I once had a heated discussion with an anthropology professor who became quite irate and defensive when I told her I believed humans have instincts. She vehemently denied it and told me that she is the professor and I am not (so she is educated as opposed to my ignorance). "Okay". I responded. "The alpha female has spoken". Needless to say, I did not sign up for her class. Who would like to comment ?
2006-07-11 04:16:09 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Anthropology
absolutely, most of them reside in our reptiliam brain, we've inherit them for million of years in order to survive and secure our specie with basic instincts such the flight or fight effect to mating.
2006-07-11 08:07:48 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 3⤋
My professor in college gave a similar lecture.
I could see his point.
I think to some extent humans dont have instincts. We can control the instinct unlike some other animals.
Now I wonder if the whole point of the discussion was to get you think think just how much of your life and ways of making decisions are socially controlled. The rules of society often trump instinct.
This comes from the same guy who also tries to argue there is not personality.
I think this is a key difference between sociologists and anthropologists compared to psychologists. Psychologists aruge more of our behavior is instinctual or with in the mind. But sociologists and anthropologists look at a broader perspective and view man as more of a social animal not some creature like a snake who just follows instinct.
I for the most part believed him....until I had a kid.
2006-07-11 15:23:52 · answer #2 · answered by sakeslug 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I would like to comment. I had an interesting experience along the same train track in college. I was in psychology and we were discussing the difference between drives (which the prof. agreed people have) and instincts (which he denied).
One of our reading texts told of an experiment in which they took two year old children, tested them for what they were lacking nutritionally at that time, and then set them all out at table with a variety of foods to choose from. Now "drive" would lead them to eat, right? But it would not lead them to "choose",
yet all of them chose those foods which filled the nutritional gap their bodies were feeling at that time.
I brought up that experiment to him in class (about 150 of us).
I asked him if this did not prove that man has instinct, since the refinement of choice the children demonstrated went well beyond the definition of drive.
He didn't pull rank like your professor, he simply ignored the question in it's entirety. Nor would he discuss it after the class. It was as though I didn't exist.
Some professors get very insecure when points are brought up to them which are not part of the "received doctrine". It's a shame, but I think you did right in not entering her course. It would have been a great frustration to you.
Professors who are willing to allow the unknown (when it is a vital issue to the subject) and explore it in class are by far the most fun, the ones we learn the most from, and remember with the greatest joy.
I dont think they are as thick on the ground as they used to be.
2006-07-12 09:44:06 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Sounds as though you ran up against a prof. who had some screwball "pet theories" and your question or assertion was seen as a direct afront to one of these. At any rate, there must surely have been some personality conflicts underlying all this tension. In your support, she probaby was a lackluster academician who barely made it through her masters & ph.d work... these insecurities would have followed her into the classroom so you were wise NOT to bring her the power to "fail" you out of spite. I was trained as an anthropologist, and I can tell you that no matter how little we use them, there will always be "levels of instinct" at work in the human equation or condition. In fact, for her to deny the existence of "instinctual patterning" in human beings is HIGHLY irregular... this should have been discussed with others on the Anthropology Staff, because I doubt she could substantiate such an outlandish claim, and it was HIGHLY unprofessional for her to bring in her pet theories masquerading as accepted & substantiated fact.
2006-07-11 19:41:00 · answer #4 · answered by cherodman4u 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
If course humans have instincts! Hasn't anyone herd of "fight or flight." Your anthropology professor is an idiot. Any ways, to all future posters that have read the answers before me, IF IT'S LEARNED, IT'S NOT AN INSTINCT. Humans, being animals, have involuntary survival reactions that they have not been taught, such as running away from danger or facing it head on.
2006-07-11 13:56:12 · answer #5 · answered by megasoikia 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Don't you just love those situations.....you are very RIGHT! I've read most of the other's responses so I'm not going to give you more examples. You know we have instincts.
I really don't think she should be teaching what she's teaching if she doesn't believe this and I urge you to bring it to someone's attention there.
And if I were you, I'd bring her, or even just leave a pile on her desk of known PhD people who contest her view and 'verify' that we do have instincts. If you don't want to shove it in her face, please......leave it on her desk. People like this need to be told and shut down.
Fight the power!
2006-07-11 22:58:19 · answer #6 · answered by send_felix_mail 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
there are human instincts such as saying bless you after someone sneezes, and then i think there are others. have you ever just got the feeling its going to rain, and then it does? thats the same thing as instincts in a way. animals have this sense and it helps them know whats going to happen. like when the dog runs under the couch before an earthquake. so yes, i think humans do have instincts
2006-07-11 11:27:09 · answer #7 · answered by kandee-kane 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Three basic Survival instincts:
1- Eat
2- Drink
3- Breed
Plus party and have fun
2006-07-11 17:14:43 · answer #8 · answered by wierauch 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes. you only have to pay attention to yourself. The thing with people is that they can learn new insticts and get rid of ones that aren't useful. Serious martial artists train to get rid of the common instincts that cause brain freeze in combat and aquire instincts that allow them to instantly react to a situation without thinking.
2006-07-11 11:30:06 · answer #9 · answered by Stand-up Philosopher 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Lol humans do have instincts. Instinct is something that is born with you, and something that really theoretically should have to be taught but it is really not. Like, when turtles are born, they "instinctively go to shore, or something like that". They aren't taught that. They just do it.
When we are born, we breath, something we aren't taught.
We imitate, we instinctively cry, etc. Just think of something that you were never taught, but you just kinda knew it anyway.
lol and sex is also another instinct, the urge, etc, I know you get my drift. The instinct and the urge to mate, what do you makes us keep living on? We human beings have the strongest urge to mate, that is pure instinct, you can't be taught that, men drooling over women, women wanting men, that level of obsession almost can't be taught.
2006-07-11 11:21:45 · answer #10 · answered by jayztttight 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Apparently this woman never breast fed a baby.
A newborn knows instinctively what to do. I also think we are inherently creatures of instinct. We just don't use them often, or realize it, because we have become creatures of habit and ignore some of our basic instincts.
2006-07-11 17:18:36 · answer #11 · answered by Vinny78 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