Instinct is a person's innate tendencies to complex forms of automatic behavior that satisfy certain needs of the body. In a narrow sense, instinct is defined as a set of hereditarily determined actions. It manifests itself in behavioral acts aimed at searching for food, self-preservation, achievement, and the desire to continue one's family. Instinct is an unconditioned reflex that constitutes the principles of animal behavior. The higher animals in their individual development come to a modification of the basic instincts, which can reach more complex expressions of behavior. Human instincts, in addition to the biological orientation, that is, the satisfaction of the needs necessary for an elementary existence, go further and suggest instincts that satisfy personal needs, intentions (power, dominance, communication).

human instincts

The human unconscious is irrational, physiological animal instincts and reflexes that give impulses to psychic energy. They are forced to break themselves under the influence of consciousness, cultural stereotypes, social norms in order to provide people with an adequate social existence.

Innate human instincts are very strong, even their conscious suppression does not always restrain their energy, so you can often meet people who behave in an inappropriate way, because they do not properly block certain forms of behavior arising from biological needs. But, thanks to them, a person does not lose to life, they are driving force his behaviour. Under the influence of acquired life experience and individual development, instincts are differentiated and become more complex, therefore a person is a creature with the most complex system of instincts. But still, there are possible interpretations that the needs and their satisfaction in animals and humans are almost the same. But, such information is very erroneous, therefore it is important to say that a person has special instincts peculiar only to his species, then three basic ones will be considered: the instinct of reproduction, self-preservation and power. Using them, one person is able to subjugate the will of another person and manipulate him for his own purposes.

In the process of educating a person, his desire for power and intimacy is suppressed, it is clear for what reasons. Actually, they encourage a person to achieve, they are a powerful impulse, and can determine the main line of behavior. But because of his life, often a person cannot fully use his abilities, cannot become successful. Because fear controls life, and self-preservation rests on it, it turns out that a person is in the power of his fear. Based on this, the urge to dominate and continue one's kind provides a person with more security than self-preservation based on fear.

It follows from the above that each person is subject to manipulation and a sense of fear, but its degree depends on the consciousness of each person. If he understands what his fear is, its cause, he has more opportunities to eliminate it. It often happens that people who are afraid of something, this is what happens to them sooner or later. But, if the lust for power is very strong, self-preservation becomes weak and this can lead to a tragic conclusion. Also, how many rash, frivolous acts are committed, because of enthusiasm, self-preservation also weakens from it, which sometimes leads to death.

It is important to know that instinct is a kind of autopilot. When a person does not control himself, his hobbies, needs, he relieves himself of responsibility for what is happening, and often his behavior becomes primitive and rude. A person who is well aware of himself and his desires is able to resist and manipulate, and manipulate himself and more effectively achieve his goals.

instinct is life experience ancestors who had to fight, go through fear and pain in order to survive. Consciousness could not withstand the stress and moved the difficult emotional experience into, sealed it in the genetic memory. Therefore, when a person performs instinctive movements, they are filled with a share of anxiety inherited from their ancestors.

A newborn baby cries because he is afraid, he does not have a nursing and loving mother with him. A person is afraid that food supplies will be exhausted, because once his ancestors died during the famine. A guy fights over a girl with a competitor, perhaps one of his ancestors could not have a wife and he must fight to ease the inherited fear of being alone.

What is instinct? Man in nature is a link in the transition from an animal to a superhuman being, and his consciousness is also threefold. One part of it refers to the animal world, the other to the human and the third to the divine. Actually, the animal part is inherited, it is unconscious and determines instinctive behavior. Instincts are the baggage of animal experience, that is, one that helped them live and survive, accumulated over millions of years and transferred to man. Nature preserves in the human gene pool the unconditional instincts and reflexes necessary for the survival of offspring. No one teaches a newborn that you need to scream if he wants to eat or change clothes. The instinctive mind of a person is responsible for biological survival, the conscious mind is responsible for maintaining relationships, the supraconscious mind helps to evolve into an even more intelligent being.

By suppressing and distorting the natural biological instincts, man has acquired a lot of energy for the development of the conscious mind, and consequently for scientific and technological progress. It turns out that modern civilization was created and progressed due to repressed instincts. Thus, other sensations also weakened: sight, hearing, taste. To date, there are many people with hearing problems, vision problems and many overweight people. Modern man he is very far from his natural habitat, so that he practically turns out to be deprived of help from his own oppressed natural instincts and sensations, remaining one on one with nature, he turns out to be helpless and vulnerable.

The natural, innate instincts of a person can be called neither bad nor good, since they are auxiliary means for the survival of people. But when a person leads an unreasonable, frivolous life, satisfying himself with all sorts of conveniences, he is not much different from an animal, despite the fact that he knows how to use a telephone and drive a car. It is not without reason that man believes that he is higher than the animal - so he certainly invades his instincts, the unconscious with the intellect, the conscious mind.

Types of instincts

All types of instincts can be divided into several groups: reproductive group (sexual and parental), social (conformal consolidation, related consolidation, unrelated isolation, vertical consolidation, horizontal consolidation), adaptation to the evolutionary habitat (constructivist, territorial, landscape preferences, gathering and search, migration, self-limitation of the species, fishing and hunting, agro- and veterinary), communicative (linguistic, facial expressions and gestures, sound non-verbal communication).

