Humans and Instincts?

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

Can I ask a question? I am getting very confused. In all my bio-classes and sciences, my professors/teachers/books implied that mammals had instincts and all animals had them. However, my Sociology and Psychology classes are insisting that humans have no instincts.

Further, Psychology book/professor states there is no competitive drive no maternal instinct. It's a hormone/emotion reflex.

Is this true, or is there a real reason for the discrepency?

[Quadlok]

Can I ask a question? I am getting very confused. In all my bio-classes and sciences, my professors/teachers/books implied that mammals had instincts and all animals had them. However, my Sociology and Psychology classes are insisting that humans have no instincts.

Further, Psychology book/professor states there is no competitive drive no maternal instinct. It's a hormone/emotion reflex.

Is this true, or is there a real reason for the discrepency?

Remember that much of what you hear in psych classes will likely be bullshit. This is that. A reflex more or less is an instinct, anyway.

[Predator]

What sort of warped definition of instinct are they working with? How can a biological impulse towards a certain kind of behaviour not be considered an instinct? Does he consider that there must be a reason for a particular hormonal/emotional reflex - that that's the role of an instinct?

Ridiculous.

[Mobiboros]

You either have severely outdated psych books or your psych professor is a dolt. Part of psychology research is understanding the basis for human instincts. It's part of what the field is trying to do, hence the arena of bio-psych and neuro-psych.

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

I don't know. It's so confusing. I don't see how an animal can be born with no instincts whatsoever. IT just seems odd that multiple disciplines keep saying the same thing.\

THe sociology is worse. That's the text that actually says humans only have culture, not instincts. The Psyke just says that reflexes are not instincts and that there's no such thing as human maternal instinct.

Meh. I don't know why colleges would knowingly promulgate bullshit. It seems a ripoff, since you pay so much.

[Boyish-Tigerlilly]

I can just imagine a human who hasn't been "enculturated" by society standing still while something tries to eat it. I thought people had a fight/flight.

[Jarl Sven]

of course people have instincts

we call them feelings

[Quadlok]

I don't know. It's so confusing. I don't see how an animal can be born with no instincts whatsoever. IT just seems odd that multiple disciplines keep saying the same thing.\

THe sociology is worse. That's the text that actually says humans only have culture, not instincts. The Psyke just says that reflexes are not instincts and that there's no such thing as human maternal instinct.

Meh. I don't know why colleges would knowingly promulgate bullshit. It seems a ripoff, since you pay so much.

Psych is still a soft science. In other words, its as much opinion as fact. You can get the same sort of thing in economics or history. If you want consistency and sense, then its off to mathematics land for you.

[dworkin]

Humans have a vast number of instincts.

I see a porno picture, I get horny.
I smell chocolate cake, my mouth waters and I get hungry.
I see a truck coming at me, I swerve.
I get plunged underwater, I stop breathing.
My bladder gets full, I urinate.
A ball is thrown at me, my mind automatically makes the insane calculations so that my hand catches it.
I listen to sociologists, my fists itch

[xcr]

Most appetant- grasp and suck, breathing etc. cannot be learned...

[Drooling Iguana]

Appetant? I'm trying to figure out what that was a typo/mispelling of, and I'm having no luck whatsoever.

[Molyneux]

Appetant? I'm trying to figure out what that was a typo/mispelling of, and I'm having no luck whatsoever.

I would think "appetite", most likely.

[Drooling Iguana]

Doesn't really fit the context, though.

[wolveraptor]

of course people have instincts

we call them feelings

That's true of most things, such as defending a family member or "pack member" but probably not of something complex like love or sadness. And by sadness, I don't mean sadness because you are in physical pain.

[wilfulton]

My sociology instructor said the same thing, that humans have no instincts, only animals.

Keep in mind, however, that biologically speaking, humans ARE a member of the animal kingdom.

In truth I think psychologists and sociologists instinctively deny that we have any connections whatsoever with other members of the animal kingdom. They explain your dog feeling sad when you leave her alone in the house to go shopping and excited upon your return with a bag of doggie treats as "instinct," rather than emotion, and a hunter who falls in a river in the middle of winter has a "learned" response to get out of the water, rather than an instinctive reaction because it's just too damn cold to think, you gotta act before you get hypothermia.

*sigh* I just took psy and soc for those three credits apiece I needed in humanities/social sciences.

