Chris Doss wrote:
>
> Maybe I'm being a pedant, but the knee thing is a
> reflex, not an instinct, unless I am misremembering
> the exact meaning of the words. Instincts are things
> like beavers building dams or birds flying south --
> complicated behavior.
That is correct, and not pedantic. We need a competent biologist or anthropologist on the list to bring some sanity to the discussion of instinct. Just before she unsubbed several years ago Maureen Anderson (off-list exchange) had, if I remember correctly, both expressed frustration with silly use of the term "instinct" on the list _and_ reluctance to spend the time necessary to explain it. Even with birds it isn't as simple as it sounds. Chicago Robins fly south in the winter. So do Canadian robins, but for many of them, "south" is Chicago! Instinct can't explain such variations in behavior, which is one of the reasons most amateur references to it re human behavior are at best silly. (And it's very possible that my own reference to robins is off the wall!)
Carrol