The Relationship between Heredity, Sex, and Aggression in Two Inbred Mouse Strains

Fredericson, Emil; Story, AlliGrace; Gurney, Nancy L.; Butterworth, K.R.

doi:10.1080/00221325.1955.10532921

Cited by 20 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The case histories suggest that dogs are more likely to be aggressive after an aggressive episode, have more frequent episodes, and actually get "better" at being aggressive (i.e., inflict more serious wounds) with each aggressive encounter. Such results parallel the research on learned conspecific aggression in mice in which the latency to fight decreases (Fredericson, Story, Gurney, & Butterworth, 1955) and the vigor of fighting increases (Kahn, 1951;Scott, 1958) with successful fighting episodes.…”

Section: Avoidance-motivated Aggressionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Safety training: The elimination of avoidance-motivated aggression in dogs.

Tortora¹

1983

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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This study sought to identify the behavioral characteristics and appropriate treatment of a form of instrumental aggression in companion dogs, herein recognized as avoidancemotivated aggression. In Experiment 1, retrospective data on 92 cases of dangerously aggressive dogs demonstrated the avoidance nature of the aggressive response and its intractability to established counterconditioning treatments. In Experiment 2, safety training, a modified avoidance-learning procedure, resulted in complete and permanent elimination of aggression in all of the 36 dogs tested. In addition, it produced extremely extinction-resistant prosocial avoidance responses, significant increases in the.dogs' emotional stability, an avoidance-learning and safety acquisition response set, and improvements in measures of the dog's "carriage." Experiment 3 showed how effective safety training is when compared with other behavior modification techniques that, in theory, should have an impact on avoidance-motivated aggression. Experiment 4 demonstrated the critical importance of using the conditioned safety cue as a positive reinforcement. The relationship of avoidance-motivated aggression to other forms of aggression is discussed. The success of safety training compared with the failure of electrical aversion therapy is analyzed. The theoretical concepts of behavioral balance and an avoidance-learning set are presented. Suggestions to improve the effectiveness of counterconditioning for human avoidance-motivated pathologies are offered.All in all, the data seem to suggest that safety training may create in dogs a sense of control over environmental stressors. By teaching the dogs a behaviorally balanced battery of prosocial "coping" responses, they may be developing the canine counterpart of "self-efficacy" or "courage." It is suggested that this cognitive modification may provide the antithesis of "learned helplessness" and may be of prime importance to the success and stability of the results.

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Section: Avoidance-motivated Aggressionsupporting

confidence: 81%

Safety training: The elimination of avoidance-motivated aggression in dogs.

Tortora¹

1983

Journal of Experimental Psychology: General

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“…It is interesting to note that studies of animal aggression also report what we might call an escalation of aggression, either in the form of increased intensity of attack over time or of decreased latencies of attack over successive aggressive encounters (e.g., Fredericson, Story, Gurney, & Butterworth, 1955). The escalation effects found in the present studies may be similar in nature to those found in several extralaboratory situations, such as in the U.S. aerial bombardment of North Vietnam during the 1966-67, 1971, and 1972 periods and in what has come to be called the battered child syndrome, in which simple physical punishment escalates to a level of brutalization of a child.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Escalation of aggression: Experimental studies.

Goldstein¹,

Davis²,

Herman³

1975

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

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A finding commonly obtained in research using the Buss "aggression machine" is a main effect for trial blocks, indicating an escalation in shock intensity over trials. Theoretical explanations for this effect were tested in a modified verbal operant-conditioning situation. In Experiment 1, subjects could administer any of 10 levels of positive reinforcement to a "learner" for correct verbal responses or any of 10 levels of negative reinforcement to a learner for incorrect responses. Half of the subjects were required to begin with weak, and half with strong, reinforcements. Results indicated that, regardless of condition, subjects gave more intense reinforcements as the learning trials progressed. Those who administered negative reinforcements devalued the learner relative to those who administered positive reinforcements. In Experiment 2, a role-playing procedure was used in which subjects administered either positive or negative reinforcements to a learner whose performance either did or did not improve over trials. Again, in all experimental groups, subjects administered increasingly intense reinforcements over trials. The results are interpreted as supporting a disinhibition theory of anti-and prosocial behavior.Much current experimental work on aggression employs what has been referred to as the "aggression machine" (Buss, 1961) as a means of generating the dependent measure (e.g.,

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“…When, however, the normally passive BALBs were paired with the aggressive C57BLs, a vigorous battle broke out. In a later study (40), it was found that trained CS7BLs fought much less after a female mouse was introduced into the fighting arena. BALB/c males were less distractable and continued to fight vigorously in the presence of the opposite sex.…”

Section: (128) Genetotrophic Theory Of Alcoholismmentioning

confidence: 97%