Instinct
Instinct is the inherent inclination of a living organism towards a particular complex behaviour, containing innate (inborn) elements.
Any behaviour is instinctive if it is performed without being based upon prior experience (that is, in the absence of learning),[dubious – discuss] and is therefore an expression of innate biological factors.
Though an instinct is defined by its invariant innate characteristics, details of its performance can be changed by experience; for example, a dog can improve its listening skills by practice.Instincts are inborn complex patterns of behaviour that exist in most members of the species, and should be distinguished from reflexes, which are simple responses of an organism to a specific stimulus, such as the contraction of the pupil in response to bright light or the spasmodic movement of the lower leg when the knee is tapped.
[2][3] Fabre considered an instinct to be a linked set of behaviours that an organism undergoes unconsciously in response to external conditions.
[2] He came to this conclusion after observing how insects and wild birds continued to repeat a certain behaviour in response to a novel situation.
[3][4] Then Fabre intervened in the wasps' process of catching prey, and only one of the species adjusted their behaviour in response to this unfamiliar interception.
[8][9][10] An example of what Wundt studied to arrive at his conclusions regarding unconscious processes includes the facial expressions babies made in response to the sensations of sweet, sour, and bitter tastes.
[14] In the 1950s, the psychologist Abraham Maslow argued that humans no longer have instincts because we have the ability to override them in certain situations.
In a conference in 1960, chaired by Frank Beach, a pioneer in comparative psychology, and attended by luminaries in the field, the term instinct was restricted in its application.
[citation needed] In this sense, the term instinct appeared to have become outmoded for introductory textbooks on human psychology.
In a classic paper published in 1972,[17] the psychologist Richard Herrnstein wrote: "A comparison of McDougall's theory of instinct and Skinner's reinforcement theory—representing nature and nurture—shows remarkable, and largely unrecognized, similarities between the contending sides in the nature–nurture debate as applied to the analysis of behavior."
However, a fixed action pattern can be processed in the brain as well; a male stickleback's instinctive aggression towards anything red during his mating season is such an example.
However, young birds have been experimentally reared in devices that prevent them from moving their wings until they reached the age at which their cohorts were flying.
These birds flew immediately and normally when released, showing that their improvement resulted from neuromuscular maturation and not true learning.
[23] This complex response may involve visual, auditory, and olfactory cues in the environment surrounding an organism.
A hypothesis of Michael McCollough, a positive psychologist, explains that environment plays a key role in human behaviours such as forgiveness and revenge.
From a more biological standpoint, the brain's limbic system operates as the main control-area for response to certain stimuli, including a variety of instinctual behaviour.
The limbic system processes external stimuli related to emotions, social activity, and motivation, which propagates a behavioural response.
Instinct is a phenomenon that can be investigated from a multitude of angles: genetics, limbic system, nervous pathways, and environment.
