THIS SECTION IS ILLUSTRATIVE ONLY

We all have instinct and emotion. This is the pre-programmed part of our minds that guides our behaviour in particular situations. It is the part of our mind that delivers preliminary instruction without reference to any thought processes in other parts of our mind.

In dramatic circumstances, such as a fire, we need to act immediately, without thought. How we react depends on our instinct, our experience and our character. We all have elements of self-preservation which drives us to run. We all have elements of selflessness which drives us to save others or put out the fire. Our final response is government by the net effect of each.

In less dramatic circumstances, such as a queue, we go through very similar processes, but we have much longer to think - and typically, we will have much more experience. Whether we join the queue, look for another queue, jump the queue or leave without what we are buying depends on a huge variety of factors. Our final action is governed by the interaction of all of these processes.

In life, we frequently choose between two or more conflicting drives. The simple fact that we are able to make a single choice means we are in control of our behaviour. We may be guided by our instinct or character, but we are never slaves to them.

Our "character" is based on the degree to which we are influenced by a whole host of instincts and emotions. Here are some examples that we all have in differing degrees:

Negative emotions

• Destructive emotions towards others (annoyance, resentment, disgust, contempt, anger, hostility, hatred, rage, revenge)
  
• Negative emotions stimulated by others (jealousy, envy, horror, indignation)
  
• Negative self-perception (embarrassment, humiliation, self-pity, shame, guilt, suffering)
  
• Active negative personal emotions (sadness, depression, grief, melancholia, regret, remorse, repentance)
  
• Passive negative personal emotions (ambivalence, boredom, disappointment, emptiness, loneliness, hopelessness)

Positive emotions

• Active positive personal emotions (contentment, happiness, gratification, enthusiasm, ecstasy, euphoria, fanaticism)
  
• Constructive drives through social interaction (gratitude, empathy, pity, sympathy, compassion, affection, desire, love, lust)
  
• Constructive internal drives (hope, curiosity, interest, inspiration, wonder)
  
• Positive self-perception (pride)

Instinctive behaviour

• Social skills (face perception, altruism, social interaction, acceptance, closeness to family, homesickness)
  
• Personal wariness (shyness, anticipation, confusion, doubt, anxiety, alertness, wariness of strangers, surprise, panic, angst, fear, frustration, hysteria, worry, surprise, awe)
  
• Internal "calming" emotions (calmness, patience, antipathy, apathy)

MEMO

This section explores our basic human instincts and why and how they need to be channelled to accommodate life in space shared by hundreds, thousands, millions and billions of people, all working together for the common good.

Whether you believe humans have evolved from Apes, were created by God or are a product of an alien superculture, there is no dispute that humans are born with instinct.

Instinct is the predisposition that we are born with to behave in a particular way to particular situations. Instinct is the response in our brain to a particular event or situation, from which we decide to take certain actions. Instincts are hard wired into our brains and do not need to be learnt. Examples of primarily physical actions include breathing, sucking and swallowing. Examples of primarily emotional actions which stimulate us to take action include distress when cold or hungry (which often results in our crying), fear when threatened (which often results in our fleeing) and anger when betrayed (which often results in aggression).

We may experience more than one instinctive reaction to a single situation, which may give rise to our instinct giving us conflicting instructions. The classic conflicting instincts are where we find ourselves in dangerous situations. Our threatened instinct tells us to flee. Our anger instinct tells us to fight. The two instincts combine to give us what is often referred to as the "fight or flight" conflict. We want to do both at the same time. This leads to a final behaviour that is impossible to predict.

This also highlights a key point. Whereas our emotional reaction may be beyond our control, our ultimate physical reaction is entirely within our control.

Of the many other behavioural patterns we have, scientists dispute which are learnt and which are hard wired. But for the purposes of this section, it is not important which category a particular reaction pattern falls into. What does matter is that there are many events we encounter that cause our brain to respond in a primeval way, some of which cause physical change in our bodies, such as pumping adrenaline when we are frightened, that predispose us to make certain decisions about the action we take. They include:

Negative emotions

• Destructive emotions towards others (annoyance, resentment, disgust, contempt, anger, hostility, hatred, rage, revenge)
  
• Negative emotions stimulated by others (jealousy, envy, horror, indignation)
  
• Negative self-perception (embarrassment, humiliation, self-pity, shame, guilt, suffering)
  
• Active negative personal emotions (sadness, depression, grief, melancholia, regret, remorse, repentance)
  
