Mental equivalent of biological instincts?

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My question is as follows: Impulses generated by the physical body arise from the instincts, then impulses generated by the mind arise not from instincts bur from what? What is the mental counterpart of biological Instincts?

-- Elio Roman (eroman287@cs.com), January 29, 2002

Answers

Hi Elio, well, I think you are talking about the psychology of motivation. You might look at "Theories of Personality" by C. S. Hall & G. Lindzey. There you can read chapter 6, Murray's Personology, and the answer to your question might be Needs. Also, read chapter 12 Allport's Psychology of the Individual, and the answer to your question might be Traits. You might find Allport's definition of Trait and its etiology interesting. I like your analogy, but I think you might have to infer "mental" in some theories. You could assume a theory of "mind" in psychoanalytic thought, but drawing your anology in other theories I think you might have to assume functional equivalent with their constructs, making a more forced comparison. Good luck, David

-- david clark (doclark@yorku.ca), January 29, 2002.

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