Instinct, an inborn impulse or to action typically performed in to specific external stimuli. Today instinct is generally described as a, apparently unlearned, genetically determined behaviour pattern. Defining instinctIn the past the term instinct has stood for a number of distinct about. For example, Alexander Jamieson, in the first volume of his A Dictionary of Mechanical Science, Arts, Manufactures, and Miscellaneous Knowledge (1829), defined the term instinct as “an appellation given to the sagacity and natural inclinations of brutes, which supplies the place of reason in mankind.”As a rough rendering of what the term instinct means to most people, this definition still has merit. If it is taken to include the possibility that humans too can be governed by instinct, this definition is broad and vague, the variety of senses that the term has since been used to convey. However, this inclusiveness is unable to distinguish the subtle differences of meaning by the terms instinct and instinctive.
Get unlimited access to all of Britannica’s trusted content.The concept of instinct is complicated by the fact that it ranges across behavioral, genetic, developmental, motivational, functional, and senses. There is also a likelihood that one of these senses might be taken to entail one or more of the others. For example, evidence that a pattern of behaviour depends upon a genetic basis frequently has been assumed to imply that the pattern is unlearned. The fallacy of this reasoning should have been betrayed by the commonplace knowledge that can be selectively bred for attributes (e.g., trail following and sheepherding in ) but require extensive training for their potential usefulness to be realized. Yet the way of thinking continues to bedevil discussion and is the basis of the recurrent dispute known as the nature-nurture controversy ( versus environment), which entails debate over whether behaviour, aptitude, character, and so forth are products of or of exposure to environmental factors (e.g., culture). Even British naturalist argued that inheritance implied development unaffected by experience. Several distinct mental actions are commonly embraced by this term; but everyone understands what is meant, when it is said that instinct impels the cuckoo to migrate and to lay its eggs in other birds’ nests.
By and large, the American psychologists who study animals other than humans reflect the legacy of behaviorism or the patterns of thought of which behaviorism was an expression: they tend to be pragmatic, positivistic, operational, and hostile to theories of instinct. However, their attitudes on theories of instinct have not all been the same. The words instinct and instinctive have borne a variety of meanings in the many different contexts in which they have been used. Their varied meanings and connotations are encountered in everyday language. For example, instinct can refer to reflexive or stereotyped behaviour, to an intuitive hunch, to a congenital aptitude or disposition, to a deep-seated impulsion (e.g., “maternal instinct.
An action, which we ourselves require experience to enable us to perform, when performed by an animal, more especially by a very young one, without experience, and when performed by many individuals in the same way, without their knowing for what purpose it is performed, is usually said to be instinctive. But I could show that none of these characters are universal.Darwin used the word instinct in a number of different ways—to refer to what impels a to breed; to a disposition, such as courage or obstinacy in a dog; to selectively bred patterns of behaviour such as the tumbling movements of tumbler; to feelings such as sympathy in people; and to stereotyped actions such as those employed by when constructing the cells of a honeycomb. It is regrettable that Darwin did not make the distinctions of the meaning of instinct more explicit, for he gave powerful precedent for the use of the word, the of which has repeatedly clouded and confused the understanding of behaviour.However, there also was a positive side to Darwin’s interest in instinct. He drew attention to questions about the causal basis of actions that seemed incapable of explanation in terms of learning or, and it opened up the remarkable world of animal behaviour, which seemed far removed from the world of. Thus, Darwin’s has stimulated the study of motivation and provided a foundation for comparative and for.The following review is accordingly divided between instinct construed as impulsion, or drive; instinct viewed as inborn propensity; and instinct interpreted as behaviour. Instinct as impulsionInstinct as some kind of urge or driving force is exemplified by three very different kinds of motivational theory: Freudian; purpose, as defined by American psychologist; and causal conceptions, as proposed by classical ethology.