No child is born with all its instincts ripe and ready for action. Yet each
individual contains within his own inner nature the law which determines the
order and time of their development.
Instincts Appear in Succession as Required.—It is not well that we should be
started on too many different lines of activity at once, hence our instincts do not
all appear at the same time. Only as fast as we need additional activities do they
ripen. Our very earliest activities are concerned chiefly with feeding, hence we
first have the instincts which prompt us to take our food and to cry for it when
we are hungry. Also we find useful such abbreviated instincts, called reflexes, as
sneezing, snuffling, gagging, vomiting, starting, etc.; hence we have the instincts
enabling us to do these things. Soon comes the time for teething, and, to help the
matter along, the instinct of biting enters, and the rubber ring is in demand. The
time approaches when we are to feed ourselves, so the instinct arises to carry
everything to the mouth. Now we have grown strong and must assume an erect
attitude, hence the instinct to sit up and then to stand. Locomotion comes next,
and with it the instinct to creep and walk. Also a language must be learned, and
we must take part in the busy life about us and do as other people do; so the
instinct to imitate arises that we may learn things quickly and easily.
We need a spur to keep us up to our best effort, so the instinct of emulation
emerges. We must defend ourselves, so the instinct of pugnacity is born. We
need to be cautious, hence the instinct of fear. We need to be investigative,
hence the instinct of curiosity. Much self-directed activity is necessary for our
development, hence the play instinct. It is best that we should come to know and
serve others, so the instincts of sociability and sympathy arise. We need to select
a mate and care for offspring, hence the instinct of love for the other sex, and the
parental instinct. This is far from a complete list of our instincts, and I have not
tried to follow the order of their development, but I have given enough to show
the origin of many of our life's most important activities.
Many Instincts Are Transitory.—Not only do instincts ripen by degrees,
entering our experience one by one as they are needed, but they drop out when
their work is done. Some, like the instinct of self-preservation, are needed our
lifetime through, hence they remain to the end. Others, like the play instinct,
serve their purpose and disappear or are modified into new forms in a few years,
or a few months. The life of the instinct is always as transitory as is the necessity
for the activity to which it gives rise. No instinct remains wholly unaltered in
man, for it is constantly being made over in the light of each new experience.
The instinct of self-preservation is modified by knowledge and experience, so