The instincts of self-preservation and procreation are basic, ensuring the physical survival of an individual and species. The exploratory instinct and the instinct of freedom provide the primary specialization of man. The instincts of dominance and preservation of dignity provide self-affirmation, self-preservation of a person in psychosocial terms. Together, these instincts ensure the adaptation of a person to real life. The instinct of altruism socializes the egocentric essence of all other instincts.

Usually, one or more instincts dominate in a person, while the rest are less pronounced, but fully affect the orientation of the individual in any activity.

As a result of testing, the severity of each of the seven basic instincts and which instinct is dominant is determined.

^ I. SELF-PRESERVATION INSTINCT
From early childhood, a person of this type shows a tendency to increased caution, the child does not let go of his mother for a moment, is afraid of the dark, heights, water, intolerant of pain (refusal to treat teeth, visit doctors, etc.).

On the basis of this type, a personality with pronounced egocentricity, anxious suspiciousness, a tendency, under adverse circumstances, to obsessive fears, phobias or hysterical reactions can be formed. These are people for whom "Safety and health are above all!", And their credo: "Life is one and there will be no more." The evolutionary expediency of having of this type lies in the fact that its carriers, preserving themselves, are the keepers of the gene pool of the clan, tribe. This type is characterized by the following leading qualities:

self-centeredness,

Conservatism,

Willingness to give up social needs for your own safety,

risk denial,

Anxiety about your health and well-being.

^II. INSTINCT OF PROCESSING
It is characterized by a peculiar kind of egocentrism, when "I" is replaced by the concept of "We" (by "We" means the family) up to the denial of "I". Values, goals, life plan are subordinated to one thing - the interests of children and families. Already in childhood, the interests of this type of people are fixed on the family, and such a child is only happy when the father and mother return from work, the whole family is together, everyone is healthy and everyone is in a good mood. He keenly feels discord in the family, and in this case he may experience a depressive neurotic reaction.

These are people who value the interests of the family above all else, and their credo is: "My home is my fortress." The evolutionary expediency of having this type is that its carriers are the guardians of the family, the guardians of the gene pool of the genus, the guardians of life.

This type has the following qualities:

Super love for your children

Nepotism,

Over-concern for the safety and health of their children,

The tendency to deny one's "I" in favor of "We" (family),

Anxiety about the future of their children.

^iii. Altruitic instinct
People of this type are characterized by kindness, empathy, caring for loved ones, especially the elderly, they are able to give others the last, even what they themselves need. They are convinced that it cannot be good for everyone if it is bad for someone alone, and their credo is "Kindness will save the world, kindness is above all." And they are evolutionary guardians of kindness, peace, guardians of life.

The leading qualities are characteristic of the altruistic type:

Kindness,

Empathy, understanding people,

Disinterestedness in dealing with people

Caring for the weak, the sick,

Peacefulness.

^IV. INSTINCT OF INVESTIGATION
From early childhood, people of this type have curiosity, a desire to get to the bottom of everything, a penchant for creativity. At first, these people are interested in everything, but then more and more captures one passion. Travelers, inventors, scientists are persons of this type. Their credo is "Creativity and progress are above all." The evolutionary expediency of this type is obvious.

The research type is inherent in:

Propensity for research

The tendency to search for something new, innovative in science, art,

The ability to leave without hesitation a habitable place, an established business when new, risky, but interesting cases and tasks appear,

Striving for creativity

Selflessness in the realization of creative aspirations.

^ V. INSTINCT TO DOMINATION
From early childhood, there is a desire for leadership, the ability to organize a game, set a goal, show the will to achieve it, a personality is formed who knows what she wants and how to achieve what she wants, persistent in achieving the goal, ready for a thoughtful risk, able to understand people and lead them behind you. Credo of this type: "Business and order above all"; "One - nothing, all - everything"; "It will be good for everyone - it will be good for everyone."

The evolutionary expediency of this type of presence of this type, which gives birth to leaders, organizers, politicians, is that they are the guardians of the interests and honor of the whole family.

The dominant type is characterized by:

Tendency to leadership, to power,

Ability to solve complex organizational problems

The priority of career prospects over material incentives,

Readiness for a tough fight for leadership, for first place,

The priority of the general (the interests of the cause, the team) over the private (the interests of one person).

^ vi. FREEDOM INSTINCT
Already in the cradle, this type of child protests when swaddled. The tendency to protest against any restriction of freedom grows with them, people of this type are characterized by the desire for independence, the denial of authorities (parents, teachers), tolerance for pain, a tendency to leave their father's house early, a predisposition to risk, stubbornness, negativism, intolerance of routine, bureaucracy. The credo of such people: "Freedom above all!". And they are the guardians of the interests and freedom of each individual, they naturally limit the tendencies of the dominant type. They are the guardians of freedom, and with it, of life. This type has:

Propensity to protest, rebellion,

Predisposition to change places (denial of everyday life),

Striving for independence

Propensity to reformism, revolutionary transformations,

Intolerance to any form of restrictions, to censorship, to the suppression of the "I".

^ VII. INSTINCT TO PRESERVE Dignity
Already in early childhood, a person of this type is able to catch irony, ridicule and is absolutely intolerant of any form of humiliation. Characteristic recklessness, readiness to give up everything in defending their rights, unshakable position "Honor is above all." The self-preservation instinct of such a person is in last place. In the name of honor and dignity, these people go to Golgotha.

Attachment to the family is expressed in the form of preserving family honor: "There were no scoundrels and cowards in our family." The evolutionary expediency of having this type lies in the fact that its bearers are the guardians of the honor and dignity of the "I", the personality, and with this - a life worthy of a person.

For people of this type are characteristic:

Intolerance to any form of humiliation,

Willingness to sacrifice well-being and social status in the name of one's own dignity,

The priority of honor and pride over safety,

Uncompromising and direct relations with leaders,

Intolerance to all forms of infringement of human rights (c)

Instinct is called an innate, strictly constant form of adaptive behavior specific to each type of organism, prompted by the basic biological needs of the individual and specific stimuli. external environment. The instinct, like the unconditioned reflex, is an innate inherited reaction, but at the same time, the instinct is much more complex, and therefore it is called activity or behavior. To designate instinct, the following concepts are also used: “species-specific behavior”, “stereotypical behavior”, “innate behavior”, “genetically programmed behavior”, “complex fixed actions”, etc. Instinct, in addition, is identified with the concept of “drive”, which means attraction, passion. Unlike unconditioned reflexes, which can be carried out not only with the participation of the brain stem, but also with individual segments of the spinal cord, higher parts of the brain are necessary for the implementation of instincts. The high species specificity of instinctive behavior is often used as a taxonomic feature along with morphological features this type of animal.

The instinct helps the animal to exist in its environment, little changing environment. The instincts of animals are manifold. They are always associated with the important biological needs of the animal. Examples of them are: sexual instinct (for example, mating in birds, fights for a female), care for offspring (nursing larvae in ants, building nests, hatching eggs and feeding chicks in birds), herd instincts that encourage animals to unite in flocks, herds, etc.

Man is also endowed with innate inclinations and instincts, otherwise he could not live and develop. However, all purely human qualities are acquired by a person in the process of training and education. To educate a person means, first of all, to develop the ability to suppress and direct instinctive activity in the necessary direction. The innate behavior of a person plays an incomparably smaller role in comparison with the acquired behavior. In addition, in people, innate impulses are subject to cultural repression or adjustment in accordance with the requirements of society. At the same time, it should be taken into account that in a number of cases when the control of the cerebral cortex over the underlying, subcortical structures weakens (for example, in a state of sleep, intoxication, under the influence of drugs, etc.), instinctive activity manifests itself in a vivid form (for example, in form of heightened sexuality, aggressiveness, etc.). Generally accepted for a person are the instincts of self-preservation, procreation, social, self-improvement. The Austrian ethologist K. Lorenz adds to this list the "fight instinct" - aggression.

The instinctive behavior of man and animals has a number of characteristic features:

1) it is highly adaptive and does not require prior learning. This creates clear advantages for animals with a short lifespan and for animals deprived of parental care;

2) instinctive behavior is species-typical, that is, it manifests itself in the same way in all organisms of a given species under identical external and internal conditions.

3) instinctive actions are programmed in the genes and are formed in the process of individual development, regardless of the experience of the animal or person.