Individual vital instincts are focused on the survival of the individual and can be independent or manifest in interaction with other persons. As already mentioned, the instinct is an unconditioned reflex, and the basic instinct is self-preservation, ensuring one's security, in the current time. That is, this is short-term satisfaction, there are more long-term instincts, for example, procreation.

The first group is the reproductive instincts. It is only through reproduction that genes are able to exist on evolutionary time scales, and survival is only an auxiliary step to reproduction. On the basis of reproductive instincts, social ones were formed. Sexual and parental instincts are two kinds of reproductive.

Sexual instinct determines the first stage of reproduction - conception. The “quality” of a potential partner is determined through proper genetic condition and long-term care for offspring. The focus on such long-term care reflects the need for paternal support and assistance. In the evolutionary past, the lack of support endangered a child's life. The period of helplessness of the child greatly limited the woman's ability to independently obtain food, protect herself, and only a devoted and courageous man could help the woman in all this. Some things have changed since then, and it's not uncommon to find a single woman with a child, or a man unable to provide for his family.

Parental instinct, in particular maternal instinct, is the most studied innate program of people. Numerous studies and observations prove that the meaning of instinct (love for a child, the desire to patronize and care, protect) is prescribed at the biological level.

The second group is social instincts. The value of the instinct is expressed in solving the long-term tasks of the prosperity of this species, it contributes to the support of long-term tactics of behavior through the implementation of special behavior that unites several individuals into a single social structure. The peculiarity of such behavior is the readiness of everyone to sacrifice themselves in the name of common goals. Often people in such associations are manipulated and used for personal purposes. Social instincts have several subspecies.

Kindred consolidation is the most ancient association based on the genetic unity of the members of this group. The meaning of instinct is that a member of such a consolidation strives for the protection and prosperity of the whole gene, and not just his personality.

Unrelated isolation expresses competition between carriers of foreign genes, which, in turn, contributes to the well-being of one's gene through even greater cohesion and love of its units for each other. The hostility of kinship consolidation to unrelated isolation is justified by the fact that populations that delimit themselves from others and are in very sharp conflict with them have stronger family ties within themselves in their group.

Conformal consolidation means such an association of individuals in which a leader is not defined, and no one, in fact, is subordinate to anyone, but everyone is ready for some kind of collective action. It is created chaotically, through recognition by one individual from a certain species by another individual from the same species, and they begin to follow together. This consolidation occurs because the organism has an instinctive attraction to a collective existence, and knows that it is much easier, safer and more effective to work together, to search for food, to protect each other, than to wander alone. Such associations are observed in the simplest living organisms. There are also such consolidations between people, for example, people without a fixed place of residence unite in this way and begin to live together, look for food, share with others.

Vertical consolidation is expressed in the subordination of one person to the majority of the group. Subordination here is understood as a restriction of the freedom of action of a subservient group, which determines by orders the individuals who lead it, whose freedom of action is unlimited. Such a group is very strong and resembles the consolidation of a single organism, but its members are not always relatives among themselves.

Horizontal consolidation is based on reciprocal (mutually beneficial) altruism. He assumes that there will be some kind of payment or favor in return for an altruistic act. Therefore, such altruism is not completely disinterested, as everyone used to understand it.

Kleptomania is common not only between people, but also exists in the animal world. A person can use reason, which is able to help a person realize that deception is not promising, in principle. When deception is applied to potential prey or an attacking predator, or war, then it is not considered deception, but a means of survival. Deception by him counts when applied to a member of his clan who harbors trust and assumes consolidation. The kleptomaniac instinct often manifests itself in children who are more primitive and consist in more strict vertical consolidations, which suggest an exacerbation of all instinctive manifestations.

Adaptation instincts in the evolutionary sphere of habitation, that is, in the environment in which the evolution of ancient human ancestors took place, their adaptation. East Africa is considered such an environment, 2.6 million years ago the first people lived there. Circumstances at that time forced people to look for food, fight for it, survive, and these instincts have been preserved in people to this day, although we have not used them for a long time. But if it happened that humanity again found itself in such conditions, people would be able to survive, thanks to the heritage of generations.

The subgroups of instincts included in this group are now not relevant and atavistic, but you need to know about them.

Territoriality - manifests itself in assigning a fixed territory to a group or individual, where it seeks food, water, and sleeps. But not all species are aware that they have a territory. They do not restrict the access of strangers, and as soon as they appear, they seem to understand from them that this is their territory and begin to protect it. A reasonable person went further than this, and he realizes where his house is, and where he is visiting, or where the office is. Following this, there is an opinion that, in fact, thanks to the instinct of territoriality, a person has learned to abstract and not get lost in space.

In the instinct of landscape preferences, the principle of brachiation is the main one. Brachiation is a way of moving in a forest strip, where you have to move your hands along the branches. This is how anthropoid apes move, swinging, like on a swing, on one branch and jumping to another. Such an instinct has echoes in certain forms of human behavior: rocking babies to soothe them, cravings for climbing trees, the attraction of views from a height, and the like.

Instinctive behavior in gathering and searching was the first ecological specialization of man. What a person found, he ate - fruits, roots, birds, small animals. Hunting appeared much later, and was practiced sporadically.

