Part 2 (1/2)
PART II: ”HOW THE WHEELS GO ROUND”
CHAPTER III
In which we find a goodly inheritance
THE STORY OF THE INSTINCTS
Each in His Own Tongue
A fire mist and a planet, A crystal and a cell, A jelly-fish and a saurian, And caves where cavemen dwell; Then a sense of law and beauty, And a face turned from the clod; Some call it evolution And others call it G.o.d. [4]
If we begin at the beginning, we have to go back a long way to get our start, for the roots of our family tree reach back over millions of years. ”In the beginning-G.o.d.” These first words of the book of Genesis must be, in spirit at least, the first words of any discussion of life. We know now, however, that when G.o.d made man, He did not complete His masterpiece at one sitting, but instead devised a plan by which the onward urge within and the environment without should act and interact until from countless adaptations a human being was made.
[4] William Herbert Carruth.
As the late Dr. Putnam of Harvard University says, ”We stand as the representative of a Creative Energy that expressed itself first in far simpler forms of life and finally in the form of human instincts.” [5] And again: ”The choices and decisions of the organisms whose lives prepared the way through eons of time for ours, present themselves to us as instincts.” [6]
[5] Putnam: Human Motives, p. 32.
[6] Putnam: Human Motives, p. 18.
Introducing the Instincts
Back of Our Dispositions. What is it that makes the baby jump at a noise? What energizes a man when you tell him he is a liar? What makes a young girl blush when you look at her, or a youth begin to take pains with his necktie? What makes men go to war or build tunnels or found hospitals or make love or save for a home? What makes a woman slave for her children, or give her life for them if need be? ”Instinct” you say, and rightly. Back of every one of these well-known human tendencies is a specific instinct or group of instincts. The story of the life of man and the story of the mind of man must begin with the instincts. Indeed, any intelligent approach to human life, whether it be that of the mother, the teacher, the preacher, the social worker or the neurologist, leads back inevitably to the instincts as the starting-point of understanding. But what is instinct?
We are apt to be a bit hazy on that point, as we are on any fundamental thing with which we intimately live. We reckon on these instinctive tendencies every hour of the day, but as we are not used to labeling them, it may help in the very beginning of our discussion to have a list before our eyes. Here, then, is a list of the fundamental tendencies of the human race and the emotions which drive them to fulfilment.
THE SPECIFIC INSTINCTS AND THEIR EMOTIONS (AFTER MCDOUGALL)
Instinct Emotion
Nutritive InstinctHunger FlightFear RepulsionDisgust CuriosityWonder Self-a.s.sertionPositive Self-feeling (Elation) Self-abas.e.m.e.ntNegative Self-feeling (Subjection) GregariousnessEmotion unnamed AcquisitionLove of Possession ConstructionEmotion unnamed PugnacityAnger Reproductive Instinct Emotion unnamed Parental Instinct Tender Emotion
These are the fundamental tendencies or dispositions with which every human being is endowed as he comes into the world. Differing in degree in different individuals, they unite in varying proportions to form various kinds of dispositions, but are in greater or less degree the common property of us all.
There flows through the life of every creature a steady stream of energy. Scientists have not been able to decide on a descriptive term for this all-important life-force. It has been variously called ”libido,” ”vital impulse” or ”elan vital,” ”the spirit of life,” ”horme,” and ”creative energy.” The chief business of this life-force seems to be the preservation and development of the individual and the preservation and development of the race. In the service of these two needs have grown up these habit-reactions which we call instincts. The first ten of our list belong under the heading of self-preservation and the last two under that of race-preservation. As hunger is the most urgent representative of the self-preservative group, and as reproduction and parental care make up the race-preservative group, some scientists refer all impulses to the two great instincts of nutrition and s.e.x, using these words in the widest sense. However, it will be useful for our purpose to follow McDougall's cla.s.sification and to examine individually the various tendencies of the two groups.
In Debt to Our Ancestors. An instinct is the result of the experience of the race, laid in brain and nerve-cells ready for use. It is a gift from our ancestors, an inheritance from the education of the age-long line of beings who have gone before. In the struggle for existence, it has been necessary for the members of the race to feed themselves, to run away from danger, to fight, to herd together, to reproduce themselves, to care for their young, and to do various other things which make for the well-being or preservation of the race. The individuals that did these things at the right time survived and pa.s.sed on to their offspring an inherited tendency to this kind of reaction. McDougall defines an instinct as ”an inherited or innate psycho-physical disposition which determines its possessor to perceive or pay attention to objects of a certain cla.s.s, to experience an emotional excitement of a particular quality upon perceiving such an object, and to act in regard to it in a particular manner, or at least to experience an impulse to such action.” This is just what an instinct is,-an inherited disposition to notice, to feel, and to want to act in certain ways in certain situations. It is the something which makes us act when we cannot explain why, the something that goes deeper than reason, and that links us to all other human beings,-those who live to-day and those who have gone before.
It is true that East is East and West is West, but the two do meet in the common foundation of our human nature. The likeness between men and between races is far greater and far more fundamental than the differences can ever be.
Firing Up the Engine. Purpose is writ large across the face of an instinct, and that purpose is always toward action. Whenever a situation arises which demands instantaneous action, the instinct is the means of securing it. Planted within the creature is a tendency which makes it perceive and feel and act in the appropriate way. It will be noticed that there are three distinct parts to the process, corresponding to intellect, emotion, will. The initial intellectual part makes us sensitive to certain situations, makes us recognize an object as meaningful and significant, and waves the flag for the emotion; the emotion fires up the engine, pulls the levers all over the body that release its energy and get it ready for action, and pushes the b.u.t.ton that calls into the mind an intense, almost irresistible desire or impulse to act. Once aroused, the emotion and the impulse are not to be changed. In man or beast, in savage or savant, the intense feeling, the marked bodily changes, and the yearning for action are identical and unchangeable. The brakes can be put on and the action suppressed, but in that case the end of the whole process is defeated. Could anything be plainer than that an instinct and its emotion were never intended to be aroused except in situations in which their characteristic action is to be desired? An emotion is the hot part of an instinct and exists solely for securing action. If all signs of the emotion are to be suppressed, all expression denied, why the emotion?
But although the emotion and the impulse, once aroused, are beyond control, there is yet one part of the instinct that is meant to be controlled. The initial or receptive portion, that which notices a situation, recognizes it as significant, and sends in the signal for action, can be trained to discrimination. This is where reason comes in. If the situation calls for flight, fear is in order; if it calls for fight, anger is in order; if it calls for examination, wonder is in order; but if it calls for none of these things, reason should show some discrimination and refuse to call up the emotion.