Modern researchers believe that in higher animals and humans, instinctive behavior and learning do not exist in behavior on their own, but are intertwined into a single behavioral act.

Thanks to numerous studies by ethologists K. Lorentz, W. Craig, J. Fabre, N. Tinbergen, R. Chauvin, R. Hynd, O. Mening, D. Dewsbury and others, began to clear up physiological mechanisms instinctive behaviour.

K. Lorentz proposed a theory called the "concept of disinhibition". According to this theory, the body is constantly ready to carry out various innate reactions, but outward manifestation instincts is blocked, that is, suppressed by the processes of active inhibition emanating from the central nervous system. Each instinct has its own energy, the action of which is suppressed until the signals from sign stimuli produce disinhibition. Lorentz suggested that in a certain part of the brain there is a structure, which he called the "permissive mechanism", which is affected by sign stimuli.

K. Lorenz and his follower, the Dutch ethologist N. Tinbergen put forward the following provisions of the theory of instinctive behavior:

1) each instinct has its own energy;

2) the regulation of each instinct is carried out by a certain part of the brain - the center of the instinct;

3) centers of instincts are organized according to a hierarchical principle; the “switching on” of a higher center leads to an automatic “switching on” of the subordinate centers;

4) the "launch" of instinctive actions is suppressed by inhibitory processes;

5) disinhibition of the centers of instincts occurs either under the influence of signal stimuli (releasers), or spontaneously;

6) the implementation of instinctive actions leads to self-depletion of this activity on certain period;

7) the value of the threshold of sensitivity to the releasers of a given instinctive activity is inversely proportional to the duration of this activity.

So-called internal and external factors are necessary for the manifestation of instinct. TO internal factors manifestations of instinct include humoral-hormonal deviations in the body from the usual physiological level. Such deviations can lead to the performance of stereotyped instinctive actions by the body. Thus, the introduction of sex hormones to laboratory rats causes nest-building activity in them even in the absence of pregnancy.

In the natural conditions of the organism's life, internal factors alone are not enough for the manifestation of instincts. In addition to them, you need external factors, so called key, or triggers, incentives, or releasers(permits). Very often, in the absence of key stimuli, but in the presence of a corresponding need, the body begins to actively search for these stimuli. For example, the search for a partner during the period of sexual arousal, the bird's search for material for building a nest, etc. Thus, instinctive behavior is realized as a result of the interconnection of internal and external factors.

According to the ethological concept, the specific activity of internal factors is blocked by a system of neurosensory innate triggers. These mechanisms ensure the recognition and evaluation of key stimuli, after which the "block" is removed and a purposeful act is carried out. A specific set of external stimuli has been called key or trigger stimuli, since each of them approaches only its own “innate trigger” like a key to a lock. In addition to key stimuli, guiding stimuli are also isolated, which facilitate the orientation of animals and the search for key stimuli. Any physical or chemical attribute of an object can act as a key stimulus: shape, size, color, smell, and even the direction of movement of the object.

The flow of instinct, according to K. Lorenz and W. Craig, can be represented as a diagram: endogenous impulse (need) - a key starting stimulus - a set of stereotypical actions (sequence of motor acts) - "final act".

Instinct is capable of individual variability. It distinguishes between the most stable "ritualized" actions and its most changeable elements. True instinctive acts can be observed in animals only at their first manifestation. With each subsequent realization of them, many new, newly acquired conditioned reflexes simultaneously arise. These conditioned reflexes lead to an individual modification of a hereditarily programmed behavioral act.

Instinctive behavior is programmed in the CNS, and external factors can induce and correct behavior. W. Craig singled out two phases of holistic instinctive behavior: 1) search(preparatory, appetizing), for example, the search for prey by a predator; 2) termination behavior, for example, eating a prey by a predator. Search behavior is the most variable part of instinctive behavior, in which own life experience. The final behavior is the most stable, genetically fixed phase instinctive behaviour.

At present, it is generally accepted that the organization of instinctive behavior is carried out as follows. A key stimulus can launch a program of a behavioral act corresponding to it on the basis of "hard", genetically determined connections between sensory and motor systems. At the same time, the action unfolds according to the “key-lock” principle and is realized in a stereotypical motor act. Such a behavioral act is carried out regardless of the general external situation. In the organization of complex instinctive behavior, a significant role is played by the internal factors of the manifestation of instinct. The dominant need and the motivational excitation that arose on its basis increase the sensitivity of sensory systems that are selectively tuned to external stimuli that are adequate to this need. At the same time, selective activation of the nerve centers associated with the formation and launch of certain programs of motor acts aimed at searching for a key stimulus is carried out. As a result of appropriate tuning of the central nervous system, the appearance of a stimulus that is adequate to the dominant need becomes effective for triggering a certain stereotypical instinctive behavior.

A unified classification of instincts has not yet developed. I.P. Pavlov called complex unconditioned reflexes instincts, which in turn he divided into food, sexual, parental, defensive. Distinctive features of instincts are the chain nature of reactions (the completion of one reflex serves as a signal for the next reflex) and their dependence on hormonal and metabolic factors. Thus, the emergence of sexual and parental instincts is associated with cyclic changes in the functioning of the gonads, and the food instinct depends on those metabolic changes that develop in the absence of food.

Quite often instincts are divided according to their origin into three main groups. The first group includes instincts, the origin of which is associated with changes in both the internal and external environment of the organism. This group includes homeostatic instincts aimed at preserving the internal environment of the body. An example of such instincts is drinking and eating behavior. The first group also includes the instinct of rest and sleep, the sexual instinct, the building instinct in animals (the construction of burrows, lairs, nests).

Mind February 24

Ethologists define instinct as a specialized morphostructure (an animal's temporary organ, Lorenz, 1950a, b) that naturally appears in the animal's flow of action in a specific social situation. Instinctive reaction = automatically carried out at any presentation of specific stimuli, regardless of the context, not corrected either by the circumstances of the context or by the past experience of the animal. Even if the use of both could greatly increase the success of the reaction, the implementation of the instincts follows the specific " innate response patterns».

That is, the main thing in the implementation of instinct, in contrast to the reflex and other simple forms of response, is to implement specialized forms of behavior in specific situations of interaction stereotypically and accurately, and not simply to evoke responses to stimulation.

Ethology was born from the brilliant insight of Oskar Heinroth, who “suddenly saw” that hereditary coordination, the center of inhibition standing above it and the triggering mechanism “form from the very beginning a certain functional whole” (Lorenz, 1998: 341 ). Having singled out this system, Heinroth introduced the concept of " inherent in the type of impulsive behavior» ( Arteigene Triebhandlung), which opened the way for " morphological approach to behavior». Arteigene Triebhandlung- the very "manner of holding" by which the ornithologist accurately recognizes the species even before he considers the details of the color. Example: tail shaking reactions, characteristic movements during takeoff, cleaning, etc. are so stable and typified that they are of systematic importance (R. Hind. "Animal Behavior", 1975: table 3 on page 709).

Another example of “intrinsic impulsive behavior” is that many chickens, even for a reward, could not stand quietly on the platform for only 10 seconds without moving their legs. They could not stand it and began to scrape the floor. Pigs in the circus can easily learn how to roll a carpet with a piglet, but they can’t learn how to take and put a coin in a porcelain piggy bank (also in the shape of a pig; this would make a spectacular circus act). Instead of lowering the coin, the pig drops it many times on the floor, pushes it with its snout, picks it up, drops it again, drives it up, throws it up, etc.

Based on these observations, the Brelandas established principle of instinctive displacement: learned individual reactions always shift towards species instincts in cases where the learned reaction is at least to some extent similar to strong I. (Breland, Breland, 1961, cited by Reznikova, 2005).

It is the structure of the animal's instinctive reactions that determines 1) what can be learned and what cannot be learned, 2) how learning should be organized in order to be successful, and the form of experience "for learning" in the general case does not depend on the logic of the task, but on the instinctively given " space of opportunity" for learning a particular skill. 3) how should the experiment be put "on rational activity" in order to reveal the "upper floors" of the animal's intellect.

In humans and anthropoids, there is no instinctive displacement: it is possible to learn any reaction (problem solving, etc.) that individuals are able to reproduce according to the model. Training may be poor, and the results are low, but there is no shift to other reactions that could be considered as potential "instincts" (Zorina Z.A., Smirnova A.A. What did the "talking monkeys" tell? Are higher animals capable of operate with symbols, Moscow, 2006).

