Instinct: Quick Facts

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Facts

Also Known As	innate behaviour

Photos

Foraging is an example of an instinct driven by impulses serving specific biological functions.

Portrait of Charles Darwin, circa 1874, seated and facing left, with a long white beard and wearing a dark coat.

Konrad Lorenz, an older man with white hair and a beard, wearing a suit and tie, looks to the side and smiles in this 1973 portrait.

Male three-spined stickleback fish (Gasterosteus aculeatus) display instinctive territorial defense behaviour against trespassing males, who may be rivals for reproductive mates.

Mandrill (Mandrillus sphinx) sitting on a rock, showing its colorful face with bright blue and red markings and yellow beard.

Mating behaviour in animals is instinctive.

The courtship displays of animals such as the male frigate bird (Fregata minor) are driven by instinct.

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Topics

fixed-action pattern reflex Brain stimulus-response behaviour fight-or-flight response Stereotyped response adjustment Photoperiodism

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Key People

Henri Bergson

Henri Bergson

French philosopher

Alfred Adler.

Alfred Adler

Austrian psychiatrist