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From: turpin@cs.utexas.edu (Russell Turpin)
Newsgroups: sci.bio,alt.romance,soc.men,soc.women,soc.singles
Subject: Re: Are Humans Naturally Monogamous?
Summary: Breathing is NOT an instinct.
Message-ID: <14977@cs.utexas.edu>
Date: 23 Nov 90 05:45:59 GMT
References: <1990Oct24.175532.9407@pmafire.UUCP> <15490@netcom.UUCP> <1990Oct26.000754.24765@odin.corp.sgi.com> <4836@lure.latrobe.edu.au> <1990Nov22.191009.20772@watserv1.waterloo.edu> <1990Nov23.015509.14871@massey.ac.nz>
Followup-To: sci.bio
Organization: U. Texas CS Dept., Austin, Texas
Lines: 19

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In article <1990Nov23
.015509.14871@massey.ac.nz> A.S.Chamove@massey.ac.nz (A.S. Chamove) writes:
> If instinctive behaviour is only vestigial in humans then why 
> do we still breathe when we are asleep ...

Breathing is not an instinct, but rather, a reflex.  Behavior
that is but one instance of a broad range that is possible to
human nature, but whose instances are supported or suppressed by
human culture, falls on the other side of what is instinctive. 

A pregnant cat's search for an out of the way place to bear
kittens is an instinct.  It is not reflexive: if all of the out
of the way places available to her are unusable, she will give
birth in the open.  The cat's behavior is not cultural: she does
not have to learn it from other cats.  There are few human
behaviors that fall between these parameters.  A child's bonding
to the adults who care for the child may be one such. 

Russell