Instincts differ from ordinary reflex acts in that they are reproduced not only directly in response to stimulation, but continuously. More precisely, the animal is in constant readiness to perform an instinctive action, but the latter is normally suppressed. Under the influence of key stimuli, central control is removed with the release of the specific structure of the instinctive act.

Erich von Holst received direct evidence that der Erbkoordination is a system with autonomous control, not reducible to chains of unconditioned reflexes. He discovered that the animal's stereotyped movements are caused by stimulation and coordination processes occurring within the nervous system itself. Movements are not only performed in a coordinated manner in a strict sequence without the participation of reflexes, but they also begin without an external stimulus at all.

Thus, normal swimming movements of fish with cut posterior roots of the spinal nerves were recorded. The species-specific form of movements is determined by an autonomous mechanism from the inside, “triggered” in response to a key stimulus from the outside. With a long absence of specific stimuli, the same mechanism "works in vain", in response to the endogenous growth of unrealized excitation "inside" the individual.

In order to minimize possible “startup errors” (after all, an instinctive action cannot be stopped or changed until it is fully realized), the triggering system must somehow “match” the external stimulus with some neural model of “typical stimuli” and / or “typical situations”, triggering an instinctive response. Therefore, the innate response system always contains an element of pattern recognition (Lorenz, 1989).

Instincts are the only "shaped structures" (stable elements of the organization of the process) that an "interested observer" - an ethologist or another animal (a neighbor, an active invader) can distinguish against the background of a variable continuum of direct actions or expressive reactions of an individual. The latter can be as innate as instincts, but are controlled by the goal through the acceptors of the results of the action according to P.K. Anokhin or are reflex in nature, and do not implement (species) specific structures of a multi-stage sequence of actions subordinate to some plan, program of behavior (Haase-Rappoport , Pospelov, 1987). Therefore, reflexes and expressive reactions, as well as purposeful actions of an animal, are not part of the instincts, although they often accompany them.

By virtue of the stereotyped and "automatic" action, the act of instinct realization marks the onset of specific problem situations of the process and therefore can serve and serves as a sign of the latter. Stereotypical reproduction of differentiated forms of mating, threatening, etc. demonstrations in response to demonstrations of the same series is the realization of instinct in the communicative process. Therefore, to analyze the instincts that are realized in social communication, ethologists use the "morphological approach to behavior."

Ritualized demonstrations of animals are specific elements of the species instinct. (protection of the territory, but not “aggressive”, search for a partner or courtship, but not “sexual”, etc. depending on the specific biology of the species). More precisely, species demonstrations are successive stages in the realization of instinct in the communicative process, the most specific (species-specific), isolated and formalized elements of “impulsive behavior characteristic of the species”, since they are specialized in relation to the signaling function. In accordance with this, Oskar Heinroth defined ethology as the study of the "language and rituals" of animals, united by him in the concept of "communication system".

It is remarkable that psychologists of the cultural-historical school, proceeding from completely different grounds, also define instincts as structures of behavior that are external to the acting individual, that is, “general specific forms” of signaling and social action, in which the activity of the latter must fit in order to be effective and meaningful for partners.

« Instinct, this genetically primary form of behavior, is considered as complex structure, the individual parts of which are composed like elements that form a rhythm, figure or melody”, that is, it is also characterized certain form, which has some signal value and which the partner must recognize.

This is a complex structure, a certain sign of some system of communication, which partners recognize by the "figures, rhythms or melodies" formed by the elements of instinct, that is, by the specific organization of the instinctive sequence. Ethologists have yet to decipher such "signs" in animals, for which they should learn to establish the appropriate "figures" and even more so "melodies", to distinguish them from the "background" of non-signal activity. methodical character.

And further " There is much to be said for suggesting that instinct is genetically the forerunner of reflex. Reflexes are only residual, detached parts from more or less differentiated instincts."(Dictionary of L.S. Vygotsky, 2004: 44 ). This was written independently of Heinroth and Lorentz, partly before them.

In the phylogenetic series of vertebrates, the "innate blank" of instinct becomes less and less and more uncertain, with an equally steady growth in the formative role of the social environment in the development of normal behavior. When a certain boundary is crossed, the first one disappears completely, and the behavior is formed only individual understanding of the situation(the ability to create concepts, and then act according to the selected ideal “pattern”) or social environment educating, developing the abilities of individuals, including understanding and action, without the participation of instincts. An innate pattern of behavior that is triggered in response to specific stimuli in a specific situation of interaction - instinct disappears here, breaking up into isolated innate reactions - reflexes, exactly as in the definition of L.S. Vygotsky.

I think this "Rubicon" of the disappearance of instincts lies not even between man and animals, but inside the monkeys, somewhere between the higher and lower primates. monkeys, anthropoids and baboons, or macaques and marmosets.

I see the destruction of that system of differentiated species signals "like vervets", which is so fashionable now, and the complete despecialization of signals, both vocalization and gesture, as a sign of the presence of such a boundary. In higher primates, the manifestation of instincts "goes into the shadows", is increasingly limited to uncertain and non-specific situations.

This leads to the reverse transformation of the visual and acoustic demonstrations of the animal from signals about the situation into “simply expressions”, expressing the dynamics of the state of the individual, and not only in connection with the situation. Demonstrations lose their usual informativeness and specificity of the connection of certain signals with certain situations. Analysis of hamadryas interactions ( Erytrocebus patas) showed that the basis for describing the conservative side of the social structure of the group is the regulation of distances, grooming, sniffing the mouth of a partner and other individual decisions and actions. Demonstrations, with all species specificity mean surprisingly little: not only do they occur in less than 13% of the total number of encounters, but they also do not make it possible to predict the outcome of the encounter between two individuals (Rowell and Olson, 1983).

The main means of regulating the social structure of primate groups (to a lesser extent other higher mammals) instead of general species signals serves social action of each individual who is interested in the stability of the existing structure of the group or, conversely, in beneficial changes in this structure. General species expressions or vocalizations, usually pretending to be demonstrations - potential signals, are almost always nonspecific in higher primates.

But social action and assessment of situations, seemingly purely individual, turns out to be generally understandable and easily “read” for two reasons. First, it often turns out to be a typical action in typical circumstances, and the development of individuality in higher primates comes to the ability to create concepts of situations by observing the behavior of other individuals, and to reproduce these actions according to an ideal “pattern” when the same situation happens to an individual. observer. This does not require species instincts, only individual abilities of observation, imagination, memory, and intellect, all that makes the higher apes qualitatively different from the lower ones - colobuses and marmosets.

Secondly, in higher primates, the ideal group structure exists as a kind of common reality known to all members of society, and taken into account in any social action, along with the status and individual characteristics of animals. Based on this "knowledge" ideal model“relationships that integrate animals into the community, the individual can predict the development of social situations and, at his choice, take actions aimed at preserving existing social ties that are destroyed by the aggression of the dominant, or, conversely, changing them in his favor (Seyfarth, 1980, 1981; Cheeney and Seyfarth, 2007).

It is clear that for effective management (or maintaining the existing structure of relations) in such a system, there is no need for species instincts, and individual action is sufficient. After all, the ability to create concepts of a situation, the transferability of concepts and the ability to implement multi-stage action plans according to some ideal “pattern” observed in other individuals makes instinct completely superfluous.

In great apes, the instinctive "matrix" disappears completely, and patterns of species-specific behavior are indistinguishable among individual expressions. This applies equally to demonstrations (poses, gestures and sounds), and to any stereotypical forms of everyday behavior.

Here (and even more so in a person) no instincts at all in the ethological understanding of this term, no matter how it contradicts the ordinary meaning of the word "instinct", "instinctive", where instinct is confused with a stereotype and ritual on the basis of a general similarity in the "unconscious" implementation of an action.

In lower apes (marmosets, colobuses, New World monkeys, all with differentiated systems of signal-symbols), they are certainly present. Consequently, in the "transition zone" between the first and second - in macaques, langurs, baboons, geladas, there is a gradual destruction of the instinctive "matrix" of behavior to a state of complete absence in anthropoids (which will be specified by primatological studies; being an ornithologist, I can only note a trend, and I can only speculate on the specific passage of the border).

There are three lines of evidence in favor of this thesis.

