Cooperative social coordination and aggression: Sex and strain differences in the effects of housing on gonadectomized rats with hormone replacement

✍ Scribed by Richard Schuster; Barry D. Berger; Heidi H. Swanson

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 988 KB
• Volume: 14
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0096-140X
• DOI: 10.1002/1098-2337(1988)14:4<275::aid-ab2480140406>3.0.co;2-6

✦ Synopsis

Laboratory rats were used to investigate sex and strain differences in the effects of aggression on a cooperative behavior in which pairs learned to coordinate shuttling in a rectangular chamber. The level of aggression was manipulated by comparing males and females of the aggressive S3 strain and a less aggressive Sprague-Dawley-derived strain and housing same-sex partners either together or individually (8 groups, n = 7 pairs per group). Hormone levels were stabilized by gonadectomy and daily injections of the appropriate sex hormone. The only serious coordination deficits were in individually housed males, associated with violent fighting and an extreme dominancelsubordmance relationship that was not observed in females. AII other groups readily learned and performed the coordination with evidence that low and moderate levels of aggression could facilitate coordination by evoking species-typical behaviors that increased proximity, synchrony, and differentiation within pairs. The discussion focused on models of affiative behavior in the study of aggression and the compatibdity between moderate levels of aggression and cooperation.