A person is not born helpless and unable to do anything. It's just that after birth, his body is not yet sufficiently formed to be able to perform all the basic actions that are characteristic of all people. Instincts are basic actions that are performed by absolutely all people. To understand what it is, how it affects our life and what examples can be given, the online magazine site will consider this topic.

Absolutely all people are born with instincts. These are unconditioned reflexes that are manifested in all living beings and perform important functions. Among all types of instincts, the most important are the feelings of self-preservation and reproduction. The desire to preserve your life is manifested from the first minutes of life. The child screams, cries to be fed, warmed, lulled, etc.

As the human body grows stronger and becomes independently functioning, the child is more and more exposed to instincts. A striking example is the ability of pediatricians to tell parents in what month of their life what a child should do in order to consider him to be developing normally. During the first years of life, all children live at the level of instincts that dictate to them how they will develop, what to do, how to react, how their organisms will act, etc.

However, instincts are not all that a person's life is based on, otherwise people would not be different from the animal world. If animals act at the level of instincts, then people, as they develop and grow, acquire conditioned reflexes - these are certain skills that require training and consolidation for their implementation. People with these skills are not born. If a person is not taught them, then he will not be able to fulfill them. However, as the education progresses, instincts fade into the background more and more, giving way to conditioned reflexes.

Instincts cannot be suppressed or completely eliminated. However, a person is able to stop and control himself in time. If you exercise control over your own actions, then the instincts will not be able to manifest in full force. The person will experience instinctive experiences and manifestations (for example, rapid heartbeat or sweating), but can control their actions.

Instincts usually work in an emergency and life-threatening danger to a person. An example is the attack of a dog, from which a person wants to run away or fights off with stones, jerking his hand away from a hot kettle (it is unlikely that someone will be able not to do this, unless the person has disturbances in the perception of analyzers or the processing of incoming information by the brain).

Instincts always work in full measure when a person is not in control. However, here one should distinguish between automatically generated actions and instincts. The fact that a person does not think about the fact that he needs to raise his hand to turn on the light in the room does not yet make his actions instinctive.

The instincts of a person do not need to be taught, he already possesses them and obeys them, if he does not try to stop his actions. A person must learn automatic conditioned reflexes and other behavior in order to perform it.

What are instincts?

Instincts are understood as automatic conditioned actions that are given to all people from birth and do not require their conscious control. Basically, instincts are aimed at the survival of the individual and the preservation of his kind. Thus, a person instinctively begins to look for food or water when he is hungry or thirsty, runs away from danger or engages in battle when he is in danger, has sexual intercourse with the opposite sex in order to obtain offspring.

However, psychologists point out that humans have many more instincts than the animal world. Human instincts are called the desire for power, domination, communication. It should be noted that the most important instinct, which has many types of its manifestation, is the desire to maintain balance. The so-called homeostasis - when a person wants to experience calmness and peace - is one of the basic aspirations.

Instinct is not a goal, as some people might think. The fact that a person consciously desires and wants to achieve something is not an instinct. Here, a person simply arranges his life, which can exist anyway if he does nothing.

It is necessary to distinguish instincts from internal fears, complexes, feelings that develop in a person during his life. They are also called acquired, or social fears. For example, the feeling of guilt is an acquired quality that affects a person at a subconscious level. However, no one is born with a sense of guilt; it is developed in people as they grow and develop.

You should also highlight such common fears as:

1. Fear of being unrecognized.
2. Fear of criticism.
3. etc.

These are all social fears. They are more connected with the mental harmony of a person than with his survival.

However, there are fears that to some extent can be attributed to instinctive. So, fear of sharks or spiders, fear of heights - these fears can be developed, but they are based on the instinct of self-survival, when a person must first of all take care of the safety of his health and life.

Human instincts

A person is a complex being, which can be explained by the example of the transformation and complication of instincts in the course of his life. A person is born with biological needs that are dictated by instincts - automatic actions aimed at meeting the needs of the body. However, a person lives in a society where there are rules, norms, traditions and other aspects. He is exposed to education, training, influence, which allows instincts to fade into the background.

Instincts do not disappear or disappear. Sometimes a person even learns to stop and control them. As you gain experience and shape your life, human instincts are transformed. If you notice an inadequately behaving person in a stressful situation, it means that he has not yet developed a mechanism that would restrain him. instinctive behavior... However, there are individuals who have already learned to remain calm in situations that threaten them with death or require fertilization (sexual intercourse).