First, in lower vertebrates psyche And animal personality develop in the "matrix" of instincts, subordinating and taking control of other forms of activity. In almost all vertebrates, except for some birds and higher mammals (parrots, corvids, monkeys, dolphins, who else?), non-instinctive reactions either serve the realization of instinct, or are carried out according to the “matrix” created by him for dividing time between different types of animal activity, or are subjected to instinctive offset. That is, it is the specific instincts that set the “limits for the implementation” of non-instinctive forms of behavior in time and space, the “goals”, and the “upper floors” of the development of the intellect (Nikolskaya et al., 1995; Nikolskaya, 2005).

In the process of progressive evolution of the individuality of an animal in a series of vertebrates, this matrix is ​​"thinned" and "destroyed", being replaced by acts of individual intellect(For example, situation concepts), learning outcomes, and other elements of experience. The manifestation of instincts "goes into the shadows", more and more limited to uncertain and non-specific situations.

Further, an "instinctive matrix" of species-specific behavior patterns has been described in studies of the neural substrate of vocalizations in lower apes, but not found in anthropoids. Conducting stimulation of different parts of the brain of squirrel monkeys-saimiri using implanted electrodes, U.JurgensAndD. Plooge showed that each of the eight types of saimiri sounds identified according to the structural features of the spectrum has its own morphological substrate in the vocal areas of the brain. If the substrates matched and two different types of sounds could be evoked from the same point, they were evoked by different modes of electrical stimulation (by intensity, frequency, and duration of the stimulus, cited in Jurgens, 1979, 1988).

Similar results have been obtained on other species of lower apes. The differentiation of alarm signals at the level of behavior corresponds to the differentiation of the nervous substrate mediating the issuance of a signal in response to partner signals and / or dangerous situations (these are parts of the limbic system, including the vocal zones of the diencephalon and forebrain). With a common morphological substrate, different signals are "triggered" by different stimulation modes, i.e., each species-specific signal corresponds to its "own" site and/or triggering mode of exposure (Fitch and Hauser, 1995; Ghazanfar and Hauser, 1999).

On the one hand, all this exactly corresponds to the "release" of instincts after specific "pricks" of key stimuli, as it was understood by classical ethologists. On the other hand, it proves the discreteness and differentiation of species signals in lower apes and other vertebrates with signaling systems of the same type (Evans, 2002; Egnor et al., 2004). On the third - confirms the presence biological basis traditional typological classification animal signals, based on the reduction of the entire variety of changes in the structural-temporal spectrum of sounds produced in a given situation to a finite set of “ideal samples” (Current topics in primate vocal communication, 1995).

That is, in the lower monkeys we see a rigid “ triple match» between a signal, a situation and a pattern of behavior triggered in response to a signal, with species specificity of patterns, “automaticity” of triggering, innate “meaning” of situations by signals, and innate response of other individuals to the signal. Physiological studies show that signals have isolated "patterns" in the brain, ethological studies of the same species - that there are isolated "patterns of perception and response" of different signals associated with different situations and differentiable on the basis of different waveform.

Alarm systems of all other vertebrates (rodents, lizards, birds and fish) are also organized. But in the phylogenetic series of primates, this “triple correspondence” weakens and is completely eliminated in anthropoids. Already in baboons and macaques, the accuracy of correspondence between differentiated signals, morphological substrates from which the signal is elicited, and differentiated stimulation modes or classes of external objects responsible for the appearance of the signal is impaired (Current topics in primate vocal communication, 1995; Ghazanfar and Hauser, 1999).

Accordingly, many visual and acoustic demonstrations are non-specific, and despecialized to the level of individual pantomime. These completely non-specific signals are nevertheless quite effective in a communicative sense, for example, the so-called "food cry" of Ceylon macaques ( Macaca sinica).

Discovering the new kind food or a rich source of food, the monkey emits a characteristic cry lasting about 0.5 s (frequency ranges from 2.5 to 4.5 kHz). The emotional basis of the cry is general excitement, a kind of euphoria stimulated by the discovery of new sources or types of food, where the level of excitement (reflected in the corresponding parameters of the cry) grows in proportion to the degree of novelty and "delicacy" of the food.

Evidence for the nonspecificity of the signal is the fact that individual differences in the reactivity of macaques, they significantly affect the intensity of sound activity and the frequency characteristics of the sounds themselves. In addition, the characteristics of the signal do not depend on the specific characteristics of food objects, that is, the food signal of macaques is devoid of iconic meaning.

Nevertheless, the food cry is an effective and reliable means of communication. In an adequate situation, the cry was registered in 154 cases out of 169. A positive reaction of other individuals to the cry was found in 135 cases out of 154; members of the herd who hear the cry run to him from a distance of up to 100 m (Dittus, 1984).

In the transition to higher primates, more and more signals become non-specific, their shape is determined by individual expression, which is influenced by the state and situation, with the complete non-expression of “ideal patterns” and, therefore, signal shape invariants. The reaction is determined by an individual assessment of the situation, and not by the “automatisms” of the species level; ad hoc), which each animal publishes to the extent of its own excitation and its specific assessment of the situation, while others interpret to the extent of their own observation and understanding.

That is, in the phylogenetic series of primates, there is a despecialization of species signals: from a specialized “language” using signal-symbols, they turn into an individual pantomime that can convey mood, but not inform about the class of situations. This process was recorded both for vocalizations and for visual signals (facial expressions, gestures, postural demonstrations). It reaches its logical conclusion in anthropoids. Their behavioral repertoire completely lacks elements of behavior corresponding to the "demonstrations" of classical ethologists.

Their place is occupied by vocalizations, gesticulations, body movements and facial expressions, purely individual in nature, the synchronization and unification of which is achieved through mutual “copying” of the way of performing the “necessary” cries or gestures in the “necessary situation”. So, food screams ( long distance food calls) chimpanzees are purely individual, with some dependence also on the situation and the novelty of food (which is reminiscent of a food cry M. sinica). However, when cooperatively issuing a cry, male chimpanzees begin to imitate acoustic performance partner's cry. This achieves some unification of calls, the more complete and stable, the more often these animals cry together about similar types of food (that is, the closer the social connection between them, the more often they cooperate in the search for food in similar ways, etc.).

Since the nature of the call and the degree of its unification with other individuals is a marker of tightness social interaction between animals, different males cry differently depending on who they are with. This leads, on the one hand, to a significant variety of cries, and on the other hand, to unification, marking existing social alliances, but capable of being flexibly rebuilt with any transformation of the group structure. In this way, individuals are informed about all significant restructuring of the structure of social ties (Mittani and Brandt, 1994).

Observations show that other individuals are perfectly oriented to the structure of calls and the nature of gesticulation of individuals, using them as a marker of changes in the social ties of the animal with individuals from the immediate environment (strength, tightness, stability of ties, dominant or subordinate position, Goodall, 1992). Orangutans do the same. Pongo pygmaeus. To resume interrupted communication: they accurately reproduce the partner's signals if they "understand" its meaning and the situation in connection with which it was issued, but modify it with an incomprehensible (unknown) meaning of the corresponding gestures and cries, or ignorance of the circumstances in which it was reproduced (Leavens, 2007).

That is, an observer-ethologist can always distinguish among the sounds or expressions of anthropoids elements that in a certain period of time would be both “shaped” and “endowed with meaning” for all members of the group.

But these elements are not permanent, their “endowment” is purely situational and dynamically changing throughout the life of the group, that is, “by themselves” they are “formless” and “semantically empty” (signals ad hoc). Although the plastic behavior of an animal (including vocalization) always breaks up into a number of relatively isolated elements, reminiscent of demonstrations, upon any prolonged observation it turns out to be peculiar. tabula rasa, on which the dynamics of the social structure of the group imprints one or another "structure of behavior" with a signal value ad hoc and quickly modify them.

That's why second line of evidence for lack of instincts in higher primates, it is associated with the failure of the search for “vervet-type” signaling systems. The latter are based on specific sets of differentiated demonstrations that "designate" logically alternative categories of objects of the external world and thus, as it were, "name" them. In addition to them, the same signal “denotes differentiated” behavior programs that are launched when interacting with a given external object and / or after receiving a signal about it (Seyfarth et al., 1980; Cheeney, Seyfarth, 1990; Blumstein, 2002; Egnor et al. ., 2004).