• Passive negative personal emotions (ambivalence, boredom, disappointment, emptiness, loneliness, hopelessness)

Positive emotions

• Active positive personal emotions (contentment, happiness, gratification, enthusiasm, ecstasy, euphoria, fanaticism)
  
• Constructive drives through social interaction (gratitude, empathy, pity, sympathy, compassion, affection, desire, love, lust)
  
• Constructive internal drives (hope, curiosity, interest, inspiration, wonder)
  
• Positive self-perception (pride)

Instinctive behaviour

• Social skills (face perception, altruism, social interaction, acceptance, closeness to family, homesickness)
  
• Personal wariness (shyness, anticipation, confusion, doubt, anxiety, alertness, wariness of strangers, surprise, panic, angst, fear, frustration, hysteria, worry, surprise, awe)
  
• Internal "calming" emotions (calmness, patience, antipathy, apathy)

When we are faced with two conflicting instincts, we end up reacting to one over the other. Which instinct wins the day depends on many factors, such weighing up all factors which we take into account in the instant before we act. Depending on the severity of the stimulus, some times we perceive we have a little longer than other times before making up our minds, so can afford ourselves the luxury of taking longer to weigh up the options. Our basic character will influence our decision - some people will tend to "fight" a little more often and others to "flight" that much more. Our moods affect the decision, whether we are alert or tired or irritated or calm before the stimulus. Our experience also affects us - if we have experienced a stimulus before, we are more likely to be able to handle it logically rather than emotionally.

Some stimuli require instant reaction. When some people see spiders, there is no time to lose. For almost all of us, that also applies to seeing a fire start up in the seat next to us. Other stimuli are not so urgent and allow us time to weigh up the possible outcomes, rather than having to react immediately. Receiving a threatening letter, for example, might cause some of us to call the police, others to tear up the letter and fume and others to file the letter in fear of the consequences. We do not need to react instantly, even though the basic instincts are there if we choose to follow them blindly.

When we live in a reasonably self-sufficient society with a few dozen neighbours living in our village, it is not too difficult to weigh up the consequences of many stimuli. But when we live in a society of Mutual Dependence, interacting with tens of thousands to several million people living in our towns or cities, we are no longer equipped with intellect to understand the consequence of every action or the instinct to handle many of situations that arise on a daily basis. If we were to allow our instincts and emotions to rule our behaviour in all but the most extreme of situations, we would not last very long as a society.

In any civilised society, we have to control our instincts - which means we can no longer allow our instincts to direct our behaviour in all but the most extreme of circumstances. Yet if someone annoys us, we are annoyed. If someone hugs us in a appropriate way and at an appropriate time, we are calmed, content and happy. We have instinct. It is natural for our emotions to respond in uncontrolled ways to different stimuli. But we have to control our reactions to those emotions to ways that are appropriate within society. The control may well give rise to our having to suppress certain emotions, too much of which will cause us emotional problems. So how do we reconcile the two?

We have to channel our instincts, rather than simply pretending they do not exist. Here are a few techniques that are used to handle stimuli that originate from other people, none of which are appropriate in the very few extreme situations where we do not have time to think:

• Try to empathise with the other person - see where they are coming from and put yourself in their position
  
• Evaluate all angles relevant to the situation, not just the single stimulus, to judge all the consequences of your reaction, both to you, to the other person and to anyone else connected with either of you
  
• Talk to people you have reason to respect and trust, who do not have a vested interest in the outcome
  
• Discuss your concerns with the other person directly
  
• Get to know the other person, if you do not already do so
  
• Avoid prejudice - judging the other person based on anything other than your experience of his or her character
  
• Avoid grouping people together as one - biologically, every human being is different, no group ever comprises a single character type. As soon as you treat someone as belonging to a group, you dehumanise a human being, which must lead you to actions that are inadequately considered, either in your or that person's interests.

THOUGHTS

There is something everyone reading this section, along with everyone who has ever read it and everyone who ever will read it has in common. When we were first born, we already knew how to breathe and, but for a few gentle prods for some of us, we all knew how to suck and how to swallow. These are three immensely complex tasks, as you will know if you have ever tried to reproduce the actions in a robot. Yet you knew what to do, along with a whole host of other skills. You may not have been able to walk. That skill required between nine months and three years for most of us to learn. But you were able to cry without being shown how to do it. And, more importantly for this section, you knew when to cry - when you were cold, hungry or uncomfortable.