Can we choose OUR iNstincTs?

Question

can we change it?

Answer 1

We can condition ourselves to override instincts and such. In a psycology book, i read that most instincts are gone by the time of adolecence.

Answer 2

Hi,
Instinct is an inborn drive. We have an instinct to live, an instinct for language, maternal instinct, gut instinct. Can we choose our instincts? The question is which instinct and how do we know if we are making that choice, that we are talking about an 'instinct' and not just a 'learned behaviour'. No I don't think we can choose our instincts. Because that's what they are 'instinctive'.
Polly

Answer 3

Instincts are complicated behaviors where are genetic imperatives, and are very complex, like the migration patterns of some animals or the mating behaviors of others. Truly, most people mistake the word instinct for the words "reflex", "conditioning" and "choice".

Instinct isn't the first thought or preference that accompanies a situation. That's simply the most rapid response based on experience, disposition, previous choices and character. For example, when a person says they have reacted "instinctively" by unintentionally hitting someone who snuck up on them, they mean they reflexively did it.

All these behaviors can be altered through conditioning, teaching one's self to consciously alter the way one perceives various situations and then consciously choosing how one would like to react. Many martial artists could react in devastating ways to sudden situations, but they also condition themselves to examine situations and proceed from a decided position of non-violence until a different response proves absolutely necessary.

It takes time to change the way one thinks, because perceptions are built on years of unmonitored thought for most people.

Answer 4

no, not consciously. instincts are developed by our situation, forenstants if you grow up in a war zone you natutally duck when you hear a gun shot but when you grow up in a suburb and have never been threatend by guns we would stand up and look. so basicly our environment can change our instincts, but onlyover long periods of time, some instincts will be comletely unchangable.

Answer 5

Yes.

Instincts are merely the compression of subtle thoughts. Nothing mysterious at all.

Answer 6

That's exactly what subjective morality frequently forces us to do, self damage. The Will is positive, the Judgment is negative, the person is taught to direct their Judgment against their Will rather than to serve the Will. The result is a split person, a person opposed to their self, dementia.

Answer 7

I don't think that your can since instincts are inborn. We can choose our preferences and habits.

Answer 8

You are your own instincts.

Answer 9

NO! thats why they are called instincts.

Answer 10

No. We can control them though.