Constructivist instincts are expressed in marking their territory with some kind of man-made construction. Birds have nests, bees have honeycombs, man started with a hut, then a house. The development of constructive activity began with the manufacture of tools that were supposed to build a house. So, man came to build modern facilities technological civilization.

Migration instincts determine spatial movement in order to find the best place or forced to do so, through change environment whose conditions of stay have changed. Birds or whales, based on their features life cycle migrate seasonally. A stable migratory way of life is led by nomads, gypsies, in the past - the Vikings. Now many people leave their native country, moving to an unknown country, or to another mainland, in search of a better life.

Self-limiting species is one of the controversial instincts of the individual. It is difficult to imagine the creation of such long-term-oriented and instinctive behavior through natural selection at the level of individuals. The most plausible explanation for this behavior would be "group selection" occurring at the level of populations and groups, not the level of individuals. But the theory of group selection was refuted through the need to recognize that insufficiently intelligent creatures are unlikely to achieve high level long-term behavioral goals. Nevertheless, behavior which, aimed at the self-limitation of the species, seems to be too instinctively expressed, is observed in humans and animals.

The meaning of this instinct is expressed through the prevention of the fact that the population grows, without the availability of the necessary resources. It turns on when it is felt that the population exceeds a certain norm and its timely activation helps to reduce the population to the required level. It can manifest itself through a decrease in the feeling of parental instincts, in an unwillingness to have children, a decrease in care for children, a lack of interest in children, an increased depressive worldview, a decrease in self-preservation instincts.

In the evolutionary past of the human species, hunting and fishing were not very common, then gathering prevailed. Only over time they came to this and found that this method gives them more prey, which is much more nutritious. Today, hunting is done only for fun, men try themselves in the role of hunting ancestors, fueled by passion. Specific satisfaction from fishing demonstrates the instinctiveness of such behavior.

The agro- and veterinary activities of the ancestors are assumed by scientists, since there is no exact data on this. But judging from the symbiotic coexistence of many species, it seems likely that on this connection, it could be that animals were tamed after all, and animal husbandry developed from this. Not everyone knows that not only people, but also individual animals are engaged in agro-veterinary activities. Ants, termites, beetles - breed mushrooms, which are then consumed, other ants can breed aphids, and eat their secretions. Looking at this, the development of the same instincts in a person seems quite natural. Especially when you consider the fact that there are many people with an inclination to work on earth, for some it is a profession. It is important to note the fact that the desire for action on earth is more activated in old age, when other instincts fade away (reproductive, social).

Communicative instincts are realized in the process of information exchange between at least two individuals. They are close to social instincts, but they do not become part of them, because they do not lead to the consolidation of individuals. In almost all unions of living beings, there is communication, like messaging. A little wider, it is used during the search for a partner for mating. This includes such instincts: facial expressions and gestures, non-verbal sound communication and linguistic.

Facial expressions and gestures are very expressive human instincts. Such behavioral patterns in their automaticity are not far from the unconditioned reflex. It takes a lot of work for a person to suppress or hide true emotions, which are automatically immediately expressed in certain facial expressions or gestures. Changing involuntary gestures and muscle tension of the face, trying to portray, as naturally as possible, emotions that do not exist, the process is very complex, and this is possible only in the performance of talented actors.

The method of non-verbal sound communication is somewhat reminiscent of the sound communication of animals, and is inherited by us from anthropoid apes. This way of communication is expressed in an unexpected scream, an aggressive growl in a moment of rage, a groan in pain, a gasp in surprise, and such various sounds are understandable in all cultures. Studies have been conducted proving that monkeys produce sounds that are phonetically very similar to human speech.

One of the few instincts confirmed at the neurophysiological level was linguistic. "Universal grammar" (grammatical principles), which is the basis of all languages, is an inborn and indispensable phenomenon, the differences between the languages ​​of the world are explained as diverse "tuning" settings of the brain. Therefore, in order to master the language, a child will only need to study the lexical and morphological elements (words and parts), and set the “installation” program, based on some key examples.

Examples of instincts

V modern world, like many centuries ago, the instinct of self-preservation in humans has the same behavioral forms of expression. It becomes apparent, for example, in situations that carry the risk of death or deterioration in health, also when a person rationally accepts the situation as life-threatening. Perceived danger affects the subconscious mental mechanisms in particular those responsible for self-preservation. A rational understanding, for example, of penetrating radiation can cause an instinctive fear for one's own life and health, although at that very moment the radiation itself does not affect the senses. The instinctive subconscious stores ready-made stimuli announcing a potentially dangerous situation. These are phobias in relation to spiders, snakes, heights, darkness, the unknown, and so on. You can often see how phobias built into the subconscious are reflected in the cultural sphere - architecture, art, music.

The instinct of self-preservation in a person is arranged in such a way that under any circumstances, as well as at any cost, a person tries to survive. The human body is designed in such a way that it is ready to respond to any stimuli from the external environment that carry a potential danger. If a person gets burned, then he pulls his hand away, if he freezes, he gets dressed, if there is little air in the room, he goes out into the fresh air to renew the oxygen supply, if he cannot swim, then, of course, he will not climb far into the water.