Thus, human instincts do not disappear anywhere, but they begin to obey certain fears, worldview, conditioned reflexes and even social norms, when an individual learns to engage in the process in time in order to slow down his instinctive actions and quickly transfer them to other actions.

Instincts are given to absolutely all people and persist for life. They are neither good nor bad. Instincts help a person in the first place to survive, otherwise his birth and existence becomes meaningless. On the other hand, instinctive actions are often considered unacceptable in a society where laws and frameworks of behavior have been developed. Therefore, a person must learn to control his instinctive impulses and transfer energy to perform actions acceptable to society.

This is what distinguishes humans from animals - conscious control, when instincts exist and continue to help humans survive. However, the individual is able to control himself and not obey the instinctive energy, if it is inappropriate in a particular case.

Types of instincts

There are many types of instincts:

1. The self-preservation instinct is the most basic and initial. Every child begins to cry if there is no mother or the person who constantly cares about him. If a person's instinct for self-preservation does not fade away over time under the influence of social education, then he becomes cautious, calculating. Gambling, risky people commit destructive actions when they jump with a parachute or climb into the cages of predatory animals. Depending on the degree of self-preservation instinct, a person will perform certain actions.
2. Continuation of the family. This instinct first manifests itself at the level of desire for the parents' family to remain whole, not to be destroyed, and then a person himself begins to desire to create his own family and have children. This instinct also has different level its manifestation. There are people who control their sexual desires and remain faithful to their only marriage partners, and there are people who do not want or are not able to control sexual lust, therefore they have mistresses or do not create families at all in order to be able to copulate with a large number of members of the opposite sex ...
3. Study. As the human body grows stronger, it begins to study the world... Curiosity becomes an instinct that is aimed at studying the world around him, the desire to understand it and begin to interact with it, which will also allow him to live harmoniously, to preserve his life.
4. Domination. A person experiences an inner need to have power, to lead other people, to control and manage. This instinct manifests itself in people to varying degrees.
5. Independence and freedom. These instincts are also innate, when every child resists any attempt to swaddle him, restrict his actions or prohibit him. Adults also do everything to gain maximum freedom and independence in the world in which they are forced to live.
6. ... This instinct can be combined with the instinct of research, since a person first studies the world around him, and then begins to adapt to it in order to develop such skills and form such knowledge that will help him to effectively survive in the existing conditions.
7. Communicative. A person can be alone, but he gravitates more towards a herd existence, when you can communicate, conduct joint affairs and solve problems at someone else's expense.

Instinct examples

The most striking examples of instincts are a person's desire to flee or defend themselves in a situation of danger. Also, almost all people in one way or another want to continue their family. It is impossible to call instincts the feelings that parents show for their child, but their presence makes mothers and fathers take care of their offspring until it becomes independent and independent of them.

Social instincts, that is, those that are developed throughout life, can be called a tendency to altruism and the desire to maintain self-esteem.

Outcome

Instincts are given to all people with only one goal - to preserve the human race (first the person himself, and then to induce to reproduce and preserve their young). Instincts dull over the years, as a person learns to control them or stop in time thanks to those conditioned actions that he gains in the course of life.

The instincts of self-preservation and procreation are basic, ensuring the physical survival of an individual and a species. The exploratory instinct and the instinct of freedom provide the primary specialization of man. The instincts of dominance and preservation of dignity ensure self-affirmation, self-preservation of a person in psychosocial terms. Together, these instincts ensure the adaptation of a person to real life... The altruistic instinct socializes the egocentric essence of all other instincts.

Usually in a person one or more instincts dominate, while the rest are less pronounced, but fully affect the orientation of the personality in any activity.

As a result of testing, the severity of each of the seven basic instincts and which instinct is dominant are determined.

^ I. INSTINCT OF SELF-PRESERVATION
From early childhood, a person of this type manifests a tendency to increased caution, the child does not let the mother away from him for a moment, is afraid of the dark, heights, water, is intolerant of pain (refusal of dental treatment, visits to doctors, etc.).

On the basis of this type, a personality with pronounced egocentricity, anxious suspiciousness, a tendency, under unfavorable circumstances, to obsessive fears, phobias or hysterical reactions can be formed. These are people for whom "Safety and health are above all!", And their motto: "Life is one and there will be no more." The evolutionary expediency of the presence of this type lies in the fact that its carriers, while preserving themselves, are the keepers of the gene pool of the clan, tribe. This type is characterized by the following leading qualities:

Self-centeredness

Conservatism,

Willingness to sacrifice social needs for the sake of their own safety,

Risk denial

Anxiety about your health and well-being.

