As far as I know, with the exception of humans, every living thing on this earth has survival instincts. I know humans will flinch from a hot flame, but that’s reflex. Babies cry from hunger or pain, but that’s not what I’m referring to. Animals and insects are pre-wired to handle just about anything they need to handle to survive and procreate to perpetuate their species. Plants also have the ability to seek out sunlight, fight for water with their roots and leaves.
Since man evolved intelligence, it can be argued that the need for most instinct was lost along the way.
But where? My question is, how does instinct work? Is it passed through DNA? A spider can spin a web, a bird can build a nest, all with pre-wired information. But where and how is that information stored and passed? If it is in DNA (which makes sense), has science found the gene sequences that hold this information? Biologists have isolated many gene sequences, but where would they look for the web building instinct in a bird, for example? Would it be hidden somewhere in the brain DNA, or do we have no idea?
(PS… long day. I hope this question made sense. Apologies in advance)
The short answer is that no one really knows. It’s probably got something to do with brain structure, but we have only a very basic understanding of that sort of thing (if that).
Not very convincingly, IMO. Check out this book for a refutation.
Humans still have survival instincts. Babies crying and smiling are both actions useful for survival, and even now they’re still relevant.
As ultrafilter says, no one’s certain where they come from. It’s interesting from a purely psychological perspective because for the most part, it’s a purely “nature” issue (as opposed to nurture). Logically (I have no studies to back this up, it’s just IMHO) there’s likely something in the organisation of the brain and thus has some DNA component, but it’s not something that’s been found.
You have asked a question so big and complicated yet flawed that no one could answer it in any short space. Actually, no one can answer all of it anyway because we haven’t figured out the answers.
The first problem is separating humans versus those other creatures and saying that we don’t have instincts. We have done this one before and it gets terrible complicated and just plain semantic but humans do have instincts. I have a two week old daughter. She suckles like all healthy ones do. She just plain knew what to do with her mother’s breast and she was quite good at it. There was no training involved and she initiates the process. Sex gets all convoluted but we also have sexual instincts. If we didn’t, we probably wouldn’t exist as a species. Kids and teenagers realize that something is up in their little brains before they even know where it is leading and the details involved.
Where all that exists is a bigger puzzle. It obviously exists in brain structures because that is what controls behavior. There is no separate instinct ray that comes down and overrides things. Brain development is initiated by DNA but that is far from the whole thing. Biological processes take over after that and generate a whole series of interconnected developmental processes. The instincts themselves don’t have to be encoded in DNA like a program but genetics may kick off a series of biological processes that later lead to instinctive behavior.
Fair enough. I understand humans have instincts of some kind (and by the way congratulations on the two week old daughter!) But I don’t think your daughter would know what to do with the breast unless it was shoved in her face. Sure, she knows what she is (hungry) and the suckling is definitely instinctual, but I don’t equate that with nest building.
I also agree with your premise of sex. Even without videos, magazines, and HBO, we’d probably figure out how to procreate. So THAT could be an instinct. But with our developed communication, is it really that simple? Probably. I guess if a boy and girl, kept apart from all human contact until they reach sexual maturity would probably figure out *something * if put together in the same room.
I wasn’t trying to be incredibly flawed in my OP. I apologize if I came off that way. I guess I was trying to simplify more than necessary. If your daughter wasn’t suckling your wife’s breast, she would be trying to shove something in her mouth (her hand, thumb) to satisfy her hunger craving. So I see your most valid point.
Interesting. Something I never really considered before. From the book review, it mentions a person’s cognitive, intuitive and emotional faculties as being instinctual (if I read it right). I guess I never thought of it that way. But let’s take emotion. A baby can show displeasure, but it is also reinforced by the reaction of the parents. So is it completely instinctual, or a combination of instinct and learning?
Thanks for the link. This is a subject that really interests me for some reason. I guess I can buy the idea that DNA can pass down the physical features of a living creature, but the instincts to survive must also be passed down. How that’s done is fascinating to me, because it’s so much more complicated than “eyes = green”. Instincts seem more like programs somehow stored and passed.
