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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1977

[The comparison of human reflex and instinct behaviour (author's transl)].

On the basis of characteristics of the exteroceptive reflexes and of the instincts it was shown that instinct behaviour developed from reflex characteristics (local characteristic of the stimuli, pos. and neg. taxis, habituation, conditioning). Most similarities are found between reflex and avoidance instinct behaviour (instincts for excretion, thermoregulation, body care, pain avoidance and safety). Except the safety instinct, all others react on stimuli, characterised by the localisation of the receptors. In the safety instinct the structure of the stimulus becomes important, together with the growing importance of the third dimension. This instinct shows also for the first time a variability of the threshold with spontaneous remaining low for some time after stimulation of the system. Inverse the gain instincts (nutrition, sex and social instinct). Here the threshold falls spontaneously, when stimuli are lacking and raises, when stimuli are found. The spontaneous motor expression of the lowering of the threshold is the appetite behaviour. It means seeking stimuli, which will be gained by elements of the initial and terminal success behaviour. The successfull nutritional and sexual behaviour is stopped by success inhibition, whereas the social instinct remains in the terminal success behaviour with group dynamic hierarchy, with imitating and helping behaviour. Overchanging of the gain instincts provokes avoidance behaviour with constant threshold. The neural systems of most reflexes lie distributed in the spinal cord and brainstem, the ones of the instincts in the limbic part of the brain, the nutrition and sex instinct with a hypothalamic pacemaker. Simultaneous activation of two or many instinct motivation systems result, not comparable with the direct reflex interaction, in interactions on the level of the global interaction, in interactions on the level of the global integration (summation, mixture, synthesis, rest, oscillation, intention) which projects the activity patterns via the motor cortex to the peripheral neurons. There it is completed by the reflexes. The hormonal and vegetative projection instead go directly to the end organs. The motivation is responsible for the subjective experience, the dominating integration with its motor projection for the instinct behaviour.

Behavior↗
PubMed1977

[Disturbances of the human instinct behaviour in hypothalamic lesions (author's transl)].

Since the findings of W.R. Hess, who systematically stimulated the hypothalamus of the cat, motivational systems for instinct behaviour have been postulated in the hypothalamus and the surrounding limbic brain. It has been asked, if hypothalamic lesions in man would cause alterations in instinct behaviour, which could be attributed to the instinct motivational systems. Therefore 19 patients with hypothalamic lesions have been examined in respect of their instinct behaviour. They showed no qualitative alteration in their instinct behaviour, but quantitative diminution and rarefication of their gain instincts (nutritional, sexual and social instinct). Mainly reduced was the sex instinct together with hormonal deficiency. Inversely the safety instinct (the only avoidance instinct with variable threshold) was more often activated. The other avoidance instincts (for excretion, thermo-regulation, bodycare and painavoidance) remained intact. It is concluded that the pacemaker for the threshold of the gain instincts and of the safety instinct is disturbed and not the motivation system in its qualitative functioning. As this pacemaker is so characteristically different in each instinct, the theory of different specific motivational systems is more probable than the theory of one unspecific system with different functions.

Brain Diseases↗
PubMed1989

[Instinct therapy--raw food with meat with exclusion of milk products. Report No. 16].

Instinct therapy is a diet consisting exclusively of food in its natural form, which has not been subjected to cooking, preserving or seasoning. Dairy products are forbidden. Indications are numerous and rather imprecise including especially cancer. Burger developed Instinct therapy in 1964 as a diet according to his own philosophy. 1980 he left Switzerland because the practice of "metasexuality" had caused him problems with the law. He founded a school of Instinct therapy in 1982 in France and published his book "La guerre du cru" (The Raw Food Fight) in 1985. In Switzerland, Besuchet took on the teaching of Burger in 1978 and was very active in giving lectures. He died in June 1985 of mediastinal cancer. According to Burger, man originally ate raw food and his instinct has not evolved since those pre-historic times, but has been "artificially modified" by cooked food and the consumption of non-human milk. If man could re-develop his natural instinct and eat only fresh food, which is not prepared in any way, he could solve his health problems and restore defenses against diseases such that these could become beneficial. Cooked food, milk and cereals are thought to be the cause of cancer but instinctive eating would help to avoid or to cure cancer. No preclinical or clinical trials have been carried out. The theories of Burger and Besuchet are based on unverifiable personal experiences.

Animals↗
PubMed1977

Lloyd Morgan's theory of instinct: from Darwinism to neo-Darwinism.

