My 5 year old asked me this question so how would you explain it so it’s really eli5.
In: Biology
this is probably the simple version for your kid
it’s a program/app that programmed/installed in every living being from the moment they are born. it helps them survive in the world until they can have their own kids
how do they know what to do? the instinct told them to. though, it usually only works on simpler stuff like pain=bad, therefore, avoid pain. fire=hot=pain=avoid, hungry=eat, etc etc
It is what is known as a Fixed action pattern, so some animals are hard wired to when stimulated in a certain way to then follow a certain number of actions, normally relating to staying alive. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_action_pattern
Instinct is the bodies tendency have patterns of behavior when presented with certain stimuli usually for the purpose of survival and reproduction.
To properly elm5 if every you see a spider you avoid and find away to not have to come into contact or get close to it that your instinct. The body seeing the spider and then avoiding it without even thinking is the body doing that pattern of behavior when it sees a certain something in this case the spider.
Basically your brain is doing things it thinks you need to do to survive, without you ever thinking about it.
If you haven’t experienced a situation, and yet you still do certain things in response to it, that is instinct.
For example – Animals are born and then start to walk without ever seeing another animal do it. That’s an instinct.
Instinct is like a little voice inside animals and people that tells them what to do without having to think about it. For example, when baby ducks follow their mum right after they hatch, that’s their instinct telling them to stay close to her to be safe.
An instinct is a *non-learned behavioural response* – or the feelings that lead to one
For example: writing is learned, no one knows how to do it unless they are taught; but breathing is instinctual, everyone does it without needing to learn it
Instinct is like an internal warning system in our bodies that reacts quicker than our mind.
every person gets some aspects of both their parents, + a little more, so broadly you have earned the instincts of your parents.
as survival was hard back in the days, those without the “warning systems” or “instincts” needed to survive would die meaning they never got children to give it to.
So you are the owner of your parents, and their parents, and their parents allllll the way back instincts, which is why you have certain ones that arent useful in modern day for most people, such as seeing a stick and triggering a warning that its a snake, as it was one of the main reasons of not surviving.
other examples of instinct includes catching a ball flying at you, quickly avoiding a car coming towards you, protecting your face when you fall, your very real perception of “personal space” and the feeling you get if someone gets too close.
Instinct is like a built-in program in animals that helps them do things they need to survive without having to learn them firt. Like a baby bird knowing how to chirp for food or a deer knowing to run when it sees a predator.
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