It is significant that in a situation of danger and anxiety (as well as aggression, sexual arousal, and in all other situations), anthropoids are unable to inform partners what exactly the danger threatens, from where exactly, and what should be done in this situation . Their gestures and screams reflect only the degree of anxiety in connection with the situation, they can arouse a similar emotional state in others, make them pay attention to the situation and, in the presence of relationships that involve social support, encourage them to provide it.

So, in groups of chimpanzees, cannibals (-lks) periodically appear, stealing and eating cubs of other monkeys. Sometimes these attempts are successful, sometimes mothers fight back, mobilizing support in the form of friendly males. One of these females was attacked several times by a cannibal and successfully repelled them due to social support. However, the nature of the signaling of the target of the attack shows that her intense signaling and gestures in no way inform the "support group" about what kind of danger threatens and how best to reflect it, only conveys a state of anxiety and stress in connection with the situation. Arriving males are forced to assess the situation and choose actions themselves ( J. Goodall. Chimpanzee in nature. Behavior. M.: Mir, 1992).

On the contrary, the simple signaling system of lower apes (3-4 differentiated calls instead of 18-30 vocalizations in chimpanzees connected by continuum transitions) easily copes with the task of informing about alternative categories of dangers that are significant for their external world (Zuberbűhler et al., 1997; Zuberbűhler, 2000; Blumstein, 2002; Egnor et al., 2004). Apparently, it is precisely because of the impossibility of a precise indication of the danger posed by cannibals that these chimpanzees quietly exist in groups and, outside acts of attack on other cubs, are quite tolerant of other individuals. The latter fully recognize these subjects individually, but due to the absence of both species-specific instincts and a “proto-language”, their actions remain “unnamed”, and, therefore, “unappreciated” by the collective.

That is, in the lower apes we see one state of stereotypical forms of behavior, one way of using ritualized demonstrations, exactly corresponding to the "classical" definition of instinct, in anthropoids and humans - another, directly opposite to the first. In fact, chimpanzees and bonobos (unlike vervets) do not have a specific “language” that solves the problem of “naming” significant situations and objects of the outside world, and denoting actions that are effective in a given situation. At the same time, in terms of the level of intelligence, the ability to learn, to accurately reproduce other people's actions in a difficult situation (the same gestures of the “language of the deaf and dumb”), they are quite capable of learning the language and using symbols. This has been repeatedly proven by the famous experiments with "talking monkeys".

Hence, human language- non-species instinct Homo sapiens , according to the Chomskians (Pinker, 2004), but the same product of cultural evolution in the communities of primates and protohumans as tool activity. It shares many similarities with the latter, including the common neurological underpinnings of speaking, molding tools, and throwing an object right on target. But then even anthropoids (and even more so humans) do not have patterns of behavior that correspond to the ethological definition of instinct.

Third line of evidence lack of instincts is associated with a radically different character of facial expressions (and possibly other elements of “body language”) in humans compared to species-specific displays of lower apes and other vertebrates, say, displays of courtship and threat. The latter are a classic example of instinct, also because the accuracy of the correspondence between the stimulus and the reaction, the published demonstration of the individual and the response demonstration of the partner is provided automatically, due to the mechanism of stimulating like with like.

The model of “stimulation of similar by similar” by M.E. Goltsman (1983a) arises from the need to explain the stability / direction of the flow of communication, its specific result in the form of social asymmetry, stable for a certain (predictable) period of time, as well as differentiation of roles, which stabilizes the system -society without any "too strong" statements about the existence of specialized sign systems. Known dialogue model of communication classical ethologists - a variant of "stimulation of similar with similar" for the limiting case when the impacts that individuals exchange with each other are specialized signals that are rigidly associated with certain situations of a naturally developing process of interaction.

The nature of stimulation of like by like can be explained by the example of interactions between mother and child during the period of "infant babble", when there is definitely no sign communication (Vinarskaya, 1987). In the first months of a child's life, some of the communication mechanisms are imprinted. Among them are precisely those “which are a necessary prerequisite for any interaction”: quick and intent glances, approaching movements, a smile, laughter, characteristic sounds of a voice. All these reactions are reinforced by the behavioral mechanisms of the mother, which turn on so unexpectedly and act so unconsciously for the mother herself that the author even makes a “potential error”, assuming their innateness.

This is a slowing down of the tone of the mother's speech in response to emotional manifestations a child, an increase in the average frequency of the fundamental tone of the voice due to high frequencies, etc. If we were talking about the dialogue of adults, one could say that the mother translates speech into the register "for a foreigner." Actually, “stimulation of like by like” is as follows: The more physical characteristics emotional statements of the mother are likened to the vocal abilities of the baby, the easier it is for him to imitate her and, consequently, to establish with her the emotional social contact characteristic of an early age. The more complete ... the contact, the sooner the child's innate sound reactions begin to acquire national specific features. y" (Vinarskaya, 1987: 21 ).

According to M.E. Goltsman (1983a), the main regulator of animal behavior in communities is based on two joint processes: stimulation of behavior by a similar behavior of a partner, or, conversely, blocking of this activity. First process: any behavioral act stimulates, i.e. initiates or strengthens in all those who perceive it exactly the same acts or complementary ones. The behavior of the animal has a self-stimulating effect on itself, and a stimulating effect on partners. This influence is carried out simultaneously on the entire set of possible levels of organization of animal behavior in communities. Although the main influence of each parameter of behavior (the degree of ritualization of the form of acts, the intensity and expression of actions, the intensity of the rhythm of interactions) falls on the same parameter of the behavior of the animal itself and its partners, it also extends to other forms of behavior that are physiologically and motorally related to this one. Second process is based on the opposite property: a behavioral act blocks the appearance of similar acts in a social partner.

Therefore, the relationships of individuals of different ranks in a structured community are predominantly "competitive" in nature. High frequency the presentation by dominant individuals of specific complexes of postures, movements and actions that make up the so-called “dominant syndrome” ensures a leading position in the group and at the same time creates a situation where the manifestation of identical forms of behavior in other members of the group is largely suppressed, so that they become subordinate position (Goltsman et al., 1977).

Further, the existence of a positive feedback is postulated, which allows both individuals to compare the parameters of their own activity with the parameters of the partner's action and evaluate the "balance of forces" of opposite stimulation flows created by the implementation of the behavior of one and the other individual (Goltsman, 1983a; Goltsman et al., 1994; Kruchenkova, 2002).

If the social activity of the partner is "weaker" than the activity of the individual itself, this stimulates the progressive development of the animal's behavior towards the appearance of more and more expressive and specific elements that have a more intense and long-term effect on the partner. If the partner’s activity is “stronger” than the individual’s own activity, then it suppresses the manifestation of the same type of behavioral elements in the partner’s activity and “turns” the development of the latter’s behavior to the side, contrary to development behavior of a stronger partner (Goltsman et al., 1994; Kruchenkova, 2002). For example, in agonistic interactions, the defeated animal moves into submission postures, while the future winner still demonstrates threat postures.

Further, every behavioral act stimulates in the receiving individual exactly the same acts (initiating their appearance or enhancing the expression of already existing ones) or complementary to them. Any implementation of a certain behavior, and especially ritualized demonstrations, specifically stimulates the partner and at the same time increases the sensitivity of the animal itself to the same type of stimulation from the outside, that is, there is a self-stimulating effect. The processes of stimulation and self-stimulation turn out to be conjugate: here they are two sides of the same coin.

In this case, for all instinctive reactions of the animal, there is a strong positive correlation between the ability of the animal to perceive the signals associated with the corresponding demonstrations and to produce them itself.

In any population, there is polymorphism in the ability to encode outgoing signals (associated with the accuracy of the reproduction of signal invariants in specific acts of demonstrating the animal, with the stereotyped performance of species demonstrations), and in the ability to “decipher” the behavior of a partner, highlighting specific forms of signals against the background of a continuum of nonspecific non-signal actions. In all species studied in this regard, the ability to produce stereotyped, easily recognizable "output" displays correlates with a greater ability to differentiate displays in the system-organism's "input" partner activity stream (Andersson, 1980; Pietz, 1985; Aubin and Joventine, 1997, 1998, 2002).

Human facial expressions, expressing different emotional states, are very similar to courtship and threat demonstrations of lower apes: both expressive reactions have some species specificity and are performed quite stereotypically. However, here there is no correlation between the ability to send and receive facial signals, and if there is, then it is negative. For example, J.T.Lanzetta and R.E.Kleck found that skilled senders of facial signals were very inaccurate in deciphering other people's expressions, and vice versa. The videotape captured the reactions of college students to red and green light, the first warned of electric shock.

