Instincts and drives

Instincts or. Shoots are innate driving forces for certain behaviors. Instinctual behavior takes place outside of mental control and is embedded in the central nervous system via reflexes, for example. In humans, the innate order of instincts is subordinate to the social order.

What are the instincts?

Instincts are also called natural instincts. They are not learned, but innate. It is an inner driving force behind stereotypical and rigid behaviors that take place without reflected control. These behaviors can mainly be observed in animals. But people also sometimes act spontaneously and rashly on the basis of a certain "feeling".

Otto von Klineberg only describes behavioral patterns as instinctive patterns that occur in people of every culture, are independent of the character and have a physiological or biochemical anchoring in the organism. Instinctive behavior means behavior patterns that people display outside of conscious thoughts.

Instinctual behavior is triggered by a specific perceptual stimulus, also known as a key stimulus. With the drive theory, psychology starts from innate drives and basic human needs. In this context, the concept of the survival instinct plays an increased role.

Function & task

Migratory birds are drawn to the south. Bees are automatically drawn to honeycomb construction. These patterns of behavior are patterns of behavior of unmistakable instinct. An inner cause can be observed in animals as a motivation for instinctive behavior, which makes them seek out certain situations.

This relationship is also known as appetite behavior. After this appetite behavior, animals display stereotypical behavior patterns known as instinctive reactions. If, for example, the appetite drives them to look for a nesting place, then they stereotypically start building the nest as soon as they have found a nesting place.

The processes of instinctive behavior are embedded in the nervous system. This also applies to human instinctive behavior. Every instinctive behavior consists of individual instinctual movements. People feel their instincts as an involuntary urge or immediate tendency to do something specific. An inner restlessness sets in.

The body controls the individual instinctive movements. As long as the body is ready to act, reflex behavior can occur. The stimulus-reflex scheme of humans is largely innate and instinctive. The body automatically prevents dangers.

Innate reflexes of this kind are also called unconditional reflexes. For example, if a person perceives an object that is flying towards him, he instinctively protects his own head. This instinctive reflex is independent of one's consciousness and corresponds to an automatic response of the brain to a certain dangerous stimulus. Instincts and unconditional, instinctual reflexes are therefore incorporated into the human nervous system. Other examples are ingesting food, breathing, or sneezing.

But people also develop conditioned reflexes in their lives. This means that they are able to learn and learn new reflexes in contact with their environment. This is what distinguishes people from insects. Their instinctive behavior remains unaffected by the learning behavior over a lifetime.

On the basis of their learning behavior, people can even get rid of certain instinctive actions. The predetermined order of their instincts is thus subordinated to a social order in the course of life. In dangerous situations, for example, people feel an inner restlessness in the form of a racing heart and sweating, which actually wants to trigger the impulse to flee. As a rule, however, an adult can withstand this impulse to flee. The instinctive behavior is therefore deliberately suppressed.

In contrast, during infancy, people often perform instinctive acts. Instinctively, for example, they suckle their mother's breast. Touching an infant's mouth with your finger triggers a sucking reflex. This behavior is innate and takes place within the framework of the survival instinct.

Although many instinctual behaviors are already lost in adulthood, some scientists assume that, among other things, the aggression and the striving for rank can be described as human instincts. Many decisions would no longer be conscious decisions, but instinctual acts. However, this theory is very controversial and there are results that localize the cause of this behavior in societal cultural elements. It is therefore difficult to exactly differentiate instincts from learned behavior. Most of the time it is probably an interplay.

Illnesses & ailments

The instincts and drives of man play an increased role with regard to psychoanalysis. As described, people suppress certain instinctual behavior for the sake of social order. He voluntarily suppresses his instinct for violence and his unrestrained sexual instinct on the basis of internal drives, for example, since otherwise he would not be able to live in society.

Drive suppression can also take place involuntarily. According to Freud's theories, involuntary suppression of certain drives is the most common cause of mental illness. According to Freud, for example, neuroses are almost always due to the forced renunciation of instincts. The neurosis is said to be anchored in faulty sexual development, which has forced the child to suppress his own instinctual wishes and feelings.

The instinctual wishes would be repressed into the unconscious and lead, outside of control, to deviations from the original goal and the development of neurotic behavioral patterns. In the process described, instincts can no longer show themselves openly, but remain behaviorally effective and seek substitute gratifications. However, many of Freud's theories have now come under heavy criticism.