Actually, a newborn baby that is placed on the mother will make its way specifically to the breast. Its pretty interesting to see them do it. They may suck on a thumb or hand on the way, but they know what they are looking for, and it’s not just something to suck, it is “that one thing” to suck.
Hmm. That *is * interesting to me. Clearly, we’ve identified that I’m not a parent!
So humans have some instincts too. Moving toward a breast to feed certainly qualifies.
Is the answer simply “we don’t know”?
I find it interesting that geneticists (sp?) can narrow down certain genes, but this hardwiring remains a mystery. I guess I’ll continue to stare at the bees building a nest outside on a tree and wonder how those little buzzers know what to do.
As Shagnasty suggests, we can veer off pretty quickly into semantics, but one area of distinction is in instinctive behavioral patterns, which starts you thinking about the simplicity or complexity of the whole thing and what you want to call an instinct. Is simply (and I use that term carefully) rooting for the nipple an instinct? What about the much more complex - in terms of numbers of moves and time involved - building of an orb web? Is that an instinct? Do humans have anything remotely as complicated built in? If we do, where is it? What does it look like if it plays out in our behavior? Can someone contend that our complex social nature is in some way an instinct? Maybe the evolutionary psychologists would lean that way. Don’t know. But the question and its many possible answers and non-answers are so ephemeral that it may just be a philosophical discussion rather than hard science at this point.
We damn well better have an instinctive ability to recognize patterns, since without that we would be incapable of acquiring any knowledge that wasn’t instinctive within us.
We covered this exact same question here not so long ago. As almost everyone else has noted, the question what an instinct is remains far from clear and degenerates into semantics fairly rapidly. I personally always favour the idea that a behaviour has to be complex to qualify as an instinct, that is it has to be composed of at least two distinct actions. Other will argue otherwise.
But to point out some of the more serious flaws in your understanding
Depending on how you define instinct humans also have survival instincts, probably stronger than any other species. People have an absolute dread of dying and will go to extremes to ensure their own survival. People don’t need to be taught to fear death, it is entirely natural.
No, it’s not. A reflex technically occurs without reference to the higher brain centres and will occur unconsciously, even during sleep. So the knee-jerk response is a reflex, as is blinking. Nobody pulls their hand away from a flame when they are asleep, they need to wake up first. So this response is not a reflex, it is entirely conscious and learned.
That simply isn’t true.
A lion raised in a cage, even if raised by its own mother, is totally incompetent at hunting and will starve if left alone even in the most prey rich environments. Many male birds if raised in isolation are totally unable to attract mate because they have never had the opportunity to learn the species song. Cattle introduced to a novel environment will routinely poison themselves because they are unfamiliar with the toxic plants. I could go on for pages with examples like these.
The simple fact is that many animals, probably all mammals, aren’t pre-wired to handle much at all. They need to learn all their survival skills, either from members of their own species or by trial-and-error. Humans are no exception.
Not really. With a few minor exceptions plants only exhibit tropisms, which means they simply grow towards or away form stimuli, nothing more. Plants ‘fighting’ for water is no different from a human child becoming tanned in response to sunlight. It’s an inevitable and immutable physiological response, not a behaviour. As such plants exhibit no instincts whatsoever.
I could make an equally strong argument that since we evolved intelligence and self-awareness the need for instinct is greater than ever to stop us from harming ourselves in the course of our experimentation.
See the earlier thread for the basics.
In some cases, yes.
I think first they would be astonished by the discovery of a web building bird. :eek:
More seriously, such behaviours aren’t controlled by a single gene or a single brain centre, rather they are caused by a complex interplay of multiple genes. What genes can do is strengthen certain parts of the behaviour or even cause it to cease altogether.
Well, no.
The second neat trick to do with neonates (after dangling them from washing lines to demonstrate the grip reflex) is to gently stroke the side of their cheek. They immediately turn towards the touch and start making suckling motions. They even do this when asleep. It’s terribly cute, but it also demonstrates that this behaviour is instinctive/reflexive and in no way learned.
Then there are some like I seen on the show about Anacondas. They showed baby Crocodiles that just after being born, instantly know how to hunt insects without any kind of teaching what so ever from momma. And the Anacondas, after they’re born, they take off on their own and start hunting and surviving right away, and start their lives without any supervision or lessons from mom.