Human destiny also depends on certain level adaptability. It can be congenital or acquired, expressed in the ability of a person to adapt to life situations in different conditions. Such adaptability has a high, medium or low level of development. It is innate skills, these are instincts and reflexes that ensure human adaptability: biological instincts, features of appearance, intellectual inclinations, body structure, the physical state organism, the desire for self-preservation.

The historical need for the continuation and preservation of one's kind causes a desire to give birth to a child and raise him. In humans, unlike mammals, the instinctive desire for birth and motherhood sometimes takes on inadequate forms of manifestation. It can manifest itself in excessive guardianship of children, even adults and independent ones, or, conversely, in negligence and irresponsibility towards their own children.

Maternal innate instincts are manifested from childhood in girls who love to play mother-daughter, carry and feed the doll, and the like. It is even brighter in women who are expecting a baby or have already given birth.

Sexual behavior is defined as instinctive, it also expresses the desire to procreate. There is also a debatable idea that the peculiarity of male intimate behavior, sometimes, but not always, is determined by the fact that, as a male, he wants to get a woman (female), win her favor and achieve sexual intercourse (which is typical for some animals). Also, it happens that they get bored with prey that is too easily conquered, and they abandon it. In life, such men are considered inveterate bachelors with a highly developed libido, or in search of that one inaccessible one. Some men are offended by such comparisons with animals, but be that as it may, there is a certain sense in this.

The instinctive impulse to altruism is expressed in people through the manifestation of kindness and concern for others, it is dominant in their system of instincts. Such people are very selfless, dedicate their lives to society, help people, volunteer and often choose a profession that suits their passions: doctor, psychologist, lawyer.

People who are actively fighting for the upholding of their personal freedom, reveal an example of the instinct of freedom. From early childhood, they reveal protests when they are told to do something, they try to educate. And this should be distinguished from the usual childish disobedience. Individuals who value freedom carry this feeling throughout their lives. In adulthood, their sense of stubbornness, predisposition to risk, self-reliance, independence can be transformed into activities associated with the struggle against power, social unrest, and bureaucracy. They become politicians, journalists, public figures.

Instincts are the most complex acts of innate behavior. There are two important points for instinctive behavior. First, the dependence of instinctive behavior on the state of the internal environment of the body. Secondly, stimuli are only triggers of instinctive behavior and are not necessary for the implementation of the entire act. Grey goose, for example, as a rule, returns an egg that has rolled out to the nest, pushing it with its beak, and continues these pushing movements even if the egg has rolled (mixing activity) over the nest.

Ch. Darwin instinctively accepted that part of animal behavior that is characteristic of a given species and is hereditarily assigned to representatives of this species.

According to the German zoologist Bigler (1914), an action is considered instinctive if it:

hereditary, i.e. motivation and ability to act are among the hereditary properties of the species;

does not require prior prompting;

performed the same for everyone;

corresponds to the bodily organization of the animal, i.e. is in connection with her normal use of organs;

adapted to the natural conditions of life, often even in connection with regular natural changes in these conditions, for example, with the seasons.

At present, all the actions of animals that do not depend on education are called instinct. Instinctive behavior is based on the norms of movements specific for the given species (endogenous automatisms), as well as on the norms of response specific for the given species.

Instinct is a set of motor acts and complex forms of behavior characteristic of animals of a given species, arising from irritation from the external and internal environment of the body and proceeding against the background of high excitability of the nerve centers associated with the implementation of these acts.

An instinct is a hereditary complex of reactions to certain influences, certain changes in the conditions of the external and internal environment, which is the same for all individuals of a species. Instincts are manifestations of behavioral acts determined by the most complex connections of the structures and processes of the body fixed by evolution.

According to the types of needs, the following types of instincts are distinguished:

Vital, aimed at the survival of the individual, dissatisfaction with the need leads to the death of the individual, the realization of the need does not require the participation of another individual;

Zoosocial, or role-playing, are aimed at the survival of the species, the effective existence of the group - “what is good for the mind is good for you”;

Self-development, facing the future, aimed at self-improvement of rational activity.

vital instincts:

*drinking

* defensive (active and passive)

* regulation of the sleep-wake cycle

* saving energy (forces)

Zoosocial or role-playing instincts:

* sexual (partner choice)

* parental (separation of the roles of father and mother)

*territorial (protection of habitat areas to conserve resources)

* emotional resonance (acceleration of socialization - the path of empathy, sympathy, in the end - consciousness)

*group hierarchy (altruistic selfishness)

Instincts of self-development:

*research

* imitative (imitative)

The instinct is carried out in several successive stages: preparatory, search, final.

The properties of instincts include the fact that instinctive behavioral reactions have a high species specificity - a set of fixed actions genetically predetermined by the central program. Relatively simple (“key”) stimuli only trigger a stereotyped response, but do not determine its implementation. Instincts for specific stimuli arise and are inherited. Need is the driving force behind instinct. Change with age. Doesn't require learning.

Ethologists present instinctive behavior as a complex hierarchy of mutually subordinate internal and external influences, with the nervous system controlling specific instinctive acts at each level.

Hello dear blog readers! Today we will talk about what it is and what human instincts are, and also what is the difference from the animal world. Why do we need them and in what cases are they hypertrophied, or vice versa, very weak.

What's this?

