how does instinct work? If it’s just “baked” into an animal’s DNA, how does it “activate” and how does it “activate” successfully?
In: 513
**We really don’t know** is the best answer.
* Some DNA codes for proteins.
* Some DNA codes are used in regulating the rates of gene expression and protein synthesis.
The wild bit is that we often talk about DNA as the blueprint for what a person or organism looks like, but we really have no idea how **the various proteins coded for** make a new multi-cellular organism where the cells differentiate into organs (like eyes or kidneys or the skin that covers it all).
When you add to all that unknown complexity the fact that we really don’t know how the brain works to determine behaviour (or is there any free will at all?) we really don’t know where to begin to answer your question.
Animals are considered ‘sentient’ – meaning they have feelings and emotions.
Humans are considered sentient *and* ‘sapient’ – meaning they have higher thinking functions.
If you have ever been afraid of the dark? That’s your sentient ‘instinct’ warning you that there might be dangers you cannot see in the dark and you should be careful.
Have you ever been attracted to someone? That is your sentient ‘instinct’ indicating they could be a good mating partner.
Just about any time a person is following ‘a hunch’ they cannot rationally explain, they are being led by their sentient/instinctual mind.
When someone says they are ‘just following my nose’, feeling their way forward though an unfamiliar situation, they are using what we call instinct.
Many birds just feel drawn to fly South at a certain time of the year. They do it because it feels good to do so at that time. They feel increasingly anxious until they give in to the feeling and just do it.
Squirrels just feel the need to hoard and bury and hide nuts they find. It feels right to them to do it that way. No ‘thought’ goes into it. They just feel a compulsion to do it.
That’s instinct. Its emotionally driven, compulsive behavior – the result of millions of years of natural selection and genetic programming.
What we call instinct is just a sentient creature’s way of living in the world.
Animals are considered ‘sentient’ – meaning they have feelings and emotions.
Humans are considered sentient *and* ‘sapient’ – meaning they have higher thinking functions.
If you have ever been afraid of the dark? That’s your sentient ‘instinct’ warning you that there might be dangers you cannot see in the dark and you should be careful.
Have you ever been attracted to someone? That is your sentient ‘instinct’ indicating they could be a good mating partner.
Just about any time a person is following ‘a hunch’ they cannot rationally explain, they are being led by their sentient/instinctual mind.
When someone says they are ‘just following my nose’, feeling their way forward though an unfamiliar situation, they are using what we call instinct.
Many birds just feel drawn to fly South at a certain time of the year. They do it because it feels good to do so at that time. They feel increasingly anxious until they give in to the feeling and just do it.
Squirrels just feel the need to hoard and bury and hide nuts they find. It feels right to them to do it that way. No ‘thought’ goes into it. They just feel a compulsion to do it.
That’s instinct. Its emotionally driven, compulsive behavior – the result of millions of years of natural selection and genetic programming.
What we call instinct is just a sentient creature’s way of living in the world.
Animals are considered ‘sentient’ – meaning they have feelings and emotions.
Humans are considered sentient *and* ‘sapient’ – meaning they have higher thinking functions.
If you have ever been afraid of the dark? That’s your sentient ‘instinct’ warning you that there might be dangers you cannot see in the dark and you should be careful.
Have you ever been attracted to someone? That is your sentient ‘instinct’ indicating they could be a good mating partner.
Just about any time a person is following ‘a hunch’ they cannot rationally explain, they are being led by their sentient/instinctual mind.
When someone says they are ‘just following my nose’, feeling their way forward though an unfamiliar situation, they are using what we call instinct.
Many birds just feel drawn to fly South at a certain time of the year. They do it because it feels good to do so at that time. They feel increasingly anxious until they give in to the feeling and just do it.
Squirrels just feel the need to hoard and bury and hide nuts they find. It feels right to them to do it that way. No ‘thought’ goes into it. They just feel a compulsion to do it.
That’s instinct. Its emotionally driven, compulsive behavior – the result of millions of years of natural selection and genetic programming.
What we call instinct is just a sentient creature’s way of living in the world.
Charles Darwin’s definition of instinct is a behaviour which is context-independent, and he gave as an example a rabbit stamping the ground when it is frightened. When other rabbits are nearby this warns them, but the rabbit stamps the ground without thinking whether there are other rabbits nearby. To Darwin, this is what classifies the behaviour as instinctive.
