A-Level Psychology (AQA)

Topic Summaries

Aggression

The ethological explanation of aggression

  • Aggression is adaptive and offers animals survival advantages:
    • Territory and resources: this includes food, a water source, and mating opportunities to expand their population. This is adaptive and innate.
    • Dominance hierarchies: when male animals are higher up in this hierarchy, they get more mating opportunities.
  • Ritualistic aggression: 👥 Lorenz (1966) observed fights between two animals of the same species. It rarely results in violence or death – the rituals usually end in submission by one of the animals to end the fight before any damage is done. It prevents the species from killing too many of its own population, which could end in extinction.
  • Innate releasing mechanisms and fixed action patterns: an innate releasing mechanism is a built in physiological structure or process. An environmental stimulus triggers the IRM which releases a specific sequence of behaviours called a fixed action pattern (FAP) where each behaviour: 
    • Is an adaptation (i.e. a hard-wired behaviour) 
    • Must continue to completion once initiated
    • Cannot be changed
    • Is found throughout the species
    • Occurs as a response to a specific external stimulus known as a releaser
  • 👥 Tinbergen (2021) observed that male stickleback fish get a red underbelly during mating season. If another male enters their territory, their FAP is triggered by seeing the red spot. He tested this by presenting male sticklebacks with wooden models that had red bellies. He found that regardless of the shape of the model, once the fish saw the red underbelly, the fish would display aggressive behaviour. If there wasn’t a red belly, even if the model was in a fish shape, there was no response. He discovered that the FAP always ran its course.
  • Evolutionary explanations of aggression:
    • Sexual jealousy is a major motivator for aggression in males. It’s said to be a psychological mechanism that has adapted to encourage vigilance against cuckoldry and promote mate retention.
    • Mate retention strategies have evolved over time, including direct guarding and negative inducements. An example of direct guarding is constantly needing to know where your partner is and an example of negative inducements is threatening to kill yourself if your partner leaves you.
    • 👥 Shackleford et al. (2005) researched 107 married couples who had been married for less than year and used the mate retention inventory and spouses influence report, finding a positive correlation between marriage and aggressive behaviour.
    • Bullying confers an evolutionary advantage as men who bully other men are more likely to pass down their genes to as many offspring as possible. Female bullying is more likely to occur in relationships to ensure fidelity.

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