The same group of students were then shown recordings of other participants' reactions and asked to determine when they were shown a red signal and when they were shown a green one. Those subjects whose faces most accurately reflected the experienced state, worse than others determined given state on the faces of other participants (Lanzetta and Kleck, 1970).

In animals, the performance of their own demonstrations is directly proportional to the sensitivity to similar partner stimulation and the ability to classify the opponent's expressive reactions by the presence/absence of the necessary demonstrations (to which the animal is ready to respond). A positive correlation persists even if the demonstration is distorted, the performer is obscured by branches, foliage, etc., precisely because of the instinctive nature of the production and response of signals (Nuechterlein, Storer, 1982; Searby et al., 2004; Evans, Marler, 1995; Hauser , 1996; Peters and Evans, 2003a, b, 2007; Evans, Evans, 2007).

Therefore, a negative correlation in humans is associated with non-instinctive mechanism of socialization based on the communicative environment in the family and related learning . In a highly expressive environment in the family, facial demonstration skills develop well, but since the highly emotional signals of all family members are extremely expressive and very accurate, transcribing skills develop poorly due to lack of need. Conversely, in low-expressive families, the skills of expressive expression of emotional states are very poorly developed, but since the need for understanding objectively exists, training is underway to more accurately decipher weak signals (Izard, 1971, cited by Izard, 1980).

This assumption was fully confirmed when using the "Questionnaire of expressiveness in the family" ( Family Expressiveness Questionnaire) to assess the communicative environment. The skill of coding the emotional state in facial expressions positively correlates with the level of emotionality of relationships and emotional freedom in the family, the skill of decoding is negative (Halberstadt, 1983, 1986)

And in conclusion - why are people now looking for instincts with the same zeal with which they used to look for an immortal soul? There is only one goal - not by washing, but by rolling to reconcile with the injustice of the structure of the world, which lies in evil and, despite 1789 and 1917, is not going to get out of there, on the contrary, it plunges deeper and deeper into evil.

Instincts and their classification

Unconditioned reflexes

The main physiological fund, on the basis of which conditioned reflex, or temporary, connections are formed, are congenital, or, as Pavlov called them, unconditioned reflexes.

Definition_1

An unconditioned reflex is an innate species-specific reaction of the body that occurs in response to a specific stimulus, i.e. biologically meaningful stimulus adequate for this type of activity

Unconditioned reflexes are associated with vital biological needs and are carried out within a constant reflex path. They form the basis of the mechanism for balancing the influences of the external environment on the body. Unconditioned reflexes arise in response to the action of an adequate stimulus and can be caused by a limited number of environmental stimuli.

The emergence of unconditioned reflexes in phylogenesis is aimed at both individual and species self-preservation. A number of innate reflexes have been formed, each of which performs its specific functions and takes part in maintaining the normal functioning of the body. Congenital reflexes are genetically determined (predetermined) and have a ready morphological basis, arise under the action of appropriate stimuli.

The entire genetic fund of innate reactions of an individual is a kind of "species (genetic) memory" that contributes to the preservation of oneself, one's offspring, population and species. The fund of innate reflexes of each animal species is formed by evolution in such a way that a living creature that was born and had no previous experience would have a primary set of adaptive behavioral responses.

Various forms innate reactions of the body are "ready" for manifestation as the ontogenetic maturation of the CNS. A classic example of such innate behavior is the stereotypical activity of the chick, which ensures its hatching from the egg, accompanied by a sharp increase in the level of wakefulness and increased muscle tone.

For many innate reflexes, the phenomenon of extinction is characteristic. Thus, lifting the head in ungulates when a shadow appears above it is an innate reflex of feeding behavior, but without food reinforcement it gradually fades away. The disappearance of individual reflexes present in newborns and the appearance of new reactions is due to the fact that the ontogenetic development of the nervous system usually occurs in the direction from the lower part of the brain to the higher part. The centers of simple innate reflexes are located in the caudal regions of the brain, and their subordinate centers are located in the rostral regions. The innate reflex can manifest itself as long as higher centers not yet ripe, but "disappears" as soon as the higher centers begin to exert an inhibitory effect.

Thus, a number of congenital reflexes appear in a newborn child, for example, a grasping reflex (tight grip of the hand on touch or pressure on the palm), the Babinsky reflex (straightening the big toe and spreading the rest when the sole is irritated), and reflex movements of the head appear when the cheek is stimulated. and mouth in the form of a search for a food stimulus. These motor reflexes disappear in the process of ontogenetic development (pass into a latent state), but they can reappear (and even in old age) with deep organic lesions brain.

Thus, from the moment an organism is born, it has all the properties of an integral system that enters into continuous relationships with the external environment. The product of this interaction is behavior. In the process of individual development, organisms learn what behavioral responses give rise to best results and change their behavior accordingly. For each specific occasion, in the process of learning, new forms of behavior are formed, as more advanced functional structures of adaptation to the external environment.

The ratio of innate (stable) and acquired (labile) mechanisms of the organism's functional activity determines the plasticity of behavior. In real behavior, innate activity and individually acquired reactions do not exist in isolation; their joint activity is realized in a single behavioral act. In other words, holistic behavior includes two types of adaptive reactions - genotypic, determined by the gene program, and phenotypic, determined by the interaction of the genotype and environmental conditions, or individually acquired, based on learning.

Congenital reflexes arise at their first need, with the appearance of a "specific" stimulus, ensuring the performance of the most vital functions of the body, regardless of random, transient environmental conditions. I. P. Pavlov considered various groups of unconditioned reflexes, which are primarily aimed at self-preservation of the body the main ones are food, defensive, indicative and children's unconditioned reflexes. Subsequently, many attempts were made to describe and classify unconditioned reflexes. At the same time, they used different criteria, For example:

1) the nature of the causing stimuli;

2) biological role;

3) the sequence in this particular behavioral act.

I.P. Pavlov divided unconditioned reflexes into three groups:

Simple unconditioned reflexes;

Complex unconditioned reflexes;

The most complex unconditioned reflexes.

Simple unconditioned reflexes are elementary motor reactions carried out at the level of individual segments of the spinal cord (knee reflex, swallowing reflex, autonomic reflexes, etc.) They have local meaning, and are caused by local irritation of the receptors of one or another segment of the spinal body, manifesting itself in the contraction of the striated muscles.

Complex unconditioned reflexes will include coordination and integrative reflexes, which ensure the formation of a purposeful locomotor behavioral act on the basis of simple reflexes (for example, walking, running, orienting reaction, etc.). The implementation of complex unconditioned reflexes is associated with a system of proprioceptive feedbacks (the system of reverse afferentation of motor programs).

The most complex unconditioned reflexes (or instincts) are specific and individual stereotypes of behavior that are organized on the basis of complex reflexes according to a genetically predetermined program. The most complex reactions are formed by a sequence of complex reflexes, the completion of each of which is the beginning of the next one.

The most complex unconditioned reflexes can be divided into individual and specific reflexes. Individual reflexes include food, active and passive defensive, aggressive, freedom reflex, exploratory, game reflex; species - sexual and parental. According to Pavlov, the first of these reflexes ensure the individual self-preservation of the individual, the second - the preservation of the species.

IP Pavlov attached great importance to the study of the mechanisms of innate reflexes in animals. He believed that the study of the innate reflexes of animals constituted the phylogenetic basis of human behavior. This idea of ​​Pavlov was especially developed in the works of Pavel Vasilyevich Simonov (1926-2002), according to whom the biological significance of unconditioned reflexes is not limited to individual and species self-preservation.

Considering the progress of the evolution of living nature, P. V. Simonov develops the idea that the progressive development of unconditioned reflexes is the phylogenetic basis for improving the needs (need-motivational sphere) of animals and humans. Needs serve as a source of activity of living beings, the motivation and purpose of their behavior in the environment.

According to P. V. Simonov, the development of each sphere of the environment corresponds to three different classes of the most complex unconditioned reflexes:

1) vital unconditional,

2) role-playing (zoosocial),

3) unconditioned reflexes of self-development.

