Knowledge vs. Instinct: Inborn Patterns of Animal Behavior
In 1976
Hoimar von Ditfurth, a German neurologist and scientist, published a book Der
Geist fiel nicht vom Himmel : d. Evolution unseres Bewusstseins ("The mind did not come out of the blue skies").
Ditfurth says that "our brain is a tool for thinking, but not its cause. Our
brain has not invented thinking, the thinking invented the brain."
In this fascinating book Ditfurth describes "mock-up/decoy" experiments used by
biologists to study inborn patterns of animal behavior.
In one of such experiments (in 1951), Dutch zoologist Tinbergen used a flock of newly hatched baby
turkeys, not more
than a few days old. They were contained in a circular pen, about 20
feet in diameter, with the walls not more than a foot in height. At the center
of this circular pen, was a vertical pole 3 meters in height, with a
horizontal arm extending out from the top of the central pole so that the arm
could sweep horizontally over the pen in a rotary motion. Then a wooden cross
was attached to the end of the arm.
The little chicks were peacefully feeding in the pen. When the arm with
the cross would slowly move in one direction, the little chicks would run for
cover.
When the same cross would move in the opposite direction, the birds would
ignore it.
If the cross moved in the direction of its longer arm, the little chicks,
completely undisturbed, would go on pecking at their food. If the cross would
move in the direction of it's shorter arm, they would immediately scream with
fright and run for cover in a hutch in the center of the pen.
Tinbergen (1951) showed that when young turkeys see a
silhouette model pulled in the direction that makes it look like a hawk, they
were terrified and ran for cover. However, when it was pulled in the other
direction, which makes it look like a goose, they were nonchalant (i.e., didn't
react).
When a
silhouette model resembled the outlines of
a flying goose, the little chicks would ignore it.
When a
silhouette model resembled the outlines of
a flying hawk,
the chicks were terrified and ran for cover.
This, despite the fact that there was
not even a mother to warn them, or relate her experience to the little
chicks.
Inborn in those little chicks' brain was the instinctive
recognition of the hawk as its natural enemy, instinctive fear and instinctive
reaction to flee and take cover. Without any training, without any conscious
thought processes, a few days old chicks were able to recognize a clear and
present danger - the hawk - even though it was only a silhouette model
of their enemy passing over their heads.
Another fascinating aspect of studies of the inborn patterns of animal
behavior is that such behavior is not based on a response to perfect perception of
the outside world (in our mind) but to an important aspect of it. The
pictures below show 3 examples.
Above, there are two models, realistic model of stickleback female and next
to it
a primitive version of the female with exaggerated area of the belly (which normally
contains fish eggs). When male is shown both “models”, each time he picks as the
object of his “courting” the model that in our view the least resembles the real
female.
The red-breast robin picks a bunch of read feathers over a stuffed
real bird
(because a young bird does not have the red spot in the chest
area).
Another example; on the left a female of the butterfly and on the right a
rotating cylinder with stripes;
the male of her
species prefers rotating cylinder with stripes because the flicker of the dark
and light stripes
generates effect similar, in natural conditions, to flapping
wings of the female butterfly.
Each time the "poor imitation" is chosen over the realistic model.
Described above patters of animal behavior are valid for our own species.
It seems to be certain that inborn patterns of our sexual behavior,
just
like our other instincts, are based on inherited “patterns of connections” in
specific areas of our midbrain.
This photo shows fragment of a mannequin's chest.
Our brain interprets it in more than one way...
The results of this "inborn wiring" of our brain are well illustrated by
many songs.
Here are just a few examples:
Arm and neck
Our "inborn patterns of sexual attraction" are also responsible for the
powerful appeal of pornography.
Sex Industry Statistics
Pornography Industry Revenue Statistics
Porn revenue, $57.0 billion world-wide, is larger than all combined revenues
of all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises.
US porn revenue, $12.0 billion, exceeds the combined revenues of ABC, CBS, and
NBC (6.2 billion). Here are few relevant statistics:
Porn on the Web
$2.5 of the $12 billion US porn revenue is related to internet porn.
12% of total websites are pornographic.
Internet Porn statistics
-
Pornographic websites - 4.2 million (12% of total
websites)
-
Pornographic pages - 372 million
-
Daily pornographic search engine requests - 68
million (25% of total search engine requests)
-
Daily pornographic emails - 2.5 billion (8% of total
emails)
-
Monthly Pornographic downloads (Peer-to-peer) - 1.5
billion (35% of all downloads)
-
Worldwide visitors to pornographic web sites - 72
million annually
Adult Internet
Pornography Statistics
-
Men admitting to accessing pornography at work - 20%
-
US adults who regularly visit Internet pornography
websites - 40 million
-
Adults admitting to Internet sexual addiction - 10%
-
Breakdown of male/female visitors to pornography
sites - 72% male - 28% female
Women and
Pornography
-
70% of women keep their cyber activities secret.
-
17% of all women struggle with pornography addiction.
-
Women, far more than men, are likely to act out their
behaviors in real life,
such as having multiple partners, casual
sex, or affairs.
-
Women favor chat rooms 2X more than men.
-
1 of 3 visitors to all adult web sites are women.
-
9.4 million women access adult web sites each month.
-
Women admitting to accessing pornography at work 13%
Source: ©2005 TopTenREVIEWS, Inc
Top Ten Reviews: Internet Pornography Statistics
Note:
Internet
Pornography statistics become outdated very quickly, especially in the
Internet environment where numbers change daily. These statistics have been
derived from a number of different reputable sources including Google,
WordTracker, PBS, MSNBC, NRC, and Alexa research.
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