Long time ago, in Ancient Greece thinkers and just smart men have noticed that it is natural for a person to react and behave in the same way in unsafe conditions. The instincts themselves are in the hemocode, and they consist of reflexes, which in turn are:

• Conditional - that is, those that a person acquired during his life. The simplest example is when you turn on the light as soon as you enter a room. You were not born with this knowledge and habit, but acquired it as you grew up. And now you don’t even notice how your hand reaches for the switch.
• Unconditional respectively, those that we received at birth. It’s rare that someone doesn’t pull their hand away when they touch a hot frying pan or iron, right? This is the unconditioned reflex.

Instincts can be influenced by religion, law, norms and rules of behavior, upbringing or lack of it. For example, in a family where parents abuse hyper-custody, controlling every step of the child, then what kind of independence can we talk about? He will not really understand in which situations he should be careful, and in which, on the contrary, he will appear.

Such stories most often have two versions of events.

First: the child, growing up, remains to live with his parents, because in order to create a family, you need at least a little independence and the ability to rely on yourself.

Second: he tries in every possible way to escape, becomes uncontrollable and aggressive towards those who patronize. The stories of the second option usually end more successfully.

To make it clearer how instincts can be influenced, let's first consider what they are.

Kinds

1. The most basic and basic is self-preservation

If for some reason it is not weakened for you, then your behavior will not be risky, reckless and destructive. For example, you will not climb into a cage with tigers, you will not jump without a parachute and provoke a company of athletes. Even a child at birth unconsciously reaches out to his mother, experiencing great anxiety if he remains alone, because his life depends on others. Therefore, babies begin to smile so early, rejoicing at the approach of someone who cares, so that the desire to pick up and approach the crib more often does not fade away.

2. Procreation

It also begins to manifest itself in childhood, in a feeling of happiness, when the whole family is together, and the child subconsciously "reads" any conflicts, no matter how hard adults try to hide the discord. Then it begins to make itself felt in the desire to create its own separate family, give birth to a baby and take care of him. Hypertrophied when a person has promiscuity, along with indifference to their safety. Or weakly expressed when there is no desire to have heirs, devoting time and effort to other interests and desires.

3. Altruism

The first two reflexes were the main ones that help a person survive. Now let's move on to more social ones that ensure socialization and successful activity. And the first will be altruism, which is expressed in caring for others, both people and animals, this is compassion and empathy, the desire for peace and goodness. When it is strongly pronounced, a person is able to devote his life to caring for those who need it, not only to devote it, but to sacrifice it, for example, by going to a monastery.

4.Research

It is aimed at developing a person, both creatively and in other areas. Through curiosity, young children learn about the world, and depending on the environment in which they grow up, their abilities and aspirations develop. Examples of successful research activities, for which they were not punished, but encouraged - great scientists, travelers, famous creative personalities and other people following their interest.

5.Domination

It is a need for leadership and power. People who have pronounced dominance are able to lead the crowd, organize and manage. Have you noticed that even in the company of small children there is always a "ringleader"? No group is complete without a leader, even an implicit one. It often happens that a person who previously had no leadership experience, getting into a company in which power has not yet been distributed, takes the place of honor of the leader. And it does not matter in what way, either he wins the championship, or is elected by the rest of the participants.

6. Maintain dignity

Only here in a hypertrophied form, people sometimes ignore innate instincts. For example, they are ready to risk their lives to defend their honor or rightness. When the level is very weak, then a person has low self-esteem, as a result of which he allows not only humiliation in his address, but also violence. There are frequent cases when a self-confident woman starts a relationship with a tyrant who constantly devalues ​​her, bringing her to such a state that she really stops believing in her strength, intelligence and attractiveness. It becomes a victim, which is now easy to manipulate and control, because it will endure everything.

7.Freedom and independence

It manifests itself in infancy, when trying to swaddle a newborn, with normal development. During a rebellion in adolescence, if not suppressed. Due to the need for freedom, a person develops social skills, increases the likelihood of success, creating a family and, in general, a quality independent life. A person is able to bear responsibility and rely on himself, as he has experience.

Differences from animals

The most basic difference is that a person is able to control or suppress his needs, especially in those moments when they contradict legislation or rules of conduct. With various mental disorders, a person loses the ability to control, which manifests itself, for example, in excessive absorption of food, that is, overeating, or vice versa, refusal of it in case of anorexia, promiscuity, any kind of addiction, and so on. In such cases, a person becomes like an animal, in which the instincts of preservation and procreation are the main ones.

Animals do not know how to suppress their reflexes, they have no concept of morality, so a cat or dog during estrus is not selective in choosing a partner, on the contrary, the more there are, the more likely it is to have offspring.

Predators kill without feeling pity, just to get enough and feed their cubs, which, by the way, sometimes does not really distinguish us from animals. Unfortunately, many people are capable of killing for their own benefit. And in some ways, animals turn out to be more “humane” in those cases when they show unspeakable fidelity, creating only one pair in their entire life, and sometimes they are even ready to die if they lose a partner, or spend the rest of their days alone.

Conclusion

And that’s all for today, dear readers! Subscribe to the blog to keep abreast of new interesting information, maintain your curiosity, because this is the key to success. Take care of yourself and loved ones!

The material for the article was prepared by Zhuravina Alina.

