Topic 11: Aggression conflict, Welfare,

Displacement activity

• Redirected behavior, intention movements

• Most frequent with equally ranked individuals and is often the max extent of the conflict.

• fight or flee

Game theory

• The strategy of decision-making

• Initiate aggression (hawk strategy)

• Retreat (dove strategy)

What’s an Evolutionary Stable Strategy? (predicted by game theory)

A behavior that once common in a population cannot be beaten by any new strategy bc it gives equal or a higher fitness.

• V=

• C=

• Value of resources (benefit gained if one)

• cost of injury - (from fighting always > 0)

The challenge hypothesis

Testosterone increases in males during social or mating challenges to promote aggression and competition, but stays lower otherwise.

Mediational model

The mediator handling a weapon causes a subsequent increase in aggressivity and loss of empathy

Hypothesized cases of group conflict (war)

1) Biological determinism- innate aggression

• Lorenz k, Ardrey R, Livingstone Smith)

2) Cultural determinism - aggression due to learned ethnocentrism

Cultural determinism

a) Political ideology- feudalism, monarchy, capitalism, communism, democracy, socialism etc

b)Religious beliefs

c) Information theory (game theory)

d) Demographic- expanding population

e) Resource requirements

f) Historical- unpredictable

g) initated by power structure and encouraged by the intellectual elite

h) male tendency towards aggressivity/control

i) male age ratio- (young to old)

Inborn basis

A trait or behavior that an animal is born with and does not need to learn; it is genetically programmed.

Drive Discharge Model

A theory that behaviour is triggered by internal drives (like hunger or thirst) and ends when the drive is satisfied.