animals over the years, in and out of the lab. But Chaser had just given as dramatic an example of instinctâs explosively powering a behavior as any Iâd ever seen. Besides that, I knew that the thrill of racing after the Jeep would almost certainly enhance her desire to chase tons of steel on wheels. It gave me a shudder to think that my overconfidence had put her in danger.
Instinct is powerful stuff. The release of an instinctual behavior is inherently self-reinforcing. And the more memorable and exciting a behavior is, the more likely an individual will be to repeat it. That was what made the Jeep incident so troubling. It was the most exciting experience in Chaserâs young life and thus very positively reinforcing. She was going to be vulnerable to repeating the behavior of chasing cars unless I took effective action.
At the same time, I didnât want to quash her instinct for chasing. I was already making use of that instinct to teach Chaser the names of the objects we played with every day. I wanted to get the full energy of her chasing instinctâthe energy that had startled and even frightened me with its intensity the day beforeâfocused on every detail of that play. So I couldnât be heavy-handed. I had to channel that instinct carefully, as gently as possible.
The modern concept of instinct goes back to Charles Darwinâs theory of evolution. However, the study of instinct lay dormant until the 1930s, when European zoologists began to study the behavior of animals in their natural environments. This was the birth of a new science of animal behavior called ethology. The founding generation of ethologists and their immediate successors cast new light on instinct. They established that instincts have survival value or else the instincts themselves do not survive; that all members of a species have the same instincts in common, although the strength of a particular instinct varies from individual to individual; and that the instinct maintains its essential features over the animalâs life span. Compared to a reflex, such as your lower leg kicking after the doctor taps your knee, an instinct is infinitely more complex and may consist of a series of behaviors.
Ethologists have shown that an instinct consists of two major components, a fixed action pattern and a releasing stimulus. The energy for the fixed action pattern is stored up in the animal, while the releasing stimulus, as the name implies, merely releases the energy. The fixed action pattern and the releasing stimulus are like a stick of dynamite and a fuse. The fire of the burning fuse is nothing compared to the explosive power of the dynamite.
The Dutch ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen began studying that explosive power as a child by observing the mating and nesting behavior of two-to-three-inch-long stickleback fish in his backyard pond. Fortunately he continued that study as an adult, and in 1973 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research that included the instinctive mating and reproductive behaviors displayed by male stickleback fish.
There comes a time when the male stickleback fish selects an area as his territory. If another male appears, the first male attacks furiously and always wins. Tinbergen concluded that energy for fighting is built up in the first male, just waiting to be released, and this built-up energy enables him to defeat the intruder. Having defended his territory, the male stickleback builds a round nest with sticks and weeds. When a female stickleback fish with a swollen belly appears, the male performs an elaborate mating dance to lure her to his honeymoon nest. Once the female enters the nest, the male noses her tail, and she ejects thousands of eggs for him to fertilize.
Like all instinctive behaviors, the male stickleback fishâs mating behaviors fly under the radar of consciousness. The male stickleback fish also illustrates that instinct is often linked to
Instinct is powerful stuff. The release of an instinctual behavior is inherently self-reinforcing. And the more memorable and exciting a behavior is, the more likely an individual will be to repeat it. That was what made the Jeep incident so troubling. It was the most exciting experience in Chaserâs young life and thus very positively reinforcing. She was going to be vulnerable to repeating the behavior of chasing cars unless I took effective action.
At the same time, I didnât want to quash her instinct for chasing. I was already making use of that instinct to teach Chaser the names of the objects we played with every day. I wanted to get the full energy of her chasing instinctâthe energy that had startled and even frightened me with its intensity the day beforeâfocused on every detail of that play. So I couldnât be heavy-handed. I had to channel that instinct carefully, as gently as possible.
The modern concept of instinct goes back to Charles Darwinâs theory of evolution. However, the study of instinct lay dormant until the 1930s, when European zoologists began to study the behavior of animals in their natural environments. This was the birth of a new science of animal behavior called ethology. The founding generation of ethologists and their immediate successors cast new light on instinct. They established that instincts have survival value or else the instincts themselves do not survive; that all members of a species have the same instincts in common, although the strength of a particular instinct varies from individual to individual; and that the instinct maintains its essential features over the animalâs life span. Compared to a reflex, such as your lower leg kicking after the doctor taps your knee, an instinct is infinitely more complex and may consist of a series of behaviors.
Ethologists have shown that an instinct consists of two major components, a fixed action pattern and a releasing stimulus. The energy for the fixed action pattern is stored up in the animal, while the releasing stimulus, as the name implies, merely releases the energy. The fixed action pattern and the releasing stimulus are like a stick of dynamite and a fuse. The fire of the burning fuse is nothing compared to the explosive power of the dynamite.
The Dutch ethologist Nikolaas Tinbergen began studying that explosive power as a child by observing the mating and nesting behavior of two-to-three-inch-long stickleback fish in his backyard pond. Fortunately he continued that study as an adult, and in 1973 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for research that included the instinctive mating and reproductive behaviors displayed by male stickleback fish.
There comes a time when the male stickleback fish selects an area as his territory. If another male appears, the first male attacks furiously and always wins. Tinbergen concluded that energy for fighting is built up in the first male, just waiting to be released, and this built-up energy enables him to defeat the intruder. Having defended his territory, the male stickleback builds a round nest with sticks and weeds. When a female stickleback fish with a swollen belly appears, the male performs an elaborate mating dance to lure her to his honeymoon nest. Once the female enters the nest, the male noses her tail, and she ejects thousands of eggs for him to fertilize.
Like all instinctive behaviors, the male stickleback fishâs mating behaviors fly under the radar of consciousness. The male stickleback fish also illustrates that instinct is often linked to
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