The growth of the mind : an introduction to child-psychology / by Kurt Koffka ; translated by Robert Morris Ogden.

  • Kurt Koffka
Date:
1928
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Licence: In copyright

Credit: The growth of the mind : an introduction to child-psychology / by Kurt Koffka ; translated by Robert Morris Ogden. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tendency to run after running things, they must never¬ theless learn to kill mice, because their instincts do not carry them to this point. The apparent contra¬ diction in these results is explained, however, by the fact that Berry’s animals were already five months old when they first came in contact with mice. It would seem, therefore, that the instinctive disposition noted by Yerkes and Bloomfield in the second month had by the fifth month disappeared, which gives us a very pretty example of the transitoriness of instincts.^^^ Similar exact observations in the case of man are lacking, and whether they are possible, in view of the greater complication of human behaviour, we can not yet say. McDougall, who limits transitoriness to a few special cases, does not find it an important charac¬ teristic of human instinct. He supports his view by reference to certain recent results in psycho-therapy, where pathological symptoms have been traced back to unwittingly suppressed, or improperly directed, instincts. It is not our intention to give a list of human in¬ stincts. Two-thirds of the first volume of Thorndike’s comprehensive work are taken up with a consideration of man’s original tendencies, and one may also refer to James for a discussion of this subject. For our part, we prefer to go into a few modes of behaviour appear¬ ing early in the course of human development, the instinctive character of which can hardly be doubted, since Kohler has also found them among the chim¬ panzees. I have in mind especially the instincts of cleanliness and adornment. We shah have to speak about walking as an instinct in the next chapter. Regarding cleanliness, Kohler tells us he has ob¬ served but a single chimpanzee in captivity that was not coprophagous [a faeces-eater], and yet when¬ ever an animal stepped into faeces his foot lost its firm hold just as a human being’s would in a similar predicament; the animal then hobbled away until an