Page:Mind (New Series) Volume 6.djvu/79

AN ATTEMPT AT A PSYCHOLOGY OF INSTINCT. 63 have found no general acceptance. We must look elsewhere for the answer to the question of the relation of sense stimulus to instinct. Professor Baldwin takes an extreme position. He defines instincts as " complex motor tendencies stimulated from without". 1 This statement is not in accordance with the prevailing theories of the relation of sensation to instinct ; for while many authors (Bain, Sully, Preyer, Hoffding, Volkmann, etc.) recognise the presence of sensations in instinct, they lay little stress upon objective stimuli. They rather call attention to stimulus coming from within the organism. Volkmann, for instance, states that the " affec- tively toned excitations which initiate instincts have their ground in organic processes". 2 Hoffding and Preyer recon- cile the two views by maintaining that both external stimulus and organic tendencies are necessary. Preyer's statement is somewhat as follows : after admitting that sensory peripheral excitation is one essential condition for instinctive move- ments, he goes on to assert that " if a special disposition or feeling is wanting, then the instinctive movement is not made even under the strongest and most appropriate stimu- lus ". 3 In the same way Hoffding points out that although " some stimulus is required to set instinct to work, yet the action is determined far more by the motor tendencies implanted in the individual than by the nature of the stimulus ; this latter serves only as the opening of a valve ", 4 Summarising the results of our references on these two topics (Instinct and Reflex Action : Instinct and Stimulus), we find a very general acceptance of four points. (1) In- stincts are directed to an end, of which the organism is unconscious. (2) They are more complex than reflexes. (3) They are less unequivocally correlated with stimulus. (4) They contain an element of some sort of consciousness. The psychologist is chiefly concerned with the examina- tion of the fourth point ; he must determine what sort of consciousness is present in instincts. There have been three answers to this question. Some writers have maintained that consciousness is present in instincts in the form of inherited knowledge, thus placing instinctive actions under the control of intelligence. Others say that instincts are for consciousness merely emotions, or else mere feelings of 1 Baldwin's Handbook of Psychology : Feeling and Will, p. 308. 2 Volkmann's Lehrbuch der Psychologic, sec. 146. 3 Preyer's Die Seele des Kindes, part L, chap. xi. 4 Hoffding' s Psychology, tr., p. 312.