Darwin's proposal of two sources of instinct--natural selection and inherited habit--fostered among late nineteenth century evolutionists a variety of conflicting notions concerning the mechanisms of evolution. The British comparative psychologist C. Lloyd Morgan was a cardinal figure in restructuring the orthodox Darwinian conception to relieve the confusion besetting it and to meet the demands of the new biology of Weismann. This paper traces the development of Morgan's ideas about instinct against the background of his philosophic assumptions and the views of instinct theorists from Darwin and Romanes to McDougall and Lorenz.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Native Americans and the constant death instinct hypothesis.

To test Tabachnick and Klugman's hypothesis that the amount of death instinct per capita in different regions is constant, 1975-1977 death rates for motor vehicle accidents, cirrhosis, and suicide were obtained from the US Indian Health Service for all 11 health service areas. In contrast to predictions derived from the hypothesis that the death instinct is constant, no negative correlations were found among these three variables. Although an analysis of other behaviors might yield different findings, these results do not support an hypothesis of a constant death instinct among Indian Health Service regions.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Pavlov's conceptualization of unconditional reflexes, or instincts, within the framework of the theory of higher nervous activity.

According to I. P. Pavlov's theory of higher nervous activity, the establishment and dissolution of conditional reflexes enhances the higher organism's adaptation to the external environment. Pavlov asserted that, ontogenetically, conditional reflexes are based upon innate, unconditional reflexes (UR) or instincts. Pavlov did not distinguish between URs and instincts, but he preferred the former term. Phylogenetically the URs emerged out of well-established conditional reflexes during the development of higher organisms. An outgrowth of the experimental conditioning procedure, developed during the second decade of this century, was the observation and delineation of new URs. While studying human nervous and psychiatric disorders in the 1930s, Pavlov elucidated other URs. Pavlov identified 13 major URs, but he failed to formulate an exhaustive classification scheme of URs.

Animals↗
PubMed1989

The death instinct and the future of humans.

Freud's notion of the "death instinct" has been conceived of by many subsequent authors in many ways. One of the misuses of it is as an excuse for passivity in the face of the current crisis in human affairs. This paper reviews the "death instinct" concept and attempts to understand the disavowal of the dangers to our species and our planet on the basis of our current narcissistic cultural orientation. It examines the use of praxis by a variety of continental thinkers to counter this disavowal and emphasizes the obligation of all mental health professionals to participate, through direct action and through educational contributions, in the elimination of these evils.

Aggression↗
PubMed1981

Narcissism and the death instinct.

The myth of Narcissus is a myth of death resulting from the absence of desire in a love relationship, and a metaphor of the symbolic and imaginary death of the narcissistic person. Four of Freud's dreams are analysed in terms of their narcissistic structure. They reveal some important features in the implicit relationship between the feminine nature of the narcissistic body and the counterpart. They lead to a better formulation of the narcissistic state in terms of the relationship between the self and the counterpart. The narcissistic relationship is based on wishes and not desires. The object of the wish is not essential for the wish to emerge or to be sustained. As a result, the narcissistic relation is characterized by the absence of its aim and the impossibility of its satisfaction; and consequently it symbolizes death of the world or the self and is an imaginary death of both. In that sense, Freud's introduction of the concept of narcissism and his concept of the death instinct should be seen as connected, as they constitute a stage in psychoanalytic knowledge. It is difficult to understand narcissism detached from the concept of the death instinct without rendering the issues of meaning and interpretation irrelevant to the psychoanalytic act.

Death↗
PubMed1985

Unilateral hemispheric injury and ipsilateral instinctive grasp reaction.

Development of pathological grasping in the hand ipsilateral to a focal cerebral lesion was studied in 100 consecutive patients with unilateral hemispheric lesions caused by recent stroke. Thirteen of 45 patients with right-hemispheric damage (29%) but only two of 55 patients with left-hemispheric damage (4%) showed pathological grasping. The ipsilateral grasping was of the nature of an instinctive grasp reaction. Lesion sites in the patients with this ipsilateral instinctive grasp reaction (IIGR) were in either the perisylvian region or the subcortical region. The IIGR was highly correlated with various right-hemispheric behavioral syndromes. These results suggest that the IIGR is another of the right-hemispheric behavioral syndromes and that the basis of this sign is a disturbance of selective attention. The preponderance of right-sided IIGR may reflect the right hemisphere's dominance for attention and the greater tendency in man to explore the right side of space.

Aged↗
PubMed1978

Instinctive predatory behavior of the ferret (Putorius putorius furo L.) modified by chlordiazepoxide hydrochloride (Librium).