^ II. INSTINCT OF PROTECTION OF LIVING
It is characterized by a kind of egocentrism, when the "I" is replaced by the concept of "We" (by "We" means the family) up to the denial of the "I". Values, goals, life plan are subordinated to one thing - the interests of children and families. Already in childhood, the interests of this type of people are fixed on the family and such a child is only happy when the father and mother return from work, the whole family is assembled, everyone is healthy and everyone has good mood... He sharply feels the discord in the family, and in this case, he may have a depressive neurotic reaction.

These are people who value the interests of the family above all else, and their credo is: "My home is my fortress." The evolutionary expediency of the presence of this type is that its carriers are the keepers of the family, keepers of the gene pool of the clan, keepers of life.

This type has the following qualities:

Overlooking your children

Nepotism,

Over-concern for the safety and health of your children,

The tendency to deny your "I" in favor of "We" (family),

Overly anxious about the future of their children.

^ III. ALTRUITIC INSTITUTE
People of this type are characterized by kindness, empathy, caring for loved ones, especially for the elderly, are able to give others the last, even what he himself needs. They are convinced that it cannot be good for everyone if only one person is bad, and their credo is "Kindness will save the world, kindness is above all." And they are evolutionarily keepers of kindness, peace, keepers of life.

The altruistic type is characterized by leading qualities:

Kindness,

Empathy, understanding people,

Selflessness in relations with people,

Caring for the weak, sick,

Peacefulness.

^ IV. INSTINCT OF RESEARCH
From early childhood, people of this type show curiosity, a desire to get to the bottom of everything, a tendency to be creative. At first, these people are interested in everything, but then they are more and more captured by some one passion. Travelers, inventors, scientists are persons of this type. Their credo is "Creativity and progress are above all." The evolutionary feasibility of this type is obvious.

The research type is inherent in:

A penchant for research activities,

Inclination to search for something new, innovative in science, art,

The ability to leave a habitable place without hesitation, an established business when new, risky, but interesting cases and tasks appear,

Striving for creativity,

Selflessness in the realization of creative aspirations.

^ V. INSTINCT OF DOMINATION
From early childhood, there is a desire for leadership, the ability to organize a game, set a goal, show the will to achieve it, a personality is formed who knows what she wants and how to achieve what she wants, persistent in achieving the goal, ready for thoughtful risk, able to understand people and stories them behind you. The credo of this type is: "Business and order are above all"; "One is nothing, all is everything"; "It will be good for everyone - it will be good for everyone."

The evolutionary expediency of this type of presence of this type, which gives birth to leaders, organizers, politicians, is that they are the keepers of the interests and honor of the whole family.

The dominant type is characterized by:

Inclination for leadership, for power,

Predisposition to solving complex organizational problems,

Priority of career prospects over material incentives,

Readiness for a tough struggle for leadership, for first place,

The priority of the general (the interests of the business, the collective) over the private (the interests of one person).

^ VI. INSTINCT OF FREEDOM
Already in the cradle, a child of this type protests when he is swaddled. The propensity to protest against any restriction of freedom grows with them, people of this type are characterized by a desire for independence, denial of authorities (parents, teachers), tolerance for pain, a tendency to leave their father's house early, a predisposition to risk, stubbornness, negativity, intolerance of routine, bureaucracy. The credo of such people is: "Freedom is above all!" And they are the keepers of the interests and freedom of everyone, individuality; they naturally limit the tendencies of persons of the dominant type. They are the keepers of freedom, and with this - life. This type is characterized by:

Tendency to protest, rebellion,

Propensity to change places (denial of everyday life),

Striving for independence

A penchant for reform, revolutionary change,

Intolerance to any form of restrictions, to censorship, to suppression of "I".

^ VII. INSTINCT OF PRESERVATION OF DIGNITY
Already in early childhood a person of this type is able to catch irony, ridicule and is absolutely intolerant of any form of humiliation. Typical recklessness, willingness to sacrifice everyone in defending their rights, unshakable position "Honor is above all." The instinct of self-preservation in such a person is in last place. In the name of honor and dignity, these people go to Calvary.

Attachment to the family is expressed in the form of preserving family honor: "There were no scoundrels and cowards in our family." The evolutionary expediency of the presence of this type lies in the fact that its carriers are the keepers of the honor and dignity of the "I", personality, and with this - a life worthy of a person.

