# Human instincts.......... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2000, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250 "2000-11-01T15:57:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![robinh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b77776/32.png) [@robinh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robinh)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/21 "2000-11-01T18:35:33Z")
To add to the evidence that we do indeed have strong instincts: > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Phobos \* > (1) Newborn babies automatically suckle when placed at the breast (although some practice is needed for them to be effective at it). > **Not only will they suckle automatically, if you put a newborn baby on its mother’s stomach, it will (assuming an unmedicated birth and a healthy infant) crawl up to her chest and root around until it finds a nipple. Also, the milk that the mother produces is specific to her infant. In areas where particular diseases are prevelant it will contain more immunities to those diseases. The milk produced for a premature infant is different than that produced for one at full term and different still than that produced for a toddler. The cries of a premature infant are higher pitched and designed to create an instant response from adults.** > (3) There is some evidence that, regardless of culture, there are some basic traits that people consider to be attractive in the opposite sex._\* I saw a program on The Discovery Channel (or perhaps TLC?) that gave evidence for a very specific waist-to-hip measurement ratio in women that is considered almost universally attractive across cultures and generations. They pointed out that Marilyn Monroe and Kate Moss, women with very different figures who were considered the “ideal” by many people, have the same waist-to-hip ratio.\*\* I think we are far more guided by instincts than we realize. ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/22 "2000-11-01T18:48:46Z")
Ruggles, as usual, you have tons of unrelated crap here, but no clear responses. A question which starts with “Do…” MSHOULD be answere with YES or NO. My answer is YES. But first of all, when you leave that bar, go to a library and look up “instinct”, “reflex” and read curcived (related) articles. A few examples here, for starters: Reflexes: Swalloing, blinking, gag, erection. Instincts: parental (procreation), play, herd, ego. R. cannot be [normally] suppressed. I. can be more or less expressed. ---
**Author:** ![Doubleclick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Doubleclick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubleclick)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/23 "2000-11-01T18:56:35Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by DrMatrix \* \*\ ***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. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by \* Yes, but that shows that they are intelligent. (Obviously more inteligent that the average ‘ape’.) And they would not have learned that on their own…there was human intervention. But we are digressing. What I was getting at there is, we as humans have instincts like all animals, but it is our hightened intelligents that makes us different from all animals. And it is this difference from other animals that allows us to control impulsive behaviour. The definition of an instict is: 1.) An inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a species and is often a response to specific environmental stimuli: the spawning instinct in salmon; altruistic instincts in social animals. 2.)A powerful motivation or impulse. 3.)An innate capability or aptitude: an instinct for tact and diplomacy. So, with that, I believe that it is fair to say we have them, but we can control them to an extent. ---
**Author:** ![Ruggles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/4491bb/32.png) [@Ruggles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruggles)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/24 "2000-11-01T19:59:33Z")
As defined by Websters Dictionary: a largely inheritable and unalterable tendency of an organism to make a complex and specific response to environmental stimuli without involving reason b : behavior that is mediated by reactions below the conscious level. Therefore, in order for humans to have an instinct the behavior must exist in ALL humans. For the record, I say no, we don’t. I had a college professor that first sold me on the belief, I wish I could remember his name so I could e-mail him and find out his source. ---
**Author:** ![Doubleclick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Doubleclick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubleclick)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2000, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/25 "2000-11-01T20:04:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ruggles \* > \*\*As defined by Websters Dictionary: > > a largely inheritable and unalterable tendency of an organism to make a complex and specific response to environmental stimuli without involving reason b : behavior that is mediated by reactions below the conscious level. > > Therefore, in order for humans to have an instinct the behavior must exist in ALL humans. > > For the record, I say no, we don’t. I had a college professor that first sold me on the belief, I wish I could remember his name so I could e-mail him and find out his source. > \*\* I’m in the same boat…I had a prof that sold me on the idea that we don’t…but I am now having second thoughts about the whole thing. I NEED RE-EDUCATION!!! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/26 "2000-11-02T03:49:52Z")
Ruggles, why “therefore”? As I said, I. can be more or less expressed. An individual can survive if h/er/is paternal instict is suppressed, our species cannot if it’s supressed in all. Have you ever loved someone? Your parents, perhaps? Why did you go to college? To meet girls? Or to learn something? Both reasons would be instinctive. Humans instinctively want to socialize and to learn. ---
