Great bar debate over the weekend: Do humans have instincts?
Yes. Most of them are illegal in many countries.
No, I don’t think so.
An instinct is a complex behavior pattern, like hibernation or migration or spinning a web.
Humans do some things automatically, but they are called reflexes- because it’s a single stimulus-response action, two steps.
Babies have most of the relfexes,like sucking and grasping and morrow (sp) reflex and a bunch of others, but adults still have a couple as well.
The complexity of most instincts would be too great for a human not to question it.
Humans are pretty well taught everything they know by their parents or other adults. Without that input a child would most likely perish.
We can see instincts when we look at babies…
Babies cling to the people holding them, if you pull them away they will thrust their arms out and attempt to grasp something. This is an inborn response to a specific stimuli so by definition, this is an instinct.
Babies respond to expressions on people’s faces and seem to know what those expressions mean.
Once we pass babyhood any instincts are overidden by what we are taught.
Put us butt naked out in the bush and most of us would be toast in no time…
Welcome to the SDMB! (BTW, this thread will probably be moved to the Great Debates forum)
I say yes.
(1) Newborn babies automatically suckle when placed at the breast (although some practice is needed for them to be effective at it).
(2) Humans seem to be hard-wired to try to survive and reproduce.
(3) There is some evidence that, regardless of culture, there are some basic traits that people consider to be attractive in the opposite sex.
(4) Humans evolved from instinctual animals and some remnants of this would not be surprising.
So, overall, I think humans have an underlying instinct that can be usurped by our overlying cognative mind.
I would also pose the question “what is instinct?” If it’s a behavioral response to an environmental stimulus based on biochemistry, then there are other examples that could be examined.
Why are certain smells arousing?
Why do we love someone (often not a volitional choice)?
Why do most people act like their group/culture is better than every other group/culture?
Humans can be very territorial - why?
Humans tend to need contact with other humans - why?
Of course we have instincts. What do you think sexual urges are all about?
But one thing that defines an “Instinct” is that it is impulsive. Yes we have sexual urges, but they can be controlled.
If an animal is hungry, it eats. If it is tired, it sleeps.
We have the same triats, but if I’m hungary, I can hold off untill I get home…or if I’m tired, I can hold off until the end of a movie.
If it can be controlled, then it does not quallify as an instinct.
If you’re Hungary, then I’m Poland! 
Funny guy
I disagree. The urge is instinct - precocious children have been known to have sex without knowing what it was. Sure you can exercise control over urges but can you control having them?
Someone here in my office brought up a good point…there is a fine line between instinct and the resulting behaviour.
He said,“Sure, we can hold off from eating if we are HUNGRY (Happy Coldfire? 
) but we are still hungry and hunger is the instinct.”
I’m not completely convinced by this statement, but I thought I’d bring it up…it gets the gears moving…
Good point…that’s what my office buddy said.
I guess I might be fair to say that humand have instincts, but the instincts in adult humans are greatly suppressed.
Sound like a fair comment?
To deny humans have instincts is to deny the fact that we are animals. Of course we have instincts. All animals have instincts.
People just don’t like to think of themselves as animals.
works for me
No, I’d say some people would rather deny their existance, but I wouldn’t say they are greatly suppressed; I wouldn’t even say they are suppressed, just that some people deny their existance.
Good point…I guess it comes down to the definition…once the definition has been established, and it can be shown that humans do still have instincts, the book is basicly closed on the subject.
But if after this, people still deny it…they these people fit into the same catagory as Creationists.
…damn…forgot something…
But given all this…the one major difference between humans and other animals is that humans are not guided by instinct alone as other animals are. Humans are self-conscious. Humans have the ability to realize, “I am ‘I’, and not anyone else. I am myself, not my environment. I am separate from all other things. I can influence or control these other things and bend them to my own uses, and so control my environment. Thus I can shape my destiny to suit myself.”
Humans alone have this power of self-conscious free will. We have the power of self-directed choice, (Even though there are those that need to exercise this a bit more.) and are not totaly goverened by instinct.
Ruggles:
Was this a long debate? Just how drunk were you? Just kidding.
OF COURSE humans have instincts, silly person. All critters have ‘em—they keep us alive, healthy, and breeding. Or, they try to anyway…we override them quite often. Even if you refuse to acknowledge any evolutionary process, you must admit that humans are hard-wired for certain behaviors.
One may respond, “Well, duh. Eating when you’re hungry isn’t really an instinct…it keeps you alive at a very fundamental level.” “Ah,” I reply, “but WHAT TO EAT?” You can’t survive by just munching on clods of dirt. We have a neat system which, in general, works to make us hungry not just for food items, but the PROPER food items…granted, it’s a bit out-of-date, but I’ll expound upon this later if need be. The basic hunger urge may not be considered instinct, but the item chosen as food is. Just as migratory birds know to head where there is more food for the winter, but the direction to fly is instinctive.
Think of instinct as the “how-to” of basic survival. We know that we must mate…but with whom? We know we must eat…but what? Sure, this is a really simplified version of how instincts work, mostly because a pure instinct is difficult to point out—because we work to counter them all the time.
Desmond Morris explored this wonderfully in The Human Animal. For example, the things we instinctively do to attract a mate, and have NO IDEA that we’re doing them consciously, are really amazing. If you’re waffling about the idea that humans have instincts, then chances are that you’re unsure about the definition of instinct.
Thank you, and Goodnight.
Doubleclick
Have you ever heard of Koko the ape(who communicates via sign language) or Sarah the chimp (who communicates via symbols)? They seem self-aware to me.
This reminds me of a story about a Zen master who is asked what is the secret to enlightenment. IIRC, his answer is “When you are hungry, eat; when you are tired, sleep.”
If you know how to read body language there is a great deal of information to be gleaned.
Why do some people rub their noses or ears when put under certain types of stress, if they were conscious they would not do it since it is often an indicator of lying.
When you talk with a woman with whom you have a mutual attraction have you not noticed that many if not most will gently sway toward you, it is as if it is a message that is being passed without words or conscious thought.This will usually bring out a warmer response from the man but he will not know why.
Why are some women such good flirts yet others seem to be trying too hard, actually this probably applies to men far more.I would guess that body language can only be carried out without conscious effort and imitating it tends to look insincere and transparent, and boy, women are masters at picking it up - unless they fall head over heels in love and fail to see the warning sign.
Con men know exactly which buttons to press, car salesmen and many others go on courses to learn how to exploit these little foibles we have.
We like to think we are civilised and rational but think like this, how often have you met someone for the first time and thought to yourself that something was not quite right but you can’t pin it down ?