The Instincts and Senses of M A N

[Whiterain]

I considered intuition and instinct the same category in O.P. that is my fault.

Thank you for the contributions, I can't explain it.

Even though intuition can be created through repetition, that is not what I am talking about. It is a feeling
that I thought/ think is instinct. I do not know why you wouldn't think Man has no instincts, that is
absurd.

What about knowing when someone is lying to you when it is not blatantly obvious, bold face lie.

Hunting takes instincts far as well as other life situations and what I am talking about isn't paranoia.

My best example of what I am talking about is feeling someone looking at you from behind, which you can
do in public. I'm not telling you to go out into public and grill people.

 

[FranklinMichaelV.3]

(One more time, then I'm going home.) The mall experiment proves my point. To be an 'instinct' every human in the mall has to snap their heads around to see the starer. They all have to do this uniformly and totally with out thinking about their action. In other words they can't think or 'feel' some one staring at the back of their heads and turn to look; it has to be an automatic, unconscious, and nonstoppable action executed by every member of that species. Granted individual humans may have greater reflexes or intuitive powers, but instincts--fortunately, no.

Except things like fear of the dark are instinctual. Humans however aren't just instincts.

We also have "higher" thinking which in turn gives us a little bit more leeway in how we react to situations even if our instincts are screaming at us. Ever tried to drop a baby? Or notice how strong their grips are? Or how a baby will find its mothers breast even when it's eyes are closed? Or how they automatically start suckling on anything placed in their mouth?

It's as we grow that we learn to over power some of our instincts.

 

[Ouroboros]

(One more time, then I'm going home.) The mall experiment proves my point. To be an 'instinct' every human in the mall has to snap their heads around to see the starer. They all have to do this uniformly and totally with out thinking about their action. In other words they can't think or 'feel' some one staring at the back of their heads and turn to look; it has to be an automatic, unconscious, and nonstoppable action executed by every member of that species. Granted individual humans may have greater reflexes or intuitive powers, but instincts--fortunately, no.

Like mistakenly grabbing a hot pan on the stove and quiclky pull your hand back when you feel the pang of pain shooting though your hand? Wouldn't most people instinctively do this or is it a planned reaction?

 

[BSM1]

Like mistakenly grabbing a hot pan on the stove and quiclky pull your hand back when you feel the pang of pain shooting though your hand? Wouldn't most people instinctively do this or is it a planned reaction?

Reflex, my friend. Purely reflex.

 

[freethinker44]

Have you ever been afraid of the dark?

Not an instinct.

How about felt an attraction to a woman (if you are a man) with large hips or large breast?

Not an instinct.

Have you ever felt fear?

Not an instinct.

 

[Ouroboros]

Reflex, my friend. Purely reflex.

Ah. Ok. Fair enough.

 

[freethinker44]

You are wrong, dead wrong.

Most all animals have biological drive.

Nope, it's true, humans don't have instincts. We have no mechanism that makes us perform complex behaviors outside of our intelligence.

Ever have a dream your falling and wake up. That is a instinct millions of years old that goes back to when our primate relative's who had survival instincts that helped them so they would not fall out of tree's.

That's a reflex, not an instinct. There is an important difference between the two.

 

[freethinker44]

Except things like fear of the dark are instinctual. Humans however aren't just instincts.

Fears are not instincts.

It's as we grow that we learn to over power some of our instincts.

Any behavior or urge you can over power with intellect is not an instinct.

 

[freethinker44]

Instinct:
A genetically fixed pattern of complex behavior (that is, beyond reflex) which appears in all normal animals within a given species. The behavior of humans is not instinctual.

INSTINCT definition | Sociology Dictionary

 

[outhouse]

Nope, it's true, humans don't have instincts. We have no mechanism that makes us perform complex behaviors outside of our intelligence.



That's a reflex, not an instinct. There is an important difference between the two.

false

And I will ask for sources.

 

[outhouse]

Instinct - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Any behavior is instinctive if it is performed without being based upon prior experience (that is, in the absence of learning),


Other examples include animal fighting, animal courtship behavior, internal escape functions, and the building of nests. All of these are examples of complex behaviors and are thus substantially different from simple reflex behaviors.

This is why your also dead wrong, you notice that part about animal courtship.

 

[outhouse]

More
James Rowland Angell: Psychology: Chapter 16: The Important Human Instincts

List of Human Instincts.-- Waiving, then, the question of the order of appearance, we find the generally recognised instincts in man to be as follows: Fear, anger, shyness, curiosity, affection, sexual love, jealousy and envy, rivalry, sociability, sympathy, modesty ( ?), play, imitation, constructiveness, secretiveness, and acquisitiveness.

 

[freethinker44]

More
James Rowland Angell: Psychology: Chapter 16: The Important Human Instincts

List of Human Instincts.-- Waiving, then, the question of the order of appearance, we find the generally recognised instincts in man to be as follows: Fear, anger, shyness, curiosity, affection, sexual love, jealousy and envy, rivalry, sociability, sympathy, modesty ( ?), play, imitation, constructiveness, secretiveness, and acquisitiveness.

All of this behavior is learned so cannot by definition be instinctive.

 

[freethinker44]

Instinct - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Any behavior is instinctive if it is performed without being based upon prior experience (that is, in the absence of learning),


Other examples include animal fighting, animal courtship behavior, internal escape functions, and the building of nests. All of these are examples of complex behaviors and are thus substantially different from simple reflex behaviors.

