Comparison of Stress and Learning Effects of Three Different ...

Behaviorally, the active response is based on CANNON’s (1915) fight-flight response and
characterized by aggression and territorial control, whereas the passive response known as the
conservation-withdrawal response (ENGEL and SCHMALE 1972) is characterized by
immobility (VON HOLST 1985, BOHUS et al., 1987, SAPOLSKY and RAY 1989, BENUS
et al., 1991, HESSING et al., 1993, SCHOUTEN and WIEPKEMA 1991, HANSEN and
DAMGAARD 1993, KOOLHAAS et al. 1999).
In a study conducted by BENUS et al. (1991), it was found that the animal performing active
coping strategy, either tries to remove the stress source or to escape from it, whereas the
passively coping animals seem to decrease their activity.
Another study examining adaptation to captivity in beech marten have found similar results
for the distinction of two major coping strategies. In that study, it was showed that active
animals are aggressive and react relatively independent from the external stimuli. They also
attempt to change their surroundings when they are exposed to acute stress. These behavioral
reactions are accompanied by the high activity in the sympathetic nervous system. Passive
individuals, however, seem to react heavily on according to the external stimuli, and they
show immobility under acute stress, in other words, ‘’they accept the surroundings rather than
try to change them‘’. Concomitant to behavioral reactions, high parasympathetic activity,
often in combination with the activation of hypophysial-adrenocortical axis, is observed in
passively coping animals (HANSEN and DAMGAARD 1993).
As a result, the studies above have many findings in common, which support the idea that
‘’the characteristic of the passive coping style is to stop performing overt behavior when
exposed to an aversive situation and to wait for a change while active individuals adopt
various strategies’’ (WECHSLER 1995).
KOOLHAAS et al., (1999), on the other hand, described the coping style as ‘’a coherent set
of behavioral and physiological stress responses which is consistent over time and which is
characteristic to a certain group of individuals’’ and preferred to use terms proactive coping
instead of active coping and reactive coping instead of passive coping.
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