1. Vital unconditioned reflexes provide individual and species preservation of the organism. These are food, drink, sleep regulation, defensive and orienting reflexes (reflexes of "biological caution"), a reflex of saving strength, and many others. The criteria for the reflexes of the vital group are:

Physical death of an individual as a result of non-satisfaction of the corresponding need;

Realization of an unconditioned reflex without the participation of another individual of the same species.

2. Role (zoosocial) unconditioned reflexes can only be realized through interaction with other individuals of their species. These reflexes underlie sexual, parental, territorial behavior, the basis of the phenomenon of emotional resonance (“empathy”) and the formation of a group hierarchy, where an individual invariably acts as a marriage partner, parent or cub, owner of the territory or alien, leader or follower.

3. Unconditioned reflexes of self-development focused on the development of new space-time environments, turned to the future. These include:

exploratory behavior,

Unconditioned reflex of resistance (freedom),

imitative (imitative),

Gaming (preventive armament).

The freedom reflex is an independent active form of behavior for which an obstacle is no less an adequate stimulus than food is for a food-procuring search, pain is for a defensive reaction, a new and unexpected stimulus is for an orienting reflex.

Question_2

Instincts and their classification

Definition_2

Instinct (lat. instinctus - motivation) is an evolutionarily developed innate adaptive form of behavior characteristic of a given animal species, representing a set of complex reactions that occur in response to irritation

Historically, in natural science there have been two approaches to the definition of instinct.

The first approach is used when talking about the instincts of mammals and humans. Instincts are understood as behavioral strategies in response to the emergence of any biological need in the body: hunger, thirst, need for sleep, possession of territory, sexual need, cognitive need that higher mammals have. This approach means that the specific manifestations of instincts in different people may be different, but the strategies for the manifestation of instincts are the same or fit into any limited framework.

The Polish physiologist Yu. Konorsky proposed the theory of "drive reflexes", where the drive is urges, which can be hunger, thirst, rage, fear, etc. According to Konorsky's theory, brain activity is divided into preparatory and executive, and all reflexes fall into two categories:

Preparatory (driving, encouraging);

Executive (consumatory, final).

The opposite of the drive is the satisfaction of the need - the anti-drive, which occurs after the drive reflex is completed. The main feature of the drives is the general mobilization motor activity, and antidrives - motor demobilization of the body and calming down. Different types of drives are in a mutually inhibitory relationship, namely: a strong drive reflex (dominant motivation) “depresses” all the others, but after the fulfillment (satisfaction) of this drive, the anti-drive begins to act, while facilitating the activation and manifestation of other drives (motivations) . Thus, the reason for the decrease in this motivational arousal is the biologically useful result of the final phase of behavior.

Each drive is characterized by a specific behavior. Drive, motivation initiate preparatory, search phases of behavior. Thus, the hunger drive initiates a food-procuring reaction, manifested in motor restlessness and activation of sensory systems. The final phase of food-procuring behavior is the executive, consummatory food reflex - this is chewing and swallowing food. This means that the executive reflexes are associated with a certain unconditioned stimulus to which the search was directed. The launch of the executive food reflex is carried out with the participation of sensory (olfactory and gustatory) reception.

The second approach is narrower and was proposed by Konrad Lorenz. Lorenz believes that instincts should be understood as specific, strictly fixed actions (movements) that are the same in the same situations for all representatives of a given species. Lorentz called instincts "a set of fixed actions" or stereotyped behavior. According to his ideas, under the influence of a number of external and internal factors (hormones, temperature, illumination, etc.) in the corresponding nerve centers, an accumulation of “action energy” occurs, which is specific in relation to a certain impulse (hunger, thirst, sexual need, etc.). .). An increase in this activity above a certain level leads to the manifestation of the search phase of the behavioral act, which is characterized by a wide variability in performance, both in this individual and in different representatives one kind. It consists in an active search for stimuli, under the action of which the impulse that has arisen in the animal can be satisfied. When stimuli are found, the final act is carried out - a fixed complex of species-specific movements, stereotyped both in one individual in each case and in all individuals of a given species. This complex of movements is characterized by a high degree of genotypic conditioning. With increased accumulation of "energy of action", the final act can be carried out spontaneously, i.e. in the absence of appropriate stimuli.

Which point of view is correct? What are instincts: behavioral strategies or complexes of fixed actions? The American scientist Wallace Craig proposed to combine both approaches in the form of a single instinctive behavioral act, which includes the following elements:

search behavior - key stimulus - stereotypical behavior

In instinctive behavior, W. Craig singled out appetitive and consummatory parts. Appetizing behavior consists of successive reactions of an individual, the manifestation of which depends on the experience of animals. In the appetitive ("search") phase, instinctive movements in animals are different, variable, their manifestation is largely determined by the state of the external environment. Appetizing behavior prepares the consummatory (final) part, which includes a set of stereotyped movements.

In physiology, it is customary to represent the final phase of instinctive behavior as a set of unconditioned reflexes. Ethologists find a number of differences in the manifestation of instinct and reflex. According to ethologists, the consummatory phase of instinctive behavior differs from unconditioned reflex activity by a certain spontaneity (independence from environmental influences), complexity, and multi-stage nature.

The role of the appetitive and consummatory phases of instinctive behavior is different in animals of different systematic groups. In mammals, animals with a highly developed nervous system, learning plays a large role in behavior, so the initial phase of instinctive behavior is quite variable in them. The instincts of animals that “have no time” to learn (they include, for example, insects) consist of one final phase and are stereotyped in their manifestation. Birds are distinguished by a high intensity of metabolic processes (high energy). The instinctive actions of birds are rather stereotyped, as it is believed, in order to save energy, and are well described by the model of K. Lorenz.

One way or another, instinctive reactions are innate. In the implementation of such a set of fixed instinctive actions, the triggering function is performed by external stimuli (stimuli), which in their entirety create a triggering situation, are called "key stimuli", or releasers. Each key stimulus triggers a set of programmed actions corresponding to it. Key stimuli are such signs of the environment to which animals can respond, regardless of individual experience, with an innate behavioral act.

For each key stimulus in the central program of behavior, there are mechanisms to trigger the corresponding behavioral response, the implementation of which does not depend on the consequences for the organism. Thus, trigger stimuli affect the behavior of animals and cause them to perform certain instinctive sets of actions, regardless of the general situation perceived by the animal. Instinctive reactions endow animals with a set of adaptive reactions that are in a state of "readiness" and appear at their first need. A rich set of instincts creates clear advantages for a number of lower animals, but especially for animals with a short lifespan (for example, insects) or deprived of parental care.

Figure 2 - Scheme of organization of instinctive behavior:

C - stimulus, R - reception, P - behavioral act; dotted line - modulating influence, solid line - activity of the modulating system as an evaluation instance

IN last years there was a general scheme of organization of instinctive behavior. According to this scheme, a key stimulus can launch a program of a behavioral act corresponding to it based on "hard", genetically determined synaptic connections between sensory and motor systems.

The initial picture of the principles of the neuronal organization of a behavioral act was formed as a result of studies on lower animals. A significant achievement for understanding the mechanism of triggering stereotyped actions, the implementation of "motor programs" was the discovery of command neurons - cells whose activation triggers the corresponding behavioral act, but they themselves are not motor neurons.

In 1964, the American physiologist (California) K. Wiersma and colleagues described giant interneurons on a goldfish, the discharge of which determined the activity of an entire population of motoneurons that realize the movement of the fins, tail, and body of the animal during kicking behavior. Later it was shown that the organization of the flight of insects, the singing of cicadas, food and defensive behavior molluscs are also realized by command cells, most of which have been identified in invertebrates. At present, evidence has accumulated that some forms of mammalian behavior are also organized according to the command principle.

The diverse forms of instincts can be divided into three groups:

The first group is the instincts, the origin of which is associated with changes in the internal and external environment of the body. These include:

- homeostatic instinct aimed at preserving the internal environment of the body. This is drinking and eating behavior, bowel movements, urination.

- rest and sleep instinct

- sexual instinct

- building instinct(construction of burrows, lairs, nests, dams - in beavers) is not always associated with changes in the internal environment of the organism, for example, the construction of burrows, dams by beavers.

- fish migration instinct the time of their spawning and seasonal flights of birds are a circumannual biorhythm and are associated with the work of the biological clock.

The bird flight instinct program is triggered by external stimuli (duration daylight hours, ambient temperature). A certain role in the launch of this instinct can be played by an increase in the intensity of metabolism, i.e. shifts in internal environment organisms associated with a decrease in ambient temperature.