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A person is driven by three main instincts, these are the sexual instinct, the instinct of power and the instinct of self-preservation. Using these instincts, you can subjugate the will of a person and manipulate him. And you can also use them to stimulate yourself to achieve big goals. Psychologists consider the weakest instinct, the instinct of self-preservation, but I came to a different conclusion, and I put it above the rest, considering it the main one. I believe that both the sexual instinct and the instinct for power have their basis in the instinct of self-preservation, which is responsible for both one's own reproduction and maximum security. Judge for yourself, why else does a person need power, if not for greater security, but the sexual instinct is nothing more than the need to continue one's own kind, which can also be considered self-preservation. All manipulations with the human consciousness, and most importantly the subconscious, are involved in the manipulation of his instincts.

In general, if we talk about a conscious part of a person, then in more than ninety percent of people, it, this part of consciousness, a part of the mind, is completely, unfortunately, atrophied. The thing is that in our society it is not customary to develop this part, here is the memory to train, yes, we can do it, we are taught this, but it is not customary to develop consciousness. Therefore, the effectiveness of appealing to the subconscious of such an unconscious person, in which only his instincts and, so to speak, background thoughts, and not common sense prevail, is a much more effective way to subordinate him to your will. But why do psychologists put the instinct of self-preservation below the instinct of power and the sexual instinct? With a standard upbringing of a person, the sexual instinct and the instinct of power are suppressed, of course, for what reasons.

It is these instincts that give a person the main advantage in life, giving him a powerful impetus to achieve high results. But the instinct of self-preservation, in its purest form, is mainly based on fear, and a person is in submission because of his fear. But as I said, I consider the instinct of self-preservation above the rest because its complete structure is just the instinct of power and the sexual instinct combined. And the fear associated with the instinct of loss of power, as well as the sexual instinct, is much higher, which can be explained by the greater risk of life due to power or sex.

For me, these are obvious facts, because the instinct of self-preservation is often dulled by the other two basic instincts, and this is their shortcoming, because life for a person is the most important thing, without it he will have nothing. But for the most part, a well-developed power instinct and a sexual instinct certainly give a person more security than a self-preservation instinct based on weak fear. I call it weak fear, since all instincts are fear, and fear, as you know, gives frenzied strength if it is strong fear.

That is why I consider the instinct of self-preservation to be the main one, because it fully collects in itself all the fears associated with a person’s life, and makes him act, makes him achieve high results. From all that has been said, one can draw a completely logical conclusion, any person is subject to manipulation, and fear is characteristic of everyone, it is only distributed in different proportions for different people.

But if a person thinks consciously, then any of his fear loses its strength, because when you know the cause of fear, it is not difficult for you to eliminate it. Cowards are afraid to die, driven by an inferior self-preservation instinct, they are the fastest and die. Those who are hungry for power often forget about self-preservation and common sense, which also leads to tragic consequences. Well, and how many people do stupid things because of the opposite sex, I think it makes no sense to list. And all this is fear for oneself, and fear is unconscious.

Instinct is like an autopilot, when you do not control yourself, instinct drives you, it happens primitively, rudely, quite simply, but often very effectively. And all because only a person who is aware of all his actions and desires can resist manipulation, manipulate himself, and, accordingly, more elegantly and effectively achieve results. But there are few of them, because the study and application of subconscious manipulations by a person in order to induce him to do something, through his instincts, is the most effective method of influencing people.

This topic is so controversial and debatable that disputes on it have been going on for more than a hundred years. With varying success: one direction wins, then another. Unfortunately, this topic, like everything related to a person, is very politicized. From a purely scientific topic, such topics have long passed into the "service sector". Serving certain political and ideological currents. I have already explained this in detail in the article “Man, Woman and Scientists”, I will not repeat myself. The article will already turn out to be large and not at all entertaining, even boring.

First, let's define the term. What is instinct? In biology, instinct, to put it briefly and simply, is understood as a stereotyped motor act that occurs in an animal in response to a specific need or serves a specific purpose. This act, I repeat, is stereotypical. I will give examples. The cat after the act of defecation "buries" the feces in the ground with its hind legs, thus masking its presence from enemies. Everyone saw this. But she makes the same movements in the apartment, when there is simply nothing to “dig in”: there is no earth under her paws. This is a stereotypical behavioral act - it does not change. The set of actions is always fixed. I went to the toilet - I made such movements with my paws. Linoleum under your feet? It does not matter, the program of action does not change from this. Such stereotyped acts also include the weaving of spider webs, mating dances and songs of birds, etc.

Humans (and primates in general) do not have such rigid motor complexes. Human behavior is much more complex. Therefore, the word "instinct" in relation to a person, we can replace the word "attraction", "innate behavioral program" (note, not motor, but behavioral). Call whoever you like best. I like the word "instinct" because it is familiar to people's ears. In addition, I met him in a huge number of foreign scientific articles.

So, the nightingale sings the same melody during the mating season to attract the female. It is reproduced by absolutely every nightingale and for thousands of years. This is exactly what biologists call instinct.

