Response to Natalie

It is true that instinct comes prior to emotion, but without emotion would we use our instincts?

            I think that instincts come prior to emotion and can exist without emotion. An instinct is a response to stimuli that people are born with. They do not have the chance to use emotion or thought before acting on them. I suppose an instinctual behavior would be one that is acted upon without any learning or a reflex. An instinct could potentially be learned if it becomes a pattern of behavior acted upon without thought. I think we could have an emotional response after an instinct or in reaction to an instinct. Fleeing from a certain stimuli would probably occur before someone realized they were feeling fear. I guess we could have an instinctual emotional reaction, but not all instincts would involve emotion. Instinct is inherent, unlearned and probably the same throughout the majority of the species. Emotions are subjective and emotional dispositions are often included in the way we describe our personalities. I think emotions and instinct are closely linked. We react to stimuli without thought in instinct and we often seem to have emotional responses before we think through a situation. If we have an emotional response before thinking about something then this would fit under the category of instinct. Emotions also come from thinking about a situation though and instinct does not.

            How closely related are instinct and emotion?