This is why your also dead wrong, you notice that part about animal courtship.

Human courtship behavior is learned, otherwise it would be the same for all of us every time in every region and in every culture.

Incidentally, sociologists consider culture the driving factor in human behavior as intelligence replaced instinct. And this can be seen throughout the animal kingdom, not just with humans. As animals decrease in intelligence, their reliance on instinct becomes stronger, the more intelligent a species becomes, the fewer instincts they have.

This is a quote from the same wiki article you referenced to support your opinion.

Psychologist Abraham Maslow argued that humans no longer have instincts because we have the ability to override them in certain situations. He felt that what is called instinct is often imprecisely defined, and really amounts to strong drives. For Maslow, an instinct is something which cannot be overridden, and therefore while the term may have applied to humans in the past, it no longer does.

 

[fantome profane]

Humans absolutely have instincts, instincts about what to eat or not eat, instincts about what to avoid, instincts about how to survive. We are not always consciously aware of them, and we cannot always control them. Yes sometimes we are aware and can choose to defy our instincts, but that does not mean we don't have them.

BBC documentary on human instincts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Q-m4lXNL2k

(btw this also does an excellent job at answering the question why does food taste good.)

 

[freethinker44]

Humans absolutely have instincts, instincts about what to eat or not eat, instincts about what to avoid, instincts about how to survive. We are not always consciously aware of them, and we cannot always control them.

If we have instincts that tell us what to eat and what to avoid, why do people die from eating poison? Should I be able to walk through a forest and eat any berry or mushroom I see and completely trust in my instincts to prevent me from eating something that will kill me? Of course not, I would be lucky if I didn't kill myself that way. Knowing what is safe to eat is a learned behavior.

Yes sometimes we are aware and can choose to defy our instincts, but that does not mean we don't have them.

It absolutely means we don't have them.

 

[fantome profane]

If we have instincts that tell us what to eat and what to avoid, why do people die from eating poison? Should I be able to walk through a forest and eat any berry or mushroom I see and completely trust in my instincts to prevent me from eating something that will kill me? Of course not, I would be lucky if I didn't kill myself that way. Knowing what is safe to eat is a learned behavior.



It absolutely means we don't have them.

You seem to be under the impression that an instinct must be absolute. This is nonsense. There is no reason for thinking that an instinct must be absolute. Sometimes one instinct can conflict with another instinct. Sometimes an instinct can conflict with learned behaviour.

You seem to be under the impression that an instinct must be perfect. Again this is nonsense. Instincts are the product of evolution, and what may work in one situation may not work in another. The classic example is moths that instinctively fly into flames. This is still an instinctive response. You mention humans consuming poison. Humans have an instinctive drive to consume sweet foods. This is the product of our evolution and has served our species for hundreds of thousands of years. But there are some poisons out there that have a sweet taste, and some people die from consuming them. This does not change the fact that it is an instinctive response.

You also seem to be under the impression that instinctive responses must the uniform and even synchronized across the entire species. Again this is nonsense. There is no reason to think that an instinctive response must be absolutely identical from one individual to another. Like every other biological trait there is variation within species. And there is always a wide variety of physiological factors to take into account.

But a human infant will instinctively cry when hungry, and an human mother will instinctively want to go to that child.

 

[freethinker44]

You seem to be under the impression that an instinct must be absolute. This is nonsense. There is no reason for thinking that an instinct must be absolute. Sometimes one instinct can conflict with another instinct. Sometimes an instinct can conflict with learned behaviour.

You seem to be under the impression that an instinct must be perfect. Again this is nonsense. Instincts are the product of evolution, and what may work in one situation may not work in another. The classic example is moths that instinctively fly into flames. This is still an instinctive response. You mention humans consuming poison. Humans have an instinctive drive to consume sweet foods. This is the product of our evolution and has served our species for hundreds of thousands of years. But there are some poisons out there that have a sweet taste, and some people die from consuming them. This does not change the fact that it is an instinctive response.

You also seem to be under the impression that instinctive responses must the uniform and even synchronized across the entire species. Again this is nonsense. There is no reason to think that an instinctive response must be absolutely identical from one individual to another. Like every other biological trait there is variation within species. And there is always a wide variety of physiological factors to take into account.

But a human infant will instinctively cry when hungry, and an human mother will instinctively want to go to that child.

Look at what an instinct is in the rest of the animal kingdom and try to apply that humans. You can't. You are confusing urges and drives with instinctive behavior. There is a difference. Instincts are compulsive needs to perform complex, unlearned behavior that are uniform throughout a species. No human behavior can be described this way. Reflexes are not instincts, and urges are not instincts.

 

[fantome profane]

Look at what an instinct is in the rest of the animal kingdom and try to apply that humans. You can't. You are confusing urges and drives with instinctive behavior. There is a difference. Instincts are compulsive needs to perform complex, unlearned behavior that are uniform throughout a species. No human behavior can be described this way. Reflexes are not instincts, and urges are not instincts.

Well all I can say is you are just wrong, you have a misconception of what an instinct is. And the vast majority of biological scientists will disagree with you. Watch the BBC documentary I posted.

 

[outhouse]

All of this behavior is learned so cannot by definition be instinctive.

Your wrong.


Your providing a fringe opinion, with no real sources