The second group of instincts is associated with changes in the external environment of the organism. The main instincts are:

- the instinct of self-preservation- getting rid of and avoiding attacks, adverse environmental influences.

- territorial instinct (territorial behavior) - marking the territory and expelling other individuals from their territory. Territory marking is carried out differently in different animals. for example, in dogs it is urination on trees, objects. Bears make notches on trees with their front paws, and as high as possible, which indicates the size of the beast and its power.

- instinct of leadership and imitation (imitation).

- hibernation instinct of some animal species.

- bird flight instinct.

The instincts of the third group (they are programmed in the central nervous system) are the following:

- sanitary instinct(nest, lair are kept clean); chicks, for example, crawl out to the edge of the nest to defecate.

- parental instinct(reproduction and protection of offspring).

- movement instincts and play instinct

- instincts of freedom and exploration.

Man is not born helpless and unable to do anything. It's just that his body after birth is not yet sufficiently formed to be able to perform all the basic actions that are characteristic of all people. Instincts are basic actions that are performed by absolutely all people. To understand what it is, how it affects our lives and what examples can be given, the online magazine site will consider this topic.

Absolutely all people are born with instincts. These are unconditioned reflexes that are manifested in all living beings and perform important functions. Among all kinds of instincts, the most important are the sense of self-preservation and reproduction. The desire to save one's life is manifested from the first minutes of life. The child screams, cries to be fed, warmed, lulled, etc.

As the human body grows stronger and becomes self-functioning, the child is more and more exposed to instincts. A vivid example is the ability of pediatricians to tell parents at what month of their life what a child should do in order to consider him or her developing normally. All children during the first years of life live at the level of instincts that dictate to them how they will develop, what to do, how to react, how their organisms will act, etc.

However, instincts are not all that human life is based on, otherwise people would not differ from the animal world. If animals act at the level of instincts, then people, as they develop and grow, acquire conditioned reflexes - these are certain skills that require training and consolidation in order to complete them. People with these skills are not born. If a person is not taught them, then he will not be able to perform them. However, as education grows, instincts fade into the background more and more, giving way to conditioned reflexes.

Instincts cannot be suppressed or completely eliminated. However, a person is able to stop and control himself in time. If control over own actions, then the instincts will not be able to manifest themselves in full force. The person will experience instinctive experiences and manifestations (for example, rapid heartbeat or sweating), but can control their actions.

Instincts usually work in emergency and life-threatening danger to a person. An example is the attack of a dog, from which a person wants to run away or fights off with stones, pulling his hand away from a hot kettle (it is unlikely that someone will be able to do this, unless a person has impairments in the perception of analyzers or processing of incoming information by the brain).

Instincts always work in full measure when a person does not control himself. However, here one should distinguish between automatically acquired actions and instincts. The fact that a person does not think about the fact that you need to raise your hand to turn on the light in the room does not yet make his actions instinctive.

Man's instincts do not need to be taught, he already possesses and obeys them, if he does not try to stop his actions. A person must learn automatic conditioned reflexes and other behavior in order to perform it.

What are instincts?

Instincts are understood as automatic conditioned actions that are given to all people from birth and do not require their conscious control. Basically, instincts are aimed at the survival of the individual and the preservation of his kind. Thus, a person instinctively seeks food or water when he is hungry or thirsty, runs away from danger or fights when threatened, engages in sexual intercourse with the opposite sex in order to produce offspring.

However, psychologists point out that a person has much more instincts than the animal world. Human instincts are called the desire for power, domination, communication. It should be noted that the most important instinct, which has many types of its manifestation, is the desire to maintain balance. The so-called homeostasis - when a person wants to experience peace and tranquility - is one of the basic aspirations.

Instinct is not a goal, as some people might think. That a person consciously desires and wants to achieve something is not an instinct. Here a person simply arranges his life, which can exist anyway if he does nothing.

It is necessary to distinguish instincts from internal fears, complexes, feelings that develop in a person as he lives. They are also called acquired, or social fears. For example, guilt is an acquired quality that affects a person on a subconscious level. However, no one is born with guilt, it is developed in people as they grow and develop.

You should also highlight such common fears as:

1. Fear of being unrecognized.
2. Fear of criticism.
3. etc.

These are all social fears. They are more connected with the mental harmony of a person than with his survival.

However, there are fears that to some extent can be attributed to instinctive ones. So, fear of sharks or spiders, fear of heights - these fears can be developed, but they are based on the instinct of self-survival, when a person must first of all take care of the safety of his health and life.

human instincts

Man is a complex creature, which can be explained by the example of the transformation and complication of instincts in the course of his life. A person is born with biological needs dictated by instincts - automatic actions aimed at satisfying the needs of the body. However, a person lives in a society where there are rules, norms, traditions and other aspects. He is subjected to education, training, influence, which allows instincts to fade into the background.

Instincts do not disappear and do not disappear. Sometimes a person even learns to stop them, to control them. As you gain experience and shape your life, a person's instincts are transformed. If you notice an inappropriately behaving person in stressful situation, which means that he has not yet developed a mechanism that would restrain his instinctive behavior. However, there are individuals who have already learned to remain calm in situations that threaten them with death or require fertilization (sexual intercourse).

Thus, human instincts do not disappear anywhere, however, they begin to obey certain fears, worldview, conditioned reflexes and even social norms, when an individual learns to get involved in the process in time to slow down his instinctive actions and quickly transfer them to other actions.

Instincts are given to absolutely all people and persist for life. They are neither good nor bad. Instincts help a person primarily to survive, otherwise his birth and existence becomes meaningless. On the other hand, instinctive actions are often considered unacceptable in a society where their own laws and frameworks of behavior have been developed. Therefore, a person must learn to control his instinctive impulses and transfer energy to commit socially acceptable actions.

This is what distinguishes man from animals - conscious control, when instincts exist and continue to help a person survive. However, the individual is able to control himself and not obey the instinctive energy, if it is inappropriate in a particular case.

Types of instincts

There are many types of instincts:

1. The instinct of self-preservation is the most basic and initial. Every child begins to cry if there is no mother or that person who constantly takes care of him. If a person's self-preservation instinct does not fade away under the influence of social education over time, then he becomes cautious, prudent. Gambling, risky people commit destructive acts when they jump with a parachute or climb into the cages of predatory animals. Depending on the degree of the instinct of self-preservation, a person will perform certain actions.
2. Procreation. This instinct first manifests itself at the level of the desire that the family of parents remain intact, not be destroyed, and then the person himself begins to desire to create his own family and give birth to children. This instinct also has different level its manifestation. There are people who control their sexual desires and remain faithful to their only marriage partners, and there are people who do not want or are not able to control sexual lust, so they take lovers or do not create families at all in order to be able to copulate with a large number of members of the opposite sex. .
3. Study. As the human body grows stronger, it begins to study the world. Curiosity becomes an instinct that is aimed at studying the world around us, the desire to understand it and begin to interact with it, which will also allow him to live harmoniously, save his life.
4. Dominance. A person feels an inner need to have power, to lead other people, to control and manage. This instinct manifests itself in people in varying degrees.
5. Independence and freedom. These instincts are also innate, when every child resists any attempt to swaddle him, limit his actions or prohibit him. Adult people also do everything to gain maximum freedom and independence in the world in which they are forced to live.
6. . This instinct can be combined with the instinct of exploration, since a person first studies the world around him, and then begins to adapt to it in order to develop such skills and form such knowledge that will help him effectively survive in the existing conditions.
7. Communicative. A person can be alone, but he gravitates more towards a herd existence, when you can communicate, conduct joint business and solve problems at the expense of others.

Examples of instincts

The most striking examples of instincts are the desire of a person to flee or defend himself in a situation of danger. Also, almost all people in one way or another wish to continue their race. It is impossible to call instincts the feelings that parents show for their child, but their presence makes mothers and fathers take care of their offspring until it becomes independent and independent of them.

Social instincts, that is, those that are developed during life, can be called a tendency to altruism and the desire to maintain self-esteem.

Outcome

Instincts are given to all people with only one purpose - to preserve the human race (first the man himself, and then induce him to multiply and save his cubs). Instincts dull over the years, as a person learns to control them or stop in time thanks to those conditional actions that he develops over the course of his life.