Xref: utzoo sci.psychology:233 sci.bio:1116
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From: hg@clinet.FI (Janne H{gglund)
Newsgroups: sci.psychology,sci.bio
Subject: Re: Intelligent Parrots, or Self-deception and Gullibility.
Message-ID: <625@clinet.FI>
Date: 20 Apr 88 21:32:29 GMT
References: <1988Mar4.162334.18184@utzoo.uucp> <4299@blia.BLI.COM> <1988Mar9.132722.3364@mntgfx.mentor.com> <2495@geac.UUCP> <2535@saturn.ucsc.edu> <762@actnyc.UUCP> <2231@ttidca.TTI.COM> <2550@geac.UUCP> <2282@ttidca.TTI.COM>
Reply-To: hg@clinet.UUCP (Janne H{gglund)
Organization: Temples of Syrinx
Lines: 40
Summary: Humans DO have instincts.


In article <2279@ttidca.TTI.COM> hollombe@ttidcb.tti.com (The Polymath) writes:
>I doubt there's anything in human makeup that could be identified as a
>hard-wired instinct.

  I have to disagree with you. We humans merely have so much free brain
capacity to use for learning we sometimes forget we also have instincts.
  For example:
 
- Sexuality. The sight of a sexy human female exites me. So does her
  smell. It didn't when I was seven years old, only after the hormonal
  activity started. If we LEARNED our sexual behaviour we could be
  horny at age six.
 
- In a very stressful situation, my adrenaline glands start working, my
  heart starts pounding and so on. This happens even when the stress
  situation has nothing to do with physical extertion, a computer crash,
  for example. Why does my metabolic system respond to stress even when
  it doesn't have to? Hard-wiring, I suppose.

- Hunger, thirst etc. are universally unpleasant. They are hard-wired to
  be so.

- Why does the sight of a baby provoke feelings of tenderness, the need
  to care, and so on? This includes also near relatives - a dog puppy is
  much more 'cuddly' than an adult dog.
 
  The list could go on almost forever, but I wish not to overload the
net. My main point is: humans do have as much instinct as other animals.
Humans only have so much more capacity of learning, so we use our
instincts less often. However, the instincts are there, and appear in
out everyday lives. (Without instincts, for example families would not
exist, neither would people marry)


GRAMMATICAL DISCLAIMER: My native language is Finnish.

[inews refused to send this article since our site does not recieve 
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