You do not currently have permission to view the full text for this document. Please sign in to an account with an active subscription or contact support.
Instincts are patterns of behavior of the organism as a whole which serve to maintain a homoeostatic equilibrium. They are composed of three elements: a biochemical source in tissue processes, an inherited yet modifiable neuronal synaptic pattern, and a psychological superstructure of compulsive and phobic mechanisms. 'There is no such thing as a simon-pure instinct devoid of the influence of psychologic forces.' Interposed between the biochemical processes and instinctual behavior are warning mechanisms which under ordinary circumstances are called into play before any actual tissue deprivation occurs. The warning mechanisms represent a dynamic equilibrium between 'normal phobic and normal compulsive psychological processes, which are the anlage of all pathologic distortions'. Instinctual aims and objects, in turn, become organized around the warning mechanisms. Instinctual activity becomes oriented not so much toward the chemical substances on which the organism directly depends, but rather toward interposed objects. As the mediators of all instinctual needs and gratifications, human objects come to play a predominant psychologic rôle. This concept of the nature of instincts brings into focus many problems which, Kubie hopes, will be subjected to research rather than to further controversy.