Human behavior is not so rigidly determined. Therefore, it is a mistake to transfer the behavior of animals to humans. A person, rather, has a certain behavioral pattern that arises in response to a need. Again, compare with animals. The sexual instinct of a black grouse makes him “dance” a certain dance on the current (that is, perform strictly programmed body movements), and then mate in a certain way. Also programmed. The human sexual instinct does not work quite like that. The instinct sets the owner a certain task, useful from the point of view of biology. A man - to mate with the maximum number of women in order to spread his genes as widely as possible. How he will do this is not clearly fixed. Whether he will force them, take them by deceit, imitate a high rank, bribe (“sex for food”) - there are many ways. Instinct tells a woman to conceive from the most viable man within reach in order to increase the survival of offspring. Again, the motor program is not fixed. A woman can arrange an "auction" so that men prove who is better. And then choose the winner. Maybe, on the contrary, she can find the “alpha” herself and somehow convince him to mate. In general, there are many options. The end goal, a useful adaptive result, in the language of physiology, the instinct sets clearly, but does not rigidly program the ways to achieve it.

In general, there are very different views on these terminological subtleties. For example, Jacob Kantor of the University of Chicago called instinctive behavior what I call instinct, and the term "instinct" was interpreted in the biological sense that I described above. Amanda Spink defines the term "instinct" as follows: "an innate part of behavior that occurs without any training or education in people." At the same time, she argues that such behaviors as parenting, cooperation, sexual behavior and aesthetic perception are developed. psychological mechanisms with an instinctive basis. For those who are interested, you can keywords climb on English-language search engines, there is a lot of discord.

Also, do not confuse instinct with an unconditioned reflex. Both of these are innate. But there are fundamental differences. Reflex is not related to motivation. This is a very simple motor act that occurs in response to one simple stimulus. For example, the knee jerk occurs in response to quadriceps stretch. We withdraw our hand from the hot because of the reflex act, which is triggered by a very strong irritation of the temperature receptors of the skin. The reflex has a very rigid motor characteristic. The knee jerk absolutely always ends with a contraction of the quadriceps, and nothing else.

Instinct is always associated with a certain motivation. Sexual instinct - with sexual motivation, food - with food motivation, etc. An instinct is always a complex behavioral act that does not have a rigid program.

So, with the term sorted out. I will use the word "instinct" as explained above. Maybe this is not entirely true from the point of view of biology, but it is justified from the point of view of explaining the essence of the matter. If someone likes another concept that denotes all this - his right.

The first is biogenetic, or biologization. Proponents of this approach argue that instincts are the only factor that completely determines human behavior. The social superstructure means little or nothing. Biologizers-townsmen consider a person to be an ordinary animal, they call him a naked monkey. That is, they bring biologization to primitivism. This approach is incorrect, since man is not only a biological, but also a social being. He has a personality - a structure that is formed in society, albeit on the basis of a biological foundation, albeit closely interacting with it.

The second approach is sociogenetic, or sociologization. Supporters of this approach argue that the biological basis of a person does not affect anything at all. Everything - from character to gender-role behavior - is determined by the influence of society. A person is born like a clean hard drive, on which the society “installs programs”. Sociologists deny not only innate biological needs, drives, behavioral programs, but even such biological data as gender, replacing it with the word "gender". Initially, sociologization appeared and developed in the Soviet Union, where everything was subject to Marxism. And Marxism preached that everything is determined only by the influence of the environment. Now sociologization is gaining great weight and strength all over the world due to the strengthening of leftist ideology, feminism, globalism and serious funding in this direction in recent decades. It is required to wrap the ideology in a "scientific" package, "prove" its correctness, and huge funds are allocated for this. The result obeys two sayings: "any whim for your money" and "who pays, he calls the music." Therefore, in the scientific world, sociological music is now playing louder and louder. Unless, of course, you can call the service of ideological interests a science. However, if you type the words “human instincts article” into a search engine, you will get a bunch of scientific articles about the study of human instincts. It is better to drive into an English-language search engine, as it searches for English-language texts better.

I do not rule out that the pendulum will swing the other way. If tomorrow the ruling circles need to “prove” that a person is driven exclusively by animal motives, that a person is allegedly just a “naked monkey”, then they will prove it, I guarantee it. History shows us that politicized "science" "proved" and not such nonsense. Money, administrative resources and the manipulation of public opinion did not work such wonders.

The correct approach is, in my opinion, psychogenetic. He argues that human behavior is shaped not OR biological, OR social, but BOTH biological AND social. Textbook "Psychology" edited by d.psikhol.n., prof. V.N. Druzhinina explains the innate programs of human behavior (what we agreed to call “instinct”) as follows: “At birth, we have a set of genetically predetermined programs for interacting with the outside world. Moreover, these programs are of a generalized nature ... ". But, on the other hand, a person's personality is formed in society, under the influence of social factors. So behavior is also influenced by temperament (also an innate characteristic nervous system), and instincts, and upbringing, and culture, and learning, and experience, and much more. Unfortunately, the psychogenetic approach is not popular - I think due to the fact that so far there have been no political and ideological interests that could be found in it " scientific confirmation» to their philosophical, sociological or political ideas.

