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Emotions and instincts are not easily distinguished, except that instinct concerns more the practical relations to objects. (15) Likewise is it difficult to separate from emotion the experience of psychic pain and pleasure. In this paper I shall attempt to clarify the general relation of instinct and psychic pain-pleasure to emotion.
Perhaps a prefatory word is in order regarding definition of terms, although definitions may artificially circumscribe subjects that are better left fluid. Young has given a practical definition of emotion: “An emotion is an acute affective disturbance within the individual as a whole, arising from the psychological situation, and manifest in conscious experience, behavior, and especially through bodily changes which are regulated by the autonomic nervous system.” (25, p. 189) He proposes that emotion designate an event or occurrence, an acute upset, while affect be reserved for persistent states. This distinction has been generally made in psychiatry. The idea that emotion refers more to behavior and affect to feeling is a dubious point of difference.
The terms need, drive, and instinct have been frequently confused. (14) Need has been used to mean, 1) a biological condition, or, 2) a motive. In this paper I shall suggest that a need is an “internal object,” not necessarily either a biological condition or a motive. Considering how little we know about the basis of needs this vagueness may be excused. The relation between needs and physical states appears a close one, but recently Harlow (11) has argued that needs are not as dependent on bodily processes as is commonly assumed.