Editing Instinct (section)

=== Richard Herrnstein ===
In a classic paper published in 1972,<ref>{{cite journal |title=Nature as Nurture: Behaviorism and the Instinct Doctrine |first=R.&nbsp;J. |last=Herrnstein |journal=Behaviorism |year=1972 |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=23–52 |jstor=27758791 }}</ref> the psychologist [[Richard Herrnstein]] wrote: "A comparison of McDougall's theory of instinct and Skinner's [[reinforcement theory]]—representing nature and nurture—shows remarkable, and largely unrecognized, similarities between the contending sides in the [[Nature versus nurture|nature–nurture debate]] as applied to the analysis of behavior."

F.&nbsp;B. Mandal proposed a set of criteria by which a behaviour might be considered instinctual: (a)&nbsp;be automatic, (b)&nbsp;be irresistible, (c)&nbsp;occur at some point in development, (d)&nbsp;be triggered by some event in the environment, (e)&nbsp;occur in every member of the species, (f)&nbsp;be unmodifiable, and (g)&nbsp;govern behaviour for which the organism needs no training (although the organism may profit from experience and to that degree the behaviour is modifiable).<ref>{{cite book|title=Textbook of Animal Behaviour|last=Mandal|first=F.&nbsp;B.|publisher=PHI Learning|year=2010|isbn=978-81-203-4035-0|page=47}}</ref>

In ''Information Behavior: An Evolutionary Instinct'' (2010, pp.&nbsp;35–42), Amanda Spink notes that "currently in the behavioral sciences instinct is generally understood as the innate part of behavior that emerges without any training or education in humans." She claims that the viewpoint that information behaviour has an instinctive basis is grounded in the latest thinking on human behaviour. Furthermore, she notes that "behaviors such as cooperation, sexual behavior, child rearing and aesthetics are [also] seen as 'evolved psychological mechanisms' with an instinctive basis."<ref>{{cite book |last=Buss |first=D. |title=Evolutionary Psychology: The New Science of the Mind |location=Boston |publisher=Allyn & Bacon |edition=3rd |year=2008 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dickens |first1=W.&nbsp;T. |last2=Cohen |first2=J.&nbsp;L. |chapter=Instinct and Choice: A Framework for Analysis |editor-last=Garcia Coll |editor-first=C. |title=Nature and Nurture: The Complex Interplay of Genetic and Environmental Influences on Human Behavior and Development |location=Mahwah, New Jersey |publisher=Erlbaum |year=2003 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Geary |first=D.&nbsp;C. |title=The Origin of Mind: Evolution of Brain, Cognition, and General Intelligence |location=Washington, D.C. |publisher=American Psychological Association |year=2004 }}</ref> Spink adds that [[Steven Pinker]] similarly asserts that language acquisition is instinctive in humans in his book ''[[The Language Instinct]]'' (1994). In 1908, [[William McDougall (psychologist)|William McDougall]] wrote about the "instinct of curiosity" and its associated "emotion of wonder",<ref>McDougall, W. (1928). ''An Introduction to Social Psychology'', 21st edition, Methuen & Co. Ltd, London, p. xxii.</ref> though Spink's book does not mention this.

M.&nbsp;S. Blumberg in 2017 examined the use of the word instinct, and found it varied significantly.<ref name="Blumberg 2017"/>