The Instinct-Distortion, or War Neurosis

Musicality: Instinct or Acquired Skill?

Is the human tendency toward musicality better thought of as the product of a specific, evolved instinct or an acquired skill? Developmental and evolutionary arguments are considered, along with issues of domain-specificity. The article also considers the question of why humans might be consistently and intensely drawn to music if musicality is not in fact the product of a specifically evolved ...

Nutcracker, neurosis, or sampling bias?

Does Learning or Instinct Shape Habitat Selection?

Habitat selection is an important behavioural process widely studied for its population-level effects. Models of habitat selection are, however, often fit without a mechanistic consideration. Here, we investigated whether patterns in habitat selection result from instinct or learning for a population of grizzly bears (Ursus arctos) in Alberta, Canada. We found that habitat selection and related...

"Experimental neurosis" in cats: fact or artifact?

In an attempt to assess the validity of the phenomenon of "animal neurosis," the behavior of cats exposed to the type of conflict Masserman specified as being critical to the development of "experimental neurosis" was contrasted with that of cats simply confined in the conditioning apparatus for the same length of time. Comparison of the groups on the basis of the "symptoms" Masserman considere...

The clinical characteristics, treatment, and rehabilitation of repatriated prisoners of war with neurosis.

At the end of May, 1945, we were seconded from Mill Hill Emergency Hospital to start a neurosis centre for repatriated prisoners of war at Dartford, Kent. During the following eight months 811 repatriates from the North-west Europe sector passed through the unit. This paper describes the clinical characteristics of these men, their treatment and rehabilitation, and the results of a short-term f...