People of this type are characterized by:

Intolerance to any form of humiliation,

Willingness to sacrifice well-being and social status in the name of one's own dignity,

Priority of honor and pride over safety,

Uncompromising and straightforward in dealing with leaders,

Intolerance to all forms of human rights abuses (c)

Often, innate human instincts are also called basic instincts. These instincts are based on a person's tendency to perform certain actions or to avoid certain actions.

Of course, all innate human instincts are not fully realized, since social norms also play an important role.

It should be noted that in relation to humans, the precise definition of instincts does not apply. That is, complex innate reactions that occur in the body practically unchanged, as a response to environmental stimuli, concern only animals.

Today, there are three groups of innate human instincts.

So, the first group includes:

Predispositions that appear congenital. These instincts are responsible for a person's desire to save his life.

The signs of these instincts are:

the presence of dissatisfaction leads to the fact that the human individual has a significantly reduced chance of survival;

no need for another object in order to satisfy their needs.

In addition, this group includes such predispositions as:

The instinct of self-preservation. This instinct is innate, since every person, from his very birth, strives to avoid situations that could harm him or his health.

Evolutionary phobias. For example, some people from the very birth feel fear of certain objects, for example, fear of snakes, spiders, darkness.

Addiction or disgust. At the genetic level, a person may be disgusted or addicted to a particular food. For example, for someone it is an acute and irresistible desire to try something new, feeling a new taste, for someone, there is a desire to eat salty, mineral-filled or high-calorie foods.

Regulation of body temperature.

The desire to stay awake and when feeling tired - to sleep so that the body is filled with strength and energy for further existence.

Desire to see or feel the flight. Often, at the genetic level, many people have a desire to feel or watch a flight. So, for some individuals, the top view is especially popular, other people, at the first signs of danger, try to hide as high as possible, and some people are so attached to brachyation that they associate their main activity with air and flight. For example, doing skydiving or flying an airplane.

Another innate instinct in the first category is to have bowel movements. That is, everyone needs to urinate and defecate processed foods.

Another innate instinct is the passion for collecting or collecting.

Biological clock and rhythms. That is, interaction with the outside world occurs as a result of a person's habituation to factors the environment that have periodic changes. That is, getting used to temperature fluctuations, changing seasons, etc.

Sleep and rest. That is, every human individual from birth has a need for rest to restore their strength.

Today, many scientists distinguish the second category of congenital human instincts, which are called social.

The peculiarity of these instincts is that the process of their formation occurs only if one individual has an interaction with another.

This group identifies the following predispositions:

The instinct of procreation. That is, each person has an innate desire to continue his race, creating his offspring.

Parental behavior. This instinct manifests itself when a person has children; on a subconscious level, he has a desire to take care of and take care of his offspring.

Domination and submission. This instinct is manifested in some people by the desire to subjugate other people (pronounced leadership qualities), while in others - to obey.

Appeasement and aggression.

Territorial instincts. That is, a clear delineation of its territory.

Group behavior. It is characterized by a person's desire to obey the opinion of the majority, as the only correct one.

The third group of instincts consists of innate programs ideal needs... The peculiarity of this category is due to the fact that it is not tied to individual or species adaptation to reality. That is, these instincts cannot be derived, they can only exist independently and in general.

These instincts include:

• instinct to learn;
• the existence of games;
• the presence of imitation;
• having their own preferences in art.

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Instincts are confused with reflexes (conditioned and unconditioned) and innate needs. The last two concepts are applicable to a person, but instincts are not:

Here's a recent question about animals:

Or here, for example, a review article:

I will quote about the most popular, about the instinct of self-preservation:

So what happens? Are expressions like "self-preservation instinct" incorrect? But what, then, can you call "automatic" pulling your hand away from a hot stove or fire ?! Yes, quite right, a person has an innate NEED for self-preservation. But we cannot call it an instinct, since we do not have an appropriate PCD, that is, an innate program of motor activity that would satisfy this need. Having been pricked or burned, we withdraw our hand - but this is NOT an INSTINCT, but only a REFLEX (unconditional) to painful irritation. In general, we have a lot of protective unconditioned reflexes, for example, the blink reflex, coughing, sneezing, vomiting. But these are the simplest standard reflexes. All other threats to the integrity of the organism cause only such reactions that we acquire in the process of learning.

Here's a good example. Reproduction is a brighter topic than death avoidance. If you have multiplied, then your life is no longer important, selection presses weaker here.

Doubts arise just remembering all sorts of childfree and just a lot of people unable to find a partner. Is it human instinct? Or just an innate need without a fixed set of actions to ensure the success of any male guppy fish *?