[Chmee]

Definitions would be helpful. Is this what they all mean by 'instinct':

An inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a species and is often a response to specific environmental stimuli.

If it is, then ... how do they explain an infant suckling? It just seems like a good idea to the kid? Gimme a break.

[wilfulton]

Grrrr....how could I have forgot?!

Why are we always attracted by advertisers pictures of "Attractive" women (and men) for clothing, towels, shampoo, etc. Why are "attactive" people always slender, and well toned, why no bulging rolls?

Why is this type of advertising so effective?

[Chmee]

Grrrr....how could I have forgot?!

Why are we always attracted by advertisers pictures of "Attractive" women (and men) for clothing, towels, shampoo, etc. Why are "attactive" people always slender, and well toned, why no bulging rolls?

Why is this type of advertising so effective?

You may want to check out Renaissaince art ... 'ideal' body types are very influenced by culture.

You think Callista Flockhart is 'hot' in Samoa? (Not that I think anybody should consider her 'hot').

[Duckie]

Grrrr....how could I have forgot?!

Why are we always attracted by advertisers pictures of "Attractive" women (and men) for clothing, towels, shampoo, etc. Why are "attactive" people always slender, and well toned, why no bulging rolls?

Why is this type of advertising so effective?

An ingrained cultural mindset that started as sexual selection towards a naturally thin and strong mate. A species which breeds its females with the fat and the weak will not survive as easily.

You'll note there are several cultures which, as a whole, think (I believe one is a part of native Brazil) that do not value thinness and believe that bigger is more beautiful. I find that strange, since Fat would be of little value in the rain forest. It'd make more sense in Russia or Argentina where it's cold and heat retension is a big thing, but not everything humans do makes a lot of sense.

Though when you get down to the details like Red Hair vs. Blonde, Blue vs. Brown Eyes, I have a feeling it's a random distribution for attractivability (the potential to be considered attractive- that isn't a word but I don't care) because they have no affect on a species that doesn't need camoflague.

Though I don't pretend to be a Biology Major. I'm just a simple high school student.

[Hawkwings]

Most appetant- grasp and suck, breathing etc. cannot be learned...

"Apparent" maybe

[Stark]

Psych texts may be treatnig 'instinct' as D&D-style Spidey-sense and not a preferred reaction or set of behaviours. It seems incredible that a text would claim that humans don't respond like complex animals.

[wolveraptor]

Grrrr....how could I have forgot?!

Why are we always attracted by advertisers pictures of "Attractive" women (and men) for clothing, towels, shampoo, etc. Why are "attactive" people always slender, and well toned, why no bulging rolls?

Why is this type of advertising so effective?

What do you mean no bulges? Bulges are awesome.

[Molyneux]

Grrrr....how could I have forgot?!

Why are we always attracted by advertisers pictures of "Attractive" women (and men) for clothing, towels, shampoo, etc. Why are "attactive" people always slender, and well toned, why no bulging rolls?

Why is this type of advertising so effective?

An ingrained cultural mindset that started as sexual selection towards a naturally thin and strong mate. A species which breeds its females with the fat and the weak will not survive as easily.

You'll note there are several cultures which, as a whole, think (I believe one is a part of native Brazil) that do not value thinness and believe that bigger is more beautiful. I find that strange, since Fat would be of little value in the rain forest. It'd make more sense in Russia or Argentina where it's cold and heat retension is a big thing, but not everything humans do makes a lot of sense.

Though when you get down to the details like Red Hair vs. Blonde, Blue vs. Brown Eyes, I have a feeling it's a random distribution for attractivability (the potential to be considered attractive- that isn't a word but I don't care) because they have no affect on a species that doesn't need camoflague.

Though I don't pretend to be a Biology Major. I'm just a simple high school student.

Fat is, in a pre-industrial society, one of the best signs of how well someone is doing. If they can afford enough food that they're actually *fat*, then they're probably going to be able to provide for a family very easily.

Personally, I think a little plumpness is a very desirable trait in a prospective mate ^_^

[Zero]

Yeah, I have a thing for big women. I couldn't justify it, but hell, attractiveness aint something that can be justified. It just is. Which is why it is an instinct, and not some other BS that people might claim.

[Keevan_Colton]

I ran into this same bullshit with the sociology course here and took them to task about it.

Sociology has now been removed as a requisite on my course as of next year thanks to my refusal to accept pseudoscientific nonsense from them and convincing others to do the same.