Watch Origins of the human mind online: Episode 6 Instinct, Learning, and Emotion

Most animals are born with rigid, infl exible instincts that guide behavior through their lives; as infants humans have few basic refl exes, leaving long and relatively helpless periods for learning. In short, our species was naturally selected for plasticity in brain development: the molding of our brains by experience. Still, we are born with “instincts” for interest, curiosity, and active learning. Furthermore, despite our great capacities to learn, many workings of the mind are highly automatic, and thus instinctual. Emotions, which constitute organizing, adaptive tendencies to action rather than inherently irrational “passions,” are essential for the human mind; we cannot survive in the world without core emotions.

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