Psychology : $b A study of mental lifeWoodworth, Robert Sessions
Science
Psychology : $b A study of mental life
Woodworth, Robert Sessions
Psychology
additional appeal, good or bad; but all this simply illustrates the
way instincts become modified, by combination with other instincts,
and by the learning and fixing of various preparatory reactions that
were not provided, ready-made, in the native constitution. The
drinking instinct, or thirst impulse, is a very good example of this
whole class of organic instincts.
Instincts connected with hunger.
Here again, the reactions nearest to the end-result (food in the
stomach) are provided by nature. Sucking and swallowing appear at
birth, chewing with the appearance of the teeth; and the infant also
makes what seem to be instinctive movements of seeking the breast, as
well as movements of rejecting it when satiated and of spitting out
bad-tasting food. Putting food (and other things) into the mouth by
the hands seems almost instinctive, and yet it has to be fixed by
trial and error. Anything like definite food-seeking behavior,
amounting to a _hunting_ instinct, scarcely gets a chance to show
itself in {141} the human child, because his food is provided for him.
In many animals, hunting is a highly organized instinct; thus,
crouching, stalking, springing and teasing the mouse when caught, have
been proved to be instinctive in young cats. Some animals have
definite food-storing instincts also, and possibly food-storing shows
the acquisitive or collecting tendency in its lowest terms. Possibly,
that is to say, hunting and collecting, as well as disgust (primarily
of bad-tasting or bad-smelling food), are originally parts of the
food-getting behavior, having the general character of reactions
preparatory to eating. However this may be, we can easily see the
great importance of the hunger motive in human life; we have only to
consider the matter in the same way as we considered thirst just
above.
Breathing and air-getting.
Breathing, obviously a native reaction, is ordinarily automatic and
needs no preparatory reactions, simply because air is so easy to get.
But let breathing be difficult, for any reason, and the stifling
sensation is as impulsive as hunger or thirst. The stuffy air in a
cave or in a hole under a haymow will lead a child to frantic escape.
Possibly the delight in being out of doors which shows itself in young
children, and is not lost in adults, represents a sort of air-hunting
instinct, parallel to food-hunting. Closely connected with breathing
is the function of circulation, automatic for the most part; and we
should mention also the organic needs of waste-elimination, which give
impulsive sensations akin to hunger and thirst, and lead to more or
less organized instinctive reactions.
Responses to heat and cold.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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