What is instinct

Her instincts took over and she dived on the escaping thief. In negotiating you have to develop an instinct for when to be tough and when to make a deal.

They accused the campaign of appealing to the electorate's baser instincts. What makes all these people come to the club? In my view it's the herd instinct. Why don't you just follow your natural instincts? As a player he seemed to lack the killer instinct.

Most people have a well-developed survival instinct. A natural or acquired tendency, aptitude, or talent; bent; knack; gift. An instinct for doing the right thing. An inherited tendency of an organism to behave in a certain way, usually in reaction to its environment and for the purpose of fulfilling a specific need. The development and performance of instinctive behavior does not depend upon the specific details of an individual's learning experiences.

Instead, instinctive behavior develops in the same way for all individuals of the same species or of the same sex of a species. For example, birds will build the form of nest typical of their species although they may never have seen such a nest being built before. Some butterfly species undertake long migrations to wintering grounds that they have never seen. Behavior in animals often reflects the influence of a combination of instinct and learning.

The basic song pattern of many bird species is inherited, but it is often refined by learning from other members of the species. Dogs that naturally seek to gather animals such as sheep or cattle into a group are said to have a herding instinct, but the effective use of this instinct by the dog also requires learning on the dog's part.

Accessed 11 Nov. More Definitions for instinct. Nglish: Translation of instinct for Spanish Speakers. Britannica English: Translation of instinct for Arabic Speakers.

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free! Log in Sign Up. Save Word. Essential Meaning of instinct. Cats possess a natural hunting instinct.

See More Examples Seeing the baby aroused all her maternal instincts. The decision was based on gut instinct. Mere instinct alerted her to the danger. You just have a gut instinct and a lot of experience to be able to try and guide it in that way. Perhaps you have an instinct that analyzing a certain data set would yield interesting results. Certainly my instinct is to identify with the police, no matter the circumstance. In a flash he deflects the shot, with the speed of instinct , right past the goalkeeper.

The human desire for knowledge and exploration is an absolute good, and we need to follow that instinct. Perhaps his conservative political instinct will ultimately keep Murdoch from plunging fully into the yes camp. It seems to be a true instinct which comes before education and makes education possible.

Imitation of the ways of their elders doubtless plays a part here, but it is aided by an instinct for adornment. Long before reason found the answer, instinct —swift, merciless interpreter—told him plainly.