An innate tendency to behave in a particular way that does not depend on particular learning experiences for its development and which serves important adaptive functions across species and developmental time frames. An example of an instinctive behaviour is a fixed action pattern (movements once started that are performed in a stereotyped way, unaffected by …
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Instruction
A more experienced person tells about, demonstrates or guides through some aspect of skill or knowledge, to a person less experienced in that domain. See Education, Hermeneutics (and phenomenology), Internalization, Pedagogy, Zone of proximal development (ZPD)
Instability
The loss of stability of attractors of dynamical systems induced by gradual change of parameter values of the associated differential equation (or iterative map). Such instabilities, also called bifurcations, are accompanied by increased variability and reduced resistance against perturbations of the state of the system. They can lead to large changes in state (e.g., switching …
Instinct (1)
Actions that occur with little specific learning, and which serve important adaptive functions across species and developmental time frames. Compare with contrasting definition provided in Instinct (2). See Displacement activities, Ethology, Fixed action pattern (FAP), Innate (1), Innate (2), Innate (3), Instinct (2), Nativism
Insecure attachment
A pattern of attachment of an individual (usually a child) toward another individual (usually a caregiver) where anxiety or avoidance behavior is observed, as opposed to secure attachment where affection and proximity-seeking predominate. See Adult Attachment Interview (AAI), Attachment, Attachment theory, Secure attachment, Social attachment, Strange situation test
Inorganic chemistry
That branch of chemistry dealing with compounds that do not involve hydrocarbon radicals or carbon-containing molecules. Such molecules are considered to be essential ingredients for the origin of life. See Biochemistry
Innate releasing mechanism (IRM)
A term introduced by Konrad Lorenz (1903-1989) into ethology to describe a hard-wired device somewhere in the central nervous system that causes a species-specific sign stimulus or releaser to evoke a fixed action pattern. See Allometry, Ethology, Experimental method, Fixed action pattern (FAP), Growth, Innate (1)
Innate versus acquired dichotomy
Similar to the nature-nurture debate in that heredity and learning are viewed as independent determinants of development. See Innate (1), Maturation versus learning debate, Nature-nurture debate
Innate modularity hypothesis
The hypothesis that the brain is organized into distinct modules or regions that are specifically devoted to particular cognitive abilities, and that this neurocognitive organization is present from birth. The hypothesis and modularity in particular has been subject to some trenchant criticism in terms of their philosophical underpinnings. See Double dissociation, Equipotentiality, Innate (1), …
Innate (2)
Having arisen within the species through evolution rather than through learning by that individual. Innate propensities are typically expressed at or by birth. Some innate behaviors may be ‘blocked’ or ‘masked’ due to poor motor abilities and not manifest at the moment of birth. If an ability emerges after birth and is not attributable …