**Author:** ![Brainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Brainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainz)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/27 "2000-11-02T04:30:53Z")
Instincts have been replaced (or refined) by intelligence through evoluition. The only true instincts left in the human being is to eat and drink and reproduce. Nature has provided those species of lower intelligence with instinct to sustain life.Such as the birds go south and the bears hibernate. The only thing I can’t figure out is why humans (aand not a complaint) enjoy oral sex so much, could it be instinctive? ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/28 "2000-11-02T04:52:43Z")
Mr(s). Brainz, \<\<\<\<\<\<\<\<\<\<\<\<\\>\>\>\>\>\>\>\> You just ruined your own premise: they enjoy it because pleasure seeking behavior (and danger aversion) is INSTINCTIVE. Eating and drinking are not instincts, they are necessities. Contrary to your deep believes, you won’t die without sex, even without oral sex. Try to live without food or water. Evolutionary intelligence developped later. It did not cancel instincts. It did not refine instincts, either. Actually, your housing (shelter) instibct became stronger since your income ( fueled by your intelligence, right?)allowed you to afford a better house. It is superimposed on instincts. Example: a woman instinctively wants a child. An animal female acts on her instinct immediately, at the first heat. An intelligent woman understands that she is too young now, has no husband, money, etc. and decides to postpone it. ---
**Author:** ![Brainz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d9b06d/32.png) [@Brainz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brainz)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 5:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/29 "2000-11-02T05:30:12Z")
Your not only full of gibberish, just look around and tell me that there is intelligence in women. How many single mothers are we supporting in our country. That is instinct to reproduce.(When in heat as you say) So you are saying if the humans backbone would bend enough we could satisfy our desires. I think not.It is the instinct to reproduce. Necessities are NOT innerdriven, they support their subject. ie:(for women) Toilet paper, make up,rear view mirror, Tampons,etc. Put a goat out in the pasture, no one says hey goat try that water its good…The goat instenctively smells and goes to the water to quinch her thirst. Gee women on the golf course, women in politics, Now they are trying to explain the difference in instinct and intelligence. Why can’t makeup at home instead of the signal light in the morning? Tackle that! ---
**Author:** ![dylan\_73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/30 "2000-11-02T11:27:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brainz \* > **Your not only full of gibberish, just look around and tell me that there is intelligence in women. How many single mothers are we supporting in our country. That is instinct to reproduce.** Well, how many of those single mothers were in long term relationships before they had the child, and then ended up splitting from their partner? By your reasoning, it would be foolish for _any_ woman to ever have a baby, because there’s always some risk that her circumstances might change for the worst… Of course, maybe the US is different, and all the single mothers there are just girls who jumped into bed with the first guy they could find, but somehow I doubt that’s the case. ---
**Author:** ![AWB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bb73d2/32.png) [@AWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AWB)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/31 "2000-11-02T13:12:11Z")
[Study Reveals: Babies are Stupid](http://www.theonion.com/onion3119/stupidbabies.html) ---
**Author:** ![manhattan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manhattan/32/7_2.png) [@manhattan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/manhattan)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/32 "2000-11-02T16:29:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Brainz \* > **Your not only full of gibberish…** There are literally dozens of things wrong with your post here (and those elsewhere, FWIIW), but let me address just one. We do not insult each other in General Questions. Stop. ---
**Author:** ![barbitu8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/839c29/32.png) [@barbitu8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/barbitu8)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2000, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/33 "2000-11-02T16:43:39Z")
All animals have instinct. Period and double period. Man is an animal. Therefore, man has instinct. Survival of the species is the greatest instinct of any animal, and that means sex. In fact, you will find throughout the animal kingdom that many animals will die for the greater good of the species. They don’t do that with aforethought, but it is “just” instinct. ---
**Author:** ![Phobos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Phobos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phobos)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/34 "2000-11-03T14:30:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doubleclick \* > \*\*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. \*\* I disagree. Animals have intelligence and self-awareness…just to a lesser degree. This is especially evident in mammals (e.g., dogs/primates that can recognize themselves in a mirror or examples where primates are presented with hard-to-reach food and various tools - - and they figure out which tool best reaches the food). I think it is a human conceit to think we are the only species with cognition. > [@](#): > > If it can be controlled, then it does not quallify as an instinct. I think humans have an underlying instinct that influences us, but (as you said) can be controlled by our “higher” mind. Animals have a different ratio of the instintual to cognitive mind and are influenced by their instincts to a different degree. Hypothetically, an insect may run on 100% instinct whereas a chimp may be 30% and humans 20% (I’m just making up numbers here…but my point is the variation in degree among species.) Some may think my