Behavioural strategies of aggressive and non-aggressive male mice in active shock avoidance

The hypothesis, partly based on findings in social interactions, that aggressive mice generally adopt an active behavioural strategy (cf. fight-flight) in threatening situations, while non-aggressive ones generally assume a passive strategy (cf. conservation-withdrawal) was tested using a two-way active shock avoidance paradigm. Overall, aggressive mice were found to be better active shock avoiders than non-aggressive animals; a finding that is consistent with our hypothesis. However, within the non-aggressive mice a clear dichotomy in high and low avoidance individuals was found. The high intertrial activity in the superior avoidance groups and the low activity in the poor avoidance group was interpreted as another indication of an active versus passive strategy respectively. Accordingly, it was concluded that not all non-aggressive mice assume a passive strategy, but that some mice adopt an active strategy, like all aggressive males.