* Danced, shook fins in a special way, welcome to mate, if the other did not drive away. But the other one will also dance without fail, without a dance there is no love. The female simply will not "read" him as a male.

And what we see in higher monkeys:

The Harlow couple raised 55 monkeys without their mothers. When they became sexually mature, only one monkey showed interest in a sexual partner. Among 90 other monkeys raised with a dummy, only 4 became parents, but they also treated their cubs very badly. Some of them spent all their time sitting in one place, in complete indifference to others. Others adopted strange postures or wriggled unnaturally. The lack of maternal care left their imprint on them for life.

The evolution of instincts in a series of vertebrates is a gradual weakening of their formative influence and replacement by elements of experience. With the progressive development of the individuality of the animal, instinct is replaced by stereotypes where the reaction must be rigid and rigid, learning and intelligence where and when a flexible response to the situation is necessary. Stereotypical and ritual forms of behavior are conservative and rigid, "intellectual" plastic and easily improved, but both are developed by the social environment - the first in the framework of rational processes, the second through the creation of concepts of the situation.

This is called culture.

Also see the comments on Lisa Nesser's answer.

[Although, in truth, a person still has one single instinct, which was discovered by Irenius Able-Eibesfeldt, a student of K. Lorenz. When we meet a person we like, we not only smile, parting our lips, we also involuntarily raise our eyebrows. This movement, which lasts 1/6 of a second, was recorded by Eble-Eibesfeldt on film in people of different races. He spent most of his research in the wild corners of the planet, among tribes who do not know not only television, but also radio, and have rare and superficial contacts with neighbors. Thus, the raising of the eyebrows could not be formed as a result of the simulation training. The main argument was the behavior of children who were blind from birth. They, too, have the voice of a person they like to raise their eyebrows, and for the same 150 milliseconds.]

We learned that the content of the unconscious is the irrational animal instincts, physiological in nature. It is these instincts that are the source of psychic energy. Their manifestation is refracted through the consciousness and stereotypes of culture, assimilated by a person in the process of socialization, thanks to which we are capable of social existence. Although consciousness suppresses animal instincts, their energy continues to have a significant impact on our behavior and motivation. It is the instincts that remain driving force each of our actions.

We know that in the process of gaining life experience, instincts tend to differentiate and become more complex. Man today is a creature with one of the most complex systems of instincts.

The human instinctual sphere is very different from the animal instinct sphere, but you can still find interpretations in which an equal sign is placed between them. This mistaken thought leads to clear negative consequences. To which ones, we will clarify further. Let us dwell on three basic instincts that underlie most of human behavior: the instinct for self-preservation, the sexual instinct, and the instinct for power. Let's take a closer look at what each of them is.

The instinct of self-preservation.

Self-preservation instinct is the easiest to understand. You are a living person and your nature strives to preserve your life. Self-preservation instinct warns you of danger. It manifests itself in the desire to avoid situations that threaten your life. If a car is moving towards you at high speed, then you will experience a natural fear and a desire to step aside. If you are walking in a dark alley and see a person, you instinctively sense danger and want to avoid meeting him. I think you understood everything with this instinct before reading these lines.

Sexual instinct.

At first glance, it may seem to you that you have a complete understanding of the nature of the sexual instinct. In your mind, its action is most likely perceived only as a desire to have sex with the aim of procreation. But if this were so, then the need for sexual intimacy would be seasonal. You may notice that humans do not have the urge to produce offspring twice a year, like most other animals. A person is constantly experiencing attraction and craving for sexual intercourse. This is explained by the fact that with the development of the instinctive sphere, the animal desire to reproduce in humans was transformed into a phenomenon of a different kind. But in order to clearly understand the nature of sexuality, you need to know some of the features of human physiology.

It is known that the heart takes on only 40-45% of all blood distillation work. The rest of the work is carried out due to microcontractions of peripheral vessels and capillaries. In other words, in addition to the heart, almost all our organs, including the skin, take part in blood circulation. This creates a stable blood pressure in the body, which provides the necessary blood supply to the entire body.

In order for the peripheral vessels to fully participate in the blood flow, they need constant stimulation from the outside. Nature has created a mechanism for external stimulation of energy processes in the body through the interaction of individuals with each other. The need for such interaction is provided by the instinct for life, also called sexuality.

