Fear
and curiosity urge opposite lines of conduct. Love of approbation and
shyness are opposed. Love and pugnacity are apt to be at odds. So,
gradually, as intelligence increases, the child refuses to allow such
impulses to lead him to action. When fear-instinct and love-instinct are
at war, reason is provided to come to the rescue.
_Instincts_ are racial tendencies of sensational or emotional states to
determine action.
Instincts are the germs of habit, and when instinct would give rise to a
reaction no longer useful, reason, abetted by new habit formation, in
the normal mind, weakens instinct's force; and the habit is discarded
and the instinct gradually declines.
In prehistoric times when food was scarce, and man had not learned the
art of tilling the soil, hunger forced him to fight for what he got to
eat. As there was often not enough to go around, he maimed or killed
his fellow-man that he might have all he wanted, obeying the instinct to
survive. So, now, the baby instinctively clutches for all that appeals
to him.
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