The linguist Chomsky and others argue that it is problematic to make any division between ‘instinctive’ versus ‘intentional’ behaviour. The example he gives is grammar in languages. Each language has its own grammar, and babies learn one particular language hearing only a few words of it, implying that there must be a finely-articulated language instinct informed by experience.
About your other questions, I like the answer which said ‘no one knows’. The ‘baking’ would occur over thousands of generations of natural selection….going up the animals’ hereditary tree into other life forms in relation with the development of each individual.
Charles Darwin’s definition of instinct is a behaviour which is context-independent, and he gave as an example a rabbit stamping the ground when it is frightened. When other rabbits are nearby this warns them, but the rabbit stamps the ground without thinking whether there are other rabbits nearby. To Darwin, this is what classifies the behaviour as instinctive.
The linguist Chomsky and others argue that it is problematic to make any division between ‘instinctive’ versus ‘intentional’ behaviour. The example he gives is grammar in languages. Each language has its own grammar, and babies learn one particular language hearing only a few words of it, implying that there must be a finely-articulated language instinct informed by experience.
About your other questions, I like the answer which said ‘no one knows’. The ‘baking’ would occur over thousands of generations of natural selection….going up the animals’ hereditary tree into other life forms in relation with the development of each individual.
Charles Darwin’s definition of instinct is a behaviour which is context-independent, and he gave as an example a rabbit stamping the ground when it is frightened. When other rabbits are nearby this warns them, but the rabbit stamps the ground without thinking whether there are other rabbits nearby. To Darwin, this is what classifies the behaviour as instinctive.
The linguist Chomsky and others argue that it is problematic to make any division between ‘instinctive’ versus ‘intentional’ behaviour. The example he gives is grammar in languages. Each language has its own grammar, and babies learn one particular language hearing only a few words of it, implying that there must be a finely-articulated language instinct informed by experience.
About your other questions, I like the answer which said ‘no one knows’. The ‘baking’ would occur over thousands of generations of natural selection….going up the animals’ hereditary tree into other life forms in relation with the development of each individual.
There’s a very interesting series of lectures by a [Dr. Robert Sapolsky](http://www.robertsapolskyrocks.com/) at Stanford, which goes into the mechanisms of biochemistry, from genetics to epigenetics. Epigenetics is a method the body uses various proteins such as hormones to “turn on” or “turn off” various sections of DNA. The DNA itself is coding proteins to do various things, these processes are constant, but they are always changing due to environmental stresses. Sometimes, an environmental stress can alter expression of something, and make that alteration permanent through multiple generations! However, it’s this biochemistry that gives an organism the “desire” to do something, or the propensity to do one thing over another. Like hormones giving a 14 year old boy the interest in girls as the opposite sex rather than just another person (or vice versa). Get a specific stimulus, and the “system” outputs a fairly predictable response. Rabbit hole amplissimum.
There’s a very interesting series of lectures by a [Dr. Robert Sapolsky](http://www.robertsapolskyrocks.com/) at Stanford, which goes into the mechanisms of biochemistry, from genetics to epigenetics. Epigenetics is a method the body uses various proteins such as hormones to “turn on” or “turn off” various sections of DNA. The DNA itself is coding proteins to do various things, these processes are constant, but they are always changing due to environmental stresses. Sometimes, an environmental stress can alter expression of something, and make that alteration permanent through multiple generations! However, it’s this biochemistry that gives an organism the “desire” to do something, or the propensity to do one thing over another. Like hormones giving a 14 year old boy the interest in girls as the opposite sex rather than just another person (or vice versa). Get a specific stimulus, and the “system” outputs a fairly predictable response. Rabbit hole amplissimum.
There’s a very interesting series of lectures by a [Dr. Robert Sapolsky](http://www.robertsapolskyrocks.com/) at Stanford, which goes into the mechanisms of biochemistry, from genetics to epigenetics. Epigenetics is a method the body uses various proteins such as hormones to “turn on” or “turn off” various sections of DNA. The DNA itself is coding proteins to do various things, these processes are constant, but they are always changing due to environmental stresses. Sometimes, an environmental stress can alter expression of something, and make that alteration permanent through multiple generations! However, it’s this biochemistry that gives an organism the “desire” to do something, or the propensity to do one thing over another. Like hormones giving a 14 year old boy the interest in girls as the opposite sex rather than just another person (or vice versa). Get a specific stimulus, and the “system” outputs a fairly predictable response. Rabbit hole amplissimum.
Latest Answers