchers have found planned lethal acts of aggression in chimpanzees. The aim of warfare is often not just to scare the competition away, but also to kill the out-group members.
In 2010, Jane Goodall studied chimpanzees at the Gombe Stream National Park during their 'four-year war', where a group of chimpanzees set about systematically slaughtering those of a different community. The violence was coordinated, predetermined, and ignored all signs of defeat and appeasement.
Another adaptive function of aggression is to assert dominance. Individuals who can assert dominance in a group can establish themselves in a hierarchy and gain access to resources, such as territory or females.
Male chimpanzees use aggression to climb the social ladder. The most dominant chimps are more likely to mate with females.
Aggression has also been linked to mate retention. Females may favour aggressive males as they can protect them and their offspring.
Some psychologists propose that since males have to invest time and effort into an offspring but can't be certain about their paternity, they evolve more intense sexual jealousy, which can motivate aggression to prevent infidelity. This is often proposed to be the reason for male vigilance or even violence towards females.
The study of Buss et al. (1992) has shown that the perspective of their partner's sexual infidelity results in more jealousy in males compared to females, while females tend to be more jealous of emotional infidelity.
Biological theories of aggression aim to explain aggression in terms of biological mechanisms. There are three biological theories of aggression.
Evidence shows how genetic, hormonal and neural correlates of aggression support the ethological explanation, which sees aggression as an innate instinct, likely tied to our genes and biology.
The strength of the ethological explanation of aggression is that empirical research supports the existence of Fixed Action Patterns and Innate Releasing Mechanisms in animals. Moreover, there's evidence suggesting that aggression has an innate character.
As well as this, ethological explanations also explain why humans may kill other humans. Despite other animals backing down when in lethal range, humans haven't developed this response because they didn't have to. Human's typically do not have the means, without weapons, to kill other members of the same species easily, so evolving the need to back down wasn't prioritised—advancements in weapons allowed for killing more easily.
However, it isn't easy to generalise the ethological research to humans.
The sole focus on the automatic, innate elements of aggression is also what makes the ethological explanation reductionistic. An explanation that doesn't account for the role of cognition (the thought process), emotions or culture is unlikely to reflect the complex processes associated with aggression in humans accurately.
Even though there are common elements to how we express aggression as a human species, evidence shows that there are cultural differences in aggression. This demonstrates that aggression can be influenced by socio-cultural factors rather than being an utterly innate instinct.
For example, Nisbett (1993) theorised about the possible reasons for the difference in homicide rate between the South and the North in the USA. White males in the South were found to be more likely to commit homicide, but only in the case of argument-related homicides. Moreover, it was found that Southern males are more likely to endorse violence in response to insults but not violence overall.
They reported taking greater offence to insults and proposed more violent responses to being insulted. This was linked to the culture of honour in the South, which makes males more likely to be aggressive when they feel offended or dishonoured.
The ethological explanation of aggression is also deterministic. It proposes that when a specific stimulus triggers us, we are bound to react with a sequence of aggressive behaviours. This conceptualisation doesn't leave any space for free will or choice in terms of the way we respond.
Finally, aggression is socially sensitive and has important implications for how we treat aggression in society. If we assume that aggression is an automatic instinct we have no control over, it would mean that we can't punish perpetrators of violence as they are technically not truly at fault. It is a biological response. It's, therefore, important that the ethological explanation is not used to justify aggression or abuse.
Fig. 3: Aggression is a socially sensitive subject, it's important to not justify or undermine its impact on the society.
Ethology is the study of animals in their natural environment to understand the evolution of behaviour.
The ethological explanation of aggression defines it as an instinct common to humans and animals. It attempts to understand this instinct by studying other animal species.
The limbic system and the prefrontal cortex.
The limbic system includes the main neural structures implicated in aggression. When faced with a perceived threat, the limbic system responds, connecting the amygdala, hippocampus, hypothalamus and prefrontal cortex, which have been associated with aggression.
Aggression in psychology is defined as acting with an intention to harm someone who does not want to be harmed (Baron & Richardson, 1994).
Biological theories of aggression aim to explain aggression in terms of biological mechanisms e.g., neural structures, neurotransmitters, hormones, and genes.
According to the ethological explanation, aggression is innate rather than learnt. However, we also see cultural differences in aggression, which suggests that there might be a learned component to aggression.
Ethological explanations propose that aggression is ____
Innate and instinctual.
What is ethology?
Ethology is the study of animals in their natural environment to understand the evolution of behaviour.
What is the ethological explanation of aggression? How does it define aggression?
The ethological explanation of aggression, defines aggression as an instinct common to both humans and animals. It attempts to understand this instinct through studying other animal species.
According to the ethological explanation of aggression, we can generalise the findings from animal research on aggression to humans.
True.
When is behaviour considered adaptive?
When it helps the species survive and successfully reproduce.
According to the ethological explanation of aggression, aggression is a ____.
an innate response.
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