Ethological Theory of Human Instinct

An instinct is a natural desire or feeling that leads one to do something whether it is right, or wrong. In The 5th Wave the protagonist, Cassie had (has) excellent instincts that she gradually

According to Darwin (Date), there is no fundamental difference between man and the higher mammals in their mental and perceived emotional faculties. In theory, every organism is engrained with complex, useful, and non-arbitrary bits of information that is essential to its survival. Organisms know when it is time to migrate, when it is best to hunt, and when mating should occur. According to Name (Date), these faculties are actually nonrandom parts of our development they must have come from either divine design or natural selection. The notion of whether or not divine design or natural selection is the result of an organisms faculties has sparked significant debate since Darwin first proposed his theory of natural selection

An instinct that tells what a person should or shouldn't do. It is often referred to as a gut feeling that tells you whether or not something is alright. An example of instinct from the story was shown several times. It was shown by Nkwala when he didn't shoot the dog, (Sharp, 1958, p.85) it was shown by the villagers and those who were uncertain of the dog (Sharp, 1958, p.87), and it was also shown by the dog herself when she tried to protect the villagers (Sharp, 1958, p.89-90). An instinct is important for love and acceptance, an instinct may help to know whether it's safe to accept or not. Sometimes an instinct can help get away from harmful situations. From “The Test” it is shown that instinct is important for people to love and accept others or

* The hypothalamus is a structure found near the base of the forebrain that is involved in the regulation of basic biological needs.

From the beginning of mankind, one’s survival relied solely on instinct. A psychoanalytical lens can be used to analyze A&P, a short story by John Updike, lone, a piece of art by John William Godward, and “To My Best Friend - Short Film”. Through this lens, readers can draw the theme that all humans have basic instincts and urges that lie in the unconscious mind.

instinct (the purpose of which is the propagation of the species) and also a certain

Cavemen used skills such as hunting which provides a perfect example of a Secondary Survival Instinct. Even though we don’t have the urge to hunt our food today, we still see it prevalent in today’s society through animals (Schleifer). The difference between the survival instincts of a human compared to a wild lion in South Africa is that the “Homo sapiens have the exceptional attribute of self-awareness along with an environmental awareness that includes the social environment” (Brenner). Both cavemen and animals lead a life where survival of the fittest is the ultimate goal. Though animals and humans respond to stimuli such as hunger and thirst, humans understand why they seek strategies to overcome said stimuli and thus, their self-awareness causes rationality in their decision

The purpose of this essay is to outline and evaluate at least three psychological perspectives of human behaviour. The three approaches that will be summarised are humanistic, social learning theory and the Biological approach. They will also be criticised and compared to one another. A brief description on psychology will occur, and there will also be a short summarisation on some key early influences of psychology, from its origins in philosophy.

This essay will outline and compare both biological and behavioural perspectives on human behaviour. The history, major discoveries and theories will be discussed along with some of the most influential theorists in each of these two areas of psychology. This essay will also compare the two areas strengths and weaknesses in the field of psychology.

As a human race we have experienced a great deal throughout time, disease, natural disaster, exploration. If we did not have this instinct, these events could have led to our extinction. “The black bones reclined at full length with one shoulder against a tree, and slowly the eyelids rose and the sunken eyes looked up at me,

To study the evolution of human behavior, we must first understand the evolutionary foundation of modern human behavior. Using the knowledge we have about human behavior while observing for patterns that are consistent with evolutionary models. Taking advantage of natural experiments that produce different combinations of variables that can allows us to obtain new approach on human behavior. This chapter will focus on various aspects of human behavior from an evolutionary viewpoint. These involve the “ecology and demography of traditional human societies, patters of human behavior that have been shaped by sexual selection, the interaction between culture and biology in the expression of language, and the emergence of behavioral disease in an

The origin of modern human behavior is a subject in anthropology that accumulates much debate. Cognition is the dominant factor in such behavior, therefore raises the question, “when did this separation of intelligent or modern thought from the primitive come to daily behavior for our genus?” There are two such answers that hold experts in the field captive in debate: the rapid “imagination revolution” in the European-centrailized Upper Paleolithic, and the steadiness of cognitive growth provided first in Africa during the Middle Paleolithic. Although each argument provides supportive evidence for their perspective claims, the more naturally convincing shows this creative revolution taking place much earlier than the Upper Paleolithic. This explanations human cognition developing with no brisk advantageous revolutionary response, and instead by gradual means. This metamorphosis follows the pattern of biological human evolution. My argument combats the “imagination revolution” claim to the origins of creativity using specific artifacts dated earlier than those of European restrictions. Furthermore, it is the lack of excavation in Africa and the conditions of the terrain itself that pose problematic preservation of artifacts, unlike in Europe, to exonerate this innovative exclusivity. These pieces of evidence in Africa exemplify a higher process of thinking, commonly those showing deliberate means of bead and rock art used for both personal functions of expression. If art

Psychology is made up of many perspectives, such as, behavioural, biological, cognitive, social, humanistic and finally, psychodynamic. This essay will focus on the behavioural perspective and the biological perspective. According to J Walker (2012) the behavioural perspective is based on behaviourism and is the study of observing behaviour when in certain contexts and events. The biological perspective however, explains behaviour by focusing on the function of the nervous system, genes and the brain.

The human mind is designed with the innate ability to achieve anything. The interesting part of this paper is how we all use different triggers and motivations to goad us into gear. Motivation is an area of psychology that has gotten a great deal of attention, especially in the recent years. There are several distinct theories of motivation we will discuss in this section. Some include basic biological forces, while others seem to transcend concrete explanation. All creatures are born with specific innate knowledge about how to survive. Animals are born with the capacity and often times knowledge of how to survive by spinning webs, building nests, avoiding danger, and reproducing. These innate tendencies are preprogrammed at birth,

In Sigmund Freud’s “Civilization and its Discontents”, we are introduced to a new outlook in the way we view our lives due to his analysis of civilization and how it has affected our happiness. Freud uses his theory of instincts in order to explain what encourages us as well as how our behavior is all linked together and is motivated by our instincts. He explains why humans seek happiness and how it is one of the toughest things to achieve. Towards the end of his book he also gives an insight on how the individual psyche which consist of the id, ego, and super-ego leads us to feel guilt and its impact on civilization. Through his theory of instincts and the individual psyche, Freud is able to demonstrate how civilization has set limits to