ABSTRACT
In the relatively simple list of human responses there is none corresponding to what is called an ‘instinct’ by present-day psychologists and biologists. The genetic psychologist hates to be faced with it because his data are limited. Some people are born with long slender fingers, with delicate throat structure; some are born tall, large, of prize-fighter build; others with delicate skin and eye coloring. These differences are in the germ plasm and are handed down from parent to child. William James made a careful selection from among these asserted instincts and gave man the following list: Climbing, imitation, emulation, rivalry, pugnacity, anger, resentment, sympthy, hunting, fear, appropriation, acquisitiveness, kleptomania, constructiveness, play, curiosity, sociability, shyness, cleanliness, modesty, shame, love, jealousy, parental love. The behaviorist finds himself wholly unable to agree with James and the other psychologists who claim that man has unlearned activities of these complicated kinds.