Lack of sexual contacts leads to a decrease in the plasticity of blood vessels and their ability to micro-contractions. As a result, the blood supply to the internal organs is disrupted. Instead of 40%, the heart begins to take on 70% of the work or more. A large load generates various diseases heart, and insufficient blood supply to internal organs leads to their chronic diseases... All these effects, added together, lead to premature aging of the body.

Thus, bodily contact with other people is a natural requirement of the body. If there are enough of them, then the peristalsis of the vessels works normally, as a result, the body functions well, is adaptive to external changes, is able to work in a wide range of modes, and quickly and smoothly rebuilds.

It is necessary to understand that the manifestation of the sexual instinct is not a desire for sexual intercourse. It is needed primarily to maintain the life of the body. Erotic instinct often lies at the basis of friendly attraction, and at the basis of aesthetic ideas, etc. This is the instinct to maintain life and its quality, both in the individual and in the general sense. Therefore, it is incomparably wider than such a narrow sphere that attracts increased attention in our culture as procreation.

At first glance, this information may not seem important enough to pay so much attention to. So what if a person needs bodily contact with other people for health? After all, many people do not know this and somehow live for themselves.

In the following articles, you will learn the psychological consequences of a lack of human touch. Now it is worth noting only that the circumvention of this topic in the system of social education proceeds from the repressiveness of culture in relation to the sexual instinct. In modern culture, it has developed so that practically no attention is paid to this issue. For the most part, people understand sexuality only in the sense of procreation. As a result, virtually everyone experiences deep sexual dissatisfaction. This has a certain share of benefits in terms of the survival of society. The energy of unrealized sexuality is concentrated, "sublimated" in the unconscious. This sublimated energy can be inverted, that is, directed to others, including conscious actions. Sublimation and inversion of sexual energy - these are the processes that supply "fuel" for specifically human behavior, for activity. This is where the benefits of limiting sexual intercourse end. Otherwise, this leads to neurotization, but more on that in the next articles.

Power instinct.

In the article "The Origin of the Structure of Personality" we mentioned that in order to survive, a person needed to acquire the ability to group existence. And for this he had to learn how to suppress instinctive aggression towards other members of the community. This necessity led to the emergence of consciousness, the development of speech and the emergence of a new instinct.

So the natural aggressiveness and the desire to preserve the advantages of group existence gave rise to the instinct of power, expressed in the desire to control and transform the external world. In his desire to influence the world, man has mastered nature, learned to control energy, made many discoveries. People with the most highly developed instincts became able to subjugate other people - from this, group actions became even more effective, which further accelerated the process of human development. So the emergence of the instinct for power led to the emergence of modern civilization.

The instinct of power in an individual is manifested in the desire to seize more space, to expand the sphere of his influence on other people and on the whole of society. The will to power is the main source of creative motives. The instinct of power works when you want to do something, to achieve some of your socially useful goals, which are not related to the first two instincts described. You want to create a business - you are driven by the instinct for power. Wanting to become a teacher is an instinct for power. If you want to do a social project, do charity work, you are driven by the instinct of power. It is the power instinct that makes you want to be successful. But it manifests itself only when you really act in the direction of your goal. Desire is only a signal of the will to power. Usually we feel the signal, but with the actions we have the most problems. Let's see why.

Suppression of instincts.

As you have noticed from your life, there are no special problems with the realization of the instinct of self-preservation. Big problems arise with the realization of the sexual instinct and already huge problems arise with the realization of the instinct of power.

Why? It's all about our upbringing. Upbringing is determined by the culture of each particular society. Most of all, culture suppresses the instinct for power, then the sexual instinct, and no one interferes with self-preservation. Society as a whole is interested in your life, but it is not interested in you showing yourself to the fullest.

The fact is that it threatens the stability of society. Society as a system has a striving for self-preservation, therefore it reproduces people who can easily integrate into it and will not disturb its balance. For this purpose, a person's individuality is sacrificed. People who fully realize their basic instincts always make attempts to rise above the system, which leads to its instability. Such individuals always become the elite and are able to influence the development of society. The elites are not interested in breeding competitors for themselves, therefore, they educate only a small part of the people to be more free, to replace themselves, and sometimes they do not even educate their successors at all.

Usually a person from an average family who is brought up in the conditions of modern culture turns out to be not free. His basic instincts are suppressed, with the result that he becomes unable to freely manifest his sexuality and instinct for power. Such a person is easily manageable, he needs a master who will tell him what to do and where to go.

Blocking basic instincts through upbringing makes every person more or less neurotic. We will analyze the nature of human neuroticism in the following articles.