PSYCHOLOGY AND INSTINCT

Evening Star, Issue 21036, 25 February 1932, Page 1

PSYCHOLOGY AND INSTINCT

INTERESTING EXPERIMENTS [By J.S., in the Melbourne 1 Age.’] Psychology is partly an empirical science—based on observation and exIjerimeat, on the other hand, it draws from the source of broad fundamental principles.: It deals with behaviour and with human nature. Psychology is a positive science, because it interests itself in the nature of the mind, and in the way which behaviour is manifested; what is, not what ought to be, is the keynote of psychology, what occurs in the human body and mind, and what is the relation between the former and latter, what change behaviour nr Mrgoes from the lower to the higher animals, and finally to mankind. The gateway to psychology is through consciousness, and consciousness cun be reached through introspection; this means an observation of one’s own mental experience. However, some violent experiences cannot be introspected; you see, it is very difficult to observe your own process of observation, action, and excitement. Since man has the power of remembering his past experience it is possible to use the method of retrospection, which simply means the recollection of those glimpses of the process of introspecting. Yon cannot ictrospect unless you have introspected. Introspection helps to establish the basis of those fundamental and essential truths of human character, which are most precious in this science. Psychology traces human behaviour from the lowest animals. The genealogy of animal life comes swiftly to the human being. The basis of psychology is physiology; neural processes, the state of organs and muscles are fundamental for psychology. Dr Kammerer made an experiment with black fire-salamanders, which have yellow patches over their skin. After their tadpole stage they were put into boxes lined with yellow loam, and after four years, when they matured, their yellow patches became larger' and connected in some parts of the skin. This experiment was pursued for a few generations. The salamandeis became almost wholly yellow, but if kept in black boxes they would in succeeding g-'.orations become completely black, the yellow patches having entirely disappeared. This is the phenomena by which physical characteristics acquired by a specific environment may be inherited, and here the caro o: the yellowness or blackness of those fire-salamanders illustrates such changes in •pigmentation. "What about mental characteristics? How can we acqjunt for instinct, which is the fundamental and distinctive mark of il;iima?4 ;:nd, human Yiih??J .Profeksor M'Dougail proves that this tiipplies not only to physical changes, but also to mental features. His doctrine is that instinct is an inherited habit—a -habit moaning an action repeated several times oy an individual in the performance of which he gains proficiency. A habit when acquired is effortless and mechanical. Such a habit may become a permanent characteristic, a disposition, as APDougall calls it, to act in such a way as to produce a certain result perfect in itself. He defines instinct as an innate mental disposition which determines the organism to perceive any object of a certain class, and to experience in its presence a certain emotional excitement and an impulse to action, which is expressed in a specific mode of behaviour in relation to that object. Instinct shows a power of readjustment. An animal by the 'method of trial and error will choqseVuch a way of acting ns wilj be best suited to its purpose. Each instinct is accompanied by an emotion which is the “ conscious awareness ” of 'the instinct at work. The instinct of escape, for instance, is acce _ panied by the emotion of fear. The animal wil] choose the safest concealment, but if it can neither escape nor conceal itself it will fight the instinct, indicating, to it that the situation in which it finds itself is of such a nature that some specific action must be taken. The parental instinct is accompanied bv the “tender emotion,” and it is expressed in the care of the offspring of the species. The instinct of curiosity has the emotion of wonder. There is also an interesting instinct of self-assertion and submission, accompanied by the emotions of elation and subjection. Social instincts, such as the gregarious instinct and the herd, flock and pack instinct, are the basis of the social organisation. The “ group self-con-sciousness is a factor of Very great importance,” states Al'Dougall in his ‘ Group Mind.’ Reflex action peculiar to living creatures is the faculty of a mechanical motor response to a sensory stimulus. It may be even unconscious, but it is always protective, for the benefit of the animal. Starling is not in complete agreement with Al'Dougall, and he says that “ what is generally known under the rather ill-defined name of ‘ instinct ’ is probably nothing but a very complex integration of these inborn or unconditioned reflexes.” Pavlov has made various experiments to show that acquired reflexes may be transmitted to the future generation, and thus an “ inborn reflex ” is created. When an animal is given food the secretion of the salivary gland takes place, but this may be caused also by the smell and sight of food. The animal becomes alert, its “ appetite ” is thus stimulated. Pavlov bared the duct of the salivary gland of a dog. Before giving the dog food he rang a bell. The animal became accustomed to the fact that every sound of the bell was accompanied by food, and after a time whenever the bell was rung saliva appeared ou the surface. The secretion of saliva as the result of the sight or smell of food is called au “ inborn or unconditioned reflex,” while the response to the ringing bell is termed an “ acquired or conditioned reflex,” the latter appears indirectly, not by the stimulus of the object, but by a promise of it. The new habit will be acquired more easily, but this does not mean that the new instinct is formed unless all conditions of the surroundings are appropriately changed. Professor AlacBride believes that after probably thousands of generations the acquired characteristic will be inherited. Starling relies upon conditioned reflexes; tho mechanistic school regards animals merely as automatic machines. Al'Dougall tjiiows by an experiment that instinct is an inherited habit.. In-

stinct is for him the driving force of life on which all activities rest. A new, habit is acquired t and, the changes in environment persisting, the succeeding generations are trained to defy their old instinct and to develop the new, habit, which in time becomes an instinct itself. The animal will show a tendeucy to a specific action not habitu* ally but instinctively. M'Dougall made an experiment with rats. They were placed in a tank of water in which two steps led to two different exits. One exit was dark, the other lighted by a strong lamp. In the light exit is placed an electrified board. It is natural for rats to go to the light exit, but when they did so they received an electric shock. Their disposition to escape through the light exit persisted—it took a rat about eighty-six times c to learn that there was some danger; then only did it go to the dark exit against its instinct. This was in the first generation. The same experiments were made with fifteen generations of rats, and finally it took the rats only twentythree times to find out that the dark exit was the safe one. The rats learnt to avoid the temptation of going to the bright light, which was in accord with the nature of their ancestors. This experiment shows that a habit may be inherited and finally becomes an innate disposition.