The predatory behavior of ferrets (Putorius putorius furo L.) consists mainly of instinctive behavioral patterns that are elicited by simple external stimuli. For the ferret, the time needed to catch and kill rats depends on the size of the rats in relation to that of the ferret. Killing success decreases with a relative increase in prey size. Chlordiazepoxide hydrochloride injections (1 mg/kg, i.m.) modified this behavior. Drugged ferrets needed less time and less bites to kill relatively large rats; killing success was also increased. Chlordiazepoxide seemed to disinhibit the ferrets when they were presented with large rats, which they normally attack more cautiously.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

Confirmation of Tabachnick and Klugman's hypothesis that the death instinct is constant.

In reporting the accident death rate and the chronic liver disease death rate for 1980, the Bureau of the Census divided the United States into nine areas. To test Tabachnick and Klugman's hypothesis that the amount of death instinct per capita remains constant across regions, the 1980 death rates for accidents and chronic liver disease were correlated. Contrary to earlier studies, the present study gave support for Tabachnick and Klugman's hypothesis.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1985

Evolution of an instinct under long-term divergent selection for geotaxis in domesticated populations of Drosophila melanogaster.

Long-term divergent selection for geotaxis in lines of Drosophila melanogaster (the fruit fly) is described. After 26 years (600+ generations) of intermittent selection, the mean geotactic scores now remain stable upon relaxed selection, a result suggesting that evolutionary changes have occurred in these lines. Because the stability is not due to genetic fixation (homozygosity) of the lines, it must be due to either close linkage of genes associated with geotaxis (which would not result in enduring change) or the development of new coadapted gene complexes utilizing genes associated with extreme geotaxis expression (which should result in enduring change). Better evidence for the latter hypothesis is obtained from the low, than from the high, line. The notions of coadaptation and genetic homeostasis are considered, as well as the prospective use of the geotaxis lines to study such concepts experimentally. The geotactic behavior expressed in each line is defined as "instinctive": It increases reproductive success and is characteristic of a population.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Self-envy, the womb and the nature of goodness. A reappraisal of the death instinct.

The Freudian and Kleinian conceptions of the struggle between 'life' and 'death' instincts are not identical. This paper puts forward a model which attempts both to reconcile and add to the differences between them, whilst making some suggestions about the 'nature of goodness'. Attention is focused on the phantasy of returning to the womb and its consequent anxieties to the growing, active ego. Such anxiety, and its reverse, can only be moderated by the introjection of an object which is capable of creatively resolving the resulting conflicts. When envious feelings are not tolerated the impetus for such an introjection is reduced, which, in turn, increases the envy.

Anxiety↗
PubMed1981

Instinctive predatory behavior of mustelids (Mustela putorius f. furo, Mustela vison f. dom.) modified by benzodiazepine derivatives.

The predatory behavior of the ferret and of the mink consists mainly of instinctive behavioral patterns that are elicited by simple external stimuli. An important stimulus is size of the prey; the time needed to catch and kill defensive prey depends on the size of the prey in relation to that of the predator. Benzodiazepine derivatives like chlordiazepoxide or lorazepam affect the prey catching of both species significantly. Drugged animals (2 mg/kg orally) need less time to overpower their prey. The experiments indicate that low concentrations of benzodiazepine derivatives disinhibit mustelids when hunting relatively large prey.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

[Maternal instinct and the formation of family-oriented attitude in girls-future mothers].

An interview survey of 4180 girls aged 1-18 years, their mothers, teachers and tutors was conducted. It was found that the maternity instinct is inborn but it starts to show only during the second year of life and is manifested in the form of playing with dolls and reaches its peak at the age of 3-5 years. Playing with dolls occurs subconsciously and is not used for teaching the girls to acquire the habits of caring for a baby. The formation of family orientation is shaped at an early school age. Under the influence of their mothers school-girls form a reproductive orientation for having a small number of children--1.9-2.0.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Delayed plasticity of an instinct: recognition and avoidance of 2 facing eyes by the jewel fish.

A model depicting 2 horizontally positioned black spots resembling facing eyes, as compared with models depicting other spot arrangements, elicits intense flight activity in young African jewel fish (Hemichromis bimaculatus) under 5 months of age and 7-month-old subadults reared apart from conspecifics with eyeless cave fish (Anoptichthys jordani). In contrast, subadults permitted to observe or interact fully with conspecifics during development exhibited attenuated discriminative flight activity. These findings suggest that visual experience with facing conspecifics, irrespective of physical contact, modifies the flight-eliciting properties of the innat mechanism subserving eye-schema recognition, but only during later maturation.

Age Factors↗