Book chapter
Development Evolving: The Origins and Meanings of Instinct
The Heredity Hoax, pp.119-126
Routledge
2025
DOI: 10.4324/9781032702988-12
Abstract
How do migratory birds, herding dogs, and navigating sea turtles do the amazing things that they do? For hundreds of years, scientists and philosophers have struggled over possible explanations. In time, one word came to dominate the discussion: instinct. It became the catch-all explanation for those adaptive and complex abilities that do not obviously result from learning or experience. Today, various animals are said to possess a survival instinct, migratory instinct, herding instinct, maternal instinct, or language instinct. But a closer look reveals that these and other "instincts" are not satisfactorily described as inborn, pre-programmed, hardwired, or genetically determined. Rather, research in this area teaches us that species-typical behaviors develop-and they do so in every individual under the guidance of species-typical experiences occurring within reliable ecological contexts.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Development Evolving: The Origins and Meanings of Instinct
- Creators
- Mark S. Blumberg
- Contributors
- Richard M. Lerner (Editor)Gary Greenberg (Editor)
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- The Heredity Hoax, pp.119-126
- Publisher
- Routledge; New York, NY
- DOI
- 10.4324/9781032702988-12
- Alternative title
- Development Evolving
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 2025
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984769725102771
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