BIOLOGY IN HUMAN AFFAIRS 



social lion, introvert, extravert, coward, hero, lover, 

 hater of sex, or anything else. Education counts for every- 

 thing, original equipment for nothing. According to this 

 view, if educational psychology is to make any progress, 

 it must give up its superstitious belief in instincts and 

 learn how to build up the behavior patterns it wants by 

 the method of the conditioned response. 



Actual data in support of so extreme a view are very 

 scanty. The few experiments that have been made with 

 infants do show that, in the field of the emotions, condi- 

 tioning plays an important role. Whether a child's fear 

 responses are called forth by snakes, furry animals, horses, 

 dogs, mice, automobiles, trains, or by none of these agents, 

 depends upon experience. It is a far cry from such 

 facts, however, to the conclusion that the possibilities of con- 

 ditioning are unlimited and that it takes place in one direc- 

 tion as readily as in another. Such a conclusion is belied 

 by the fact of the essential similarity of human nature that 

 is found in all the widely varying types of social environ- 

 ment. For example, although the mores that have to do 

 with courtship and mating vary infinitely, the part played 

 by sex in human relationships is very much the same the 

 world over. The same is true of pugnacity, fear, maternal 

 love, jealousy, gregariousness, ascendency, submission, etc. 

 The overt behavior in which these native tendencies are 

 expressed takes on every conceivable form, but the motivat- 

 ing influences are everywhere the same. The native equip- 

 ment of the human being predetermines him to differ in 

 important respects from any other animal, even from the 

 anthropoids which are biologically nearest to him. No 

 amount of conditioning is capable of making a Goethe 

 out of a gorilla. To make of the average normal human 

 infant an unselfish saint, utterly unconcerned about his 

 food, his sex needs, and his relations to other human 

 beings is difficult enough. The natural tendencies to anger, 



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