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Active vocabulary
to be hailed as - вітатися в якості
...to be condemned as a meaningless hangover from the scientific dark ages - бути засудженим як пережиток наукового мракобісся (середньовіччя)
unconscious or habitual acts - несвідомі дії
influential adherents - впливові прихильники (поборники)
to attain a goal or satisfaction - досягати мети або задоволення
to emphasize - акцентувати, надавати значення
motor patterns - стереотипи моторного поводження
prey killing, courtship, and nest building - убивство видобутку, залицяння до осіб протилежної статі й побудова гнізда
to trigger - запускати, включати
virtually complete form - практично завершена форма
ducklings - каченята
to walk - ходити
to peck - клювати
recognize the maternal call - дізнавати материнський заклик
mammals - ссавці
scientists considered instinct a dead issue - учені вважали інстинкт темою, знятою з порядку денного (дослівно — мертвою темою)
distinction is far from absolute - розходження, далеке від ідеального
...encompasses an enormous range of mechanisms underlying behavior and its development - містить у собі величезний масив механізмів, що лежать в основі поводження і його розвитку
to connote асоціювати, зв'язувати
sea slugs - морські слимаки
reconsideration переосмислення
Text.
Instinct
by Gerald W. Walker
This term has been used and misused. Instinct has been both hailed as an explanation of behavior and condemned as a meaningless hangover from the scientific dark ages. Even today it is common to label as instinctive unconscious or habitual acts (as when someone says, “John instinctively avoided hitting the other car”). But since the time of Darwin, two other interpretations of instinct have predominated. The first view emphasizes the urge, energy, drive, impetus, or motivation behind behavior. Thus, one reads about the “maternal instinct”, “territorial instinct”, or “sex instuictr” Influential adherents of this view, such as Freud, James, and McDougall were impressed by the fact that while the behavior used to attain a goal or satis-faction could vary greatly, similar motivations and the discharge of some kind of internal tension or energy were involvedThe second interpretation restricts the term “instinct” to instinctive behavior. It emphasizes specific motor patterns, such as prey killing, courtship, and nest building, as well as the stimuli that trigger them. In many animals highly stereotyped behaviors (called species-specific behavior) common to all members of the species often appear in virtually complete form in the absence of any obvious opportunities to learn them. For example, ducklings reared apart from their parents walk, peck, swim, and recognize the maternal call. This more objective use of “instinct”, unlike the first, could not deal adequately with the variability and modifiability of behavior seen in many mammals, including monkeys and humans.
Both of these approaches have come under heavy criticism - not only because they are contradictory but also because the idea of behavioral energy seems removed from scientific study. Furthermore, the view that complex behavior of animals could be based on innate-heredity processes was incompatible with the learning-environment emphasis of behaviorism. Thus, when ethology first came to the attention of American psychologists, largely through Tinbergen's The Study of Instinct, scientists considered instinct a dead issue.
But ethologists like Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz presented evidence that many animals are able to perform complex natural behaviors-termed fixed action patterns - often in the absence of any opportunity for learning and that the evolutionary history of the species cannot be ignored. Moreover, they made a distinction between two phases of instinct: appetitive behavior is the highly variable and modifiable “search” for a specific stimulus situation, such as food or a mate; the consummately act is the stereotyped specific movements involved in prey killing, copulating, or nest building. Although this distinction is far from absolute, it does help resolve the motivating and behavioral conceptions of instinct. Today much evidence has accumulated that shows that “instinct” encompasses an enormous range of mechanisms underlying behavior and its development. Although all behavior is to some extent influenced and shaped by innate (genetic) and environmental factors, “instinct” is more and more used today to connote the natural behavior of animals (from sea slugs to humans) upon which natural selection must have acted. Popularizers of ethology have brought instinct back into the social sciences in general, often in a speculative manner. But the result has been the reconsideration of the evolutionary heritage behind the motivations and behavior of our species.
Answer the following questions based on the texts
1. What is instinct?
2. What are the interpretations of the term “instinct”?
3. Why did scientists consider instinct a dead issue?
4. What evidence did Nobel laureate Konrad Lorenz and like-minded ethologists present?
5. What dustinction did they make between two phases of instinct?
6. What is all behavior influenced and shaped by?
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