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The Ethological Approach to Aggression

1. Like the Freudians, the ethologists have emphasized the genetic bases of aggression. Ethologists have primarily studied nonhuman animals such as fish and birds.

2. For Lorenz, aggression serves two basic functions. The first function is that aggression keeps conspecifics separated and thereby insures that there is enough area and resources to survive. The second  involves sexual selection. Frequently the number 1 aggressor becomes the number 1 copulator.

3. Lorenz has generalized his observations of animal behavior to humans. He contends that aggression is adaptive in most animals. However, Lorenz warns that aggression can become undesirable when a species--such as the human--fails to develop the usual instinctual inhibitions against it. For instance, Lorenz notes that lethal combat seldom occurs among animals with the innate ability to kill (e.g., wolves). The reason for this is that these animals have evolved signs of submission that inhibit the aggression of conspecifics. On the other hand, humans are "a basically harmless omnivorous creature, lacking in natural weapons with which to kill big prey." Since humans have only a weak ability to kill without weapons, they did not evolve strong inhibitory mechanisms to prevent aggression. This analysis implies that we have created weapons that work from a distance that we cannot control. What would the murder rate be if we had to kill with our hands and teeth? What is more likely to cause later emotional problems for the combat soldier: killing by dropping bombs from a plane or running a number of people through with a bayonet?
 
 

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