WAG of 20% for humans is high…perhaps it is, but think of all the commonalities in human behavior, the frequent retreats to irrationality, and the strong influence of the sexual drive in our lives. ---
**Author:** ![Fyodor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/958977/32.png) [@Fyodor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fyodor)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/35 "2000-11-03T14:57:00Z")
I was talking to a girl on crutches who’d been hit by a car while crossing the street. I said “I’ll bet you were already in the air when the car hit you.” She was surprised and said “how’d you know that?” I didn’t get into an explanation with her but I know humans instinctively flee danger. She may not have consciously had time to think about fleeing the car that was about to hit her but her instincts sure as hell did. I was out with friends looking at an apartment they were thinking of buying. I went out on the third floor balcony and, as I approached the edge I got a definite bad feeling, a very strong feeling in my legs and abdomen. Further examination showed that the balcony supports had warped a little and the edge of the balcony was tilted slightly downwards. It wasn’t really visible but my instincts certainly told me there was something wrong with the high platform I was standing on. Thousands of years of domestic breeding may have made modern humans resemble their primitive ancestors about as much as a dairy cow resembles a buffalo but we are still animals. Certainly humans can still enjoy instinctual animal pleasures such as sex, men killing other men in war, caring for children, feasting, intoxication, regular bowel movements… A debate suitable only for bars. I am amazed a professor would argue against the existence of human instincts but he probably has religious belief in the supernatural origin of humans. ---
**Author:** ![Fyodor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/958977/32.png) [@Fyodor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fyodor)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/36 "2000-11-03T15:31:13Z")
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention - have you ever been about to “have the crap beaten out of you” by a physically superior humanoid? You may have noticed that you instinctively had the urge to urinate in your pants. This is because a full bladder tends to burst inside your body when you are under brutal assault. This may also explain why, next time you are on an airliner that loses a wing and falls out of the sky, you might notice that 90% of the other passengers take a huge dump in their pants the moment they realize they are about to be splattered. Oh yes, humans have many instincts. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/37 "2000-11-03T17:18:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Doubleclick \* > \*\*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. \*\* By this standard, my cat is human. He will be VERY insulted if I tell him so, though. ---
**Author:** ![Doubleclick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Doubleclick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubleclick)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/38 "2000-11-03T17:26:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Al Zheimers \* > **I was talking to a girl on crutches who’d been hit by a car while crossing the street. I said "I’ll bet you were already in the air when the car hit you."** Not saying you are wrong…but would this not be considered a reflex? I know that if I was about to get hit by a car, the first thing I would try to do is jump so the car doesn’t hit me on the legs. If I jump, there is a chance that I could be higher up at the point of impact and be ‘rolled’ over the car. Not saying that the result would be much better, but it beats being pulled under the car and being run over. ---
**Author:** ![Doubleclick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Doubleclick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubleclick)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/39 "2000-11-03T17:33:48Z")
[QUOTE] \*Originally posted by Lynn Bodoni \* \*\* > [@](#): > > By this standard, my cat is human. He will be VERY insulted if I tell him so, though. \*\* 😉 But a cat instinctivly knows to hunt. He may not be perfect at it at first, but the preditory instinct is there. Even kittins instinctivly know the basic fundimentals of hunting…sure the cat is just playing, but it is honing up the skills it needs to hunt. I’m pretty sure that you or I would fair pretty badly if we were stuck in a jungle and told to survive without any training…and how long would we last if we were dumped there as children. (I won’t say ‘babies’ because even a kittin can walk when their hunting instinct starts showing.) My point was that if humans do have them…there are not many of them left, and by the time we are adults, they are all but gone. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![peace](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@peace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peace)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2000, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250/40 "2000-11-03T21:08:51Z")
The weekend is coming. So, when you have time, look up the difference between " instinct" and “reflex”. Also, to complicate things, there is something else, namely, a series of reflexes. Such as in bowel movement. You may “enjoy” bowel movements, Al, but you can’t willingly stop them. Therefore, it’s not an instinct. You do not go “instinctively”, you go, because you have to. And \<\<\< men killing other men in war\>\>\> is not an instinct. Instincts are geared toward the survival of the species. An individual can suppress an instinct. A reflex cannot be suppressed. Getting rid of your wastes is reflectory. Doing so in solitude is an instict. In humans it is greatly enhanced by culture. But even dogs prefer some privacy. Finally, dogs are unable to recognize themselves in a mirror. And only one breed of cats could be insulted (they can blush, too). It’s called Bodonians. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/human-instincts/39250.md?page=3)