Now about the ethical interpretation of instincts. On this basis, battles are also being fought, but not in the scientific (or "scientific") world, but at the level of journalism. Again, there are two points of view. The first argues that instincts are natural, therefore, they must be completely obeyed, and they should not be regulated, let alone limited. The other argues that instincts are the essence of an animal essence, and therefore must be eliminated. As in the last question, these two radical views are fanatical rather than reasonable. Human behavior is determined by both biological and social. Therefore, to be afraid or try to “erase”, “destroy”, “extirpate” instincts is not only harmful (you can bring yourself to a neurosis or something worse), but also stupid. The human body is also biological, but no one calls it “animal essence” and does not offer to “get rid of” it. At the same time, you need to understand that we live in a society that, for our own good, safety, exists according to certain canons (law, morality), which we will have to follow, controlling our instincts. And this is not at all some kind of violence against oneself - the usual way to streamline interpersonal interaction, minimizing the likelihood of conflicts and other problems.

Therefore, in this article we completely abandon any ethical coloring of human instincts. We see them not as positive or negative phenomena, but as a fact - from a neutral point of view.

So instincts. The number of allocated instincts is not the same for different authors. For example, M.V. Korkina et al. distinguish food, self-preservation instinct and sexual. The same instincts (with the addition of "and others") are listed by A.V. Datius

I single out seven instincts.

1. Food. This is perhaps one of the simplest instincts. Hunger, thirst - we are looking for how to satisfy them.

2. Defensive (self-preservation instinct). It is designed to keep us out of trouble, and if such appeared, then make every effort to survive. The derivatives of this instinct are such human properties as caution or its extreme manifestation - cowardice. It's about the danger avoidance part. And as for the other part - survival, this is the usual activation of the sympathetic-adrenal system during stress. Thus, the defensive instinct gives us the strength to fight if there is a chance to win, or to run away if the chance of victory is low. The pupils dilate (the field of view increases), the bronchi too (more oxygen is needed), the blood supply to the brain increases (take quick fixes), muscles (fight, run, etc.) and heart (pump blood faster). In other organs, the blood supply is weakening - not up to them. This is a small digression into physiology.

3. Sexual. I have written many articles and chapters in books about this instinct. More details - in the book "Women's and men's manipulations", chapter 2 ("Rank, primativity ..."). I will not retell here.

4. Parental. This is the instinct of caring for offspring. For some reason, he is often called maternal - as if he is not peculiar to fathers. However, it is not. Often, men have a stronger parental instinct than women.

5. Herd (social). Man is a social being, and without society he does not become a man as such. For example, speech is completely and completely formed in society, and in early years. People who grew up in the wild never learned to speak. They tried for years and couldn't. Also in society, on a biological foundation, a person's personality is formed (as a psychological concept). Herding (or sociality) is an ancient property of primates, which was also transmitted to humans. Therefore, a person strives to be among other people. Outside of society, alone, people go crazy.

6. Hierarchical (rank). The rank instinct is one of the two terms of the rank (the second term is the rank potential). About this, as well as about the essence of the rank instinct itself, I also wrote a lot in the chapter “Rank and Primativity”. You can read it in the same book, "Women's and Men's Manipulations". Or on the website. A three-part chapter, mind you. Here is a link to the first part.

The rank instinct often comes into conflict with the self-preservation instinct. The ranking instinct demands to challenge the stronger one and take its place in the hierarchy, and the self-preservation instinct "dissuades" from this.

7. The instinct to save energy (the instinct of the least cost). If the first four instincts are familiar to absolutely everyone, the next two - to those who have read my works, then this one is almost unknown to anyone. Meanwhile, it has a very cool effect on our behavior. The essence of instinct is to choose the simplest way to achieve the goal, or to abandon it altogether if all the ways seem difficult. This instinct has several effects, I will give an example of three.

The first is laziness. If two motivations are fighting in us, approximately equivalent in significance, strength and method of implementation, then we will choose to reject both of them. For example, we postpone a decision if in any case its outcome will be unpleasant to us. If we feel that the way to implement motivation is difficult, unpleasant, then we refuse this idea. The student skips the first class to sleep. It is too difficult for him, unpleasant to get up. It's better not to walk. It is clear that this only works if the motivation is weak. I have not yet seen a person who would be too lazy to find a toilet when he wants to. So, a person is lazy - this means that motivations are too weak for him, and it is easier for him not to fulfill them in order to save energy.

The second is theft and all its forms (robbery, fraud, etc.). It is too difficult for a person to earn goods, but to steal, take away, deceive is not so difficult, in his opinion. In this way, he also saves energy, although in society such behavior is considered criminal and punished. And not only in society: if one monkey gets caught stealing from another, it can get cuffs. However, stronger individuals (both males and females) take away the food of the weak. They also save energy. In this incarnation, the instinct of conservation of energy comes into conflict with the instinct of self-preservation, because. adds danger.

And third. If the first two manifestations of this instinct were socially disapproved and even criminal (theft, robbery, fraud), then here everything is the opposite for the good of society. This is the desire to make one's work and life easier with the help of all sorts of notions. First of all, it is invention. The second thing is pioneering. After all, those who discovered new lands wanted to make life easier for themselves, for their children.

Here short review essence of human instincts. They, interacting with each other, as well as with the social factor (personality), influence human behavior. Some are stronger, some are weaker. The degree of influence of instincts on behavior is called primativity. I also wrote about her many times. Both about its essence (the chapter “Rank and primativity”, posted on the site), and about the scientific justification of this term and its verification using the Popper criterion (chapter