Difference between Instinctive and Learning Behavior

Darwin first proposed the definition of instincts in 1859 with reference to his study of animal’s behavior. He considered instincts as reflexes which are complex in nature. He thought them to be an amalgam of inherited traits and evolutionary changes in animal’s behavior. Ethologists in 1935 proposed that humans also behave in a similar way with respect to instincts. Instincts enable a person to respond to a specific stimulus. Learning, on the other hand, is an acquired behavior which depends upon the intelligence of the humans and animals. Following article shows a comparison between the two behaviors

Instinct behavior

Instinct behavior is the inherited ability of an organism to respond to a specific stimulus. This type of stimulus is called ‘sign stimulus’ in scientific terms. A sign stimulus may be simple or complex one.  This type of behavior enables a person to adapt to its surrounding environment. This is important for animals with short life span and for animals that have little or no parental care at all. E.g. a female wasp prepares a nest, gets a caterpillar trapped into the nest, kills it and then lays eggs over that dead caterpillar.

Learning Behavior

Learning is acquired by an organism during its life time which enables the organism to respond to different situations. It depends upon the experiences of one’s life. But it depends upon development of brain in humans and animals also. So the higher animals like humans have high level of learning. Lower animals, because of the brain which is not properly developed, learn very slowly or do not learn at all. E.g. if u allow a snail to crawl over a glass sheet, it learns that tapping has no harmful effect.

Instincts VS Learning Behavior

Origin:

Instinct behavior is inherited and the person is born with the ability to respond to situations.

Learning behavior is acquired through experiences in life of animals.

Relation with experience:

Instinct behavior is not influenced by experience.

Experience has noticeable effects on learning behavior.

 Evolution:

Instinct behavior evolves in species over a long period of time.

Learning behavior evolves in individuals depending upon their personal experiences.

Relation with life span:

Instinct behavior is beneficial for organisms with short life span.

Learning is important for ones who have long life span so that they can modify their behavior.

Parental care:

Instinct behavior helps organisms with little or no parental care.

Learning behavior helps animals who have parental care like humans.

Time of evolution:

Instinct behavior evolves very slowly over a couple of species.

Learning behavior can evolve slowly or rapidly depending upon the genetic ability of animals to learn.

Example:

Honey bees have natural tendency to fly towards flowers to seek nectar,

Experiments show that dogs learn to salivate on giving a stimulus like ringing bells.

Conclusion

Instinct and learning are two different types of behaviors seen in animals which are used in different scenarios. Instinct behavior is present in every organism but learning behavior is acquired only in animals with higher mental functions like humans.