Impulses or the desire to fulfill some kind of urge are a universal human experience. Some of them are good and benefit society, for example, when a man has fallen and other people react to help him up. Other times they are bad. These include when someone wishes to cause harm to another person or his or her property. Impulses are the human equivalent of instincts. According to the British Dictionary impulse is defined as, “an impelling force or motion.” According to the same source an instinct is, “the innate capacity of an animal to respond to a given stimulus in a relatively fixed way; inborn intuitive power.” The real difference between impulse and instincts is that in humans we get to decide whether or not to react to impulses, while animals are forced to respond to their instincts. The short story ironically titled “Impulse” by Conrad Aiken wrestles with the question do humans become less human and more animalistic when they give in to their impulses. However, as one analyzes the main character of the story, Michael Lowes, …show more content…
While he was spending time playing gin with pseudo-friends, they had a conversation about impulses. They talked about how all of them have impulses to steal or to caress strangers. However, Bryant, one of the friends, said, “It isn’t that we do it, it’s only that we want to do it.” (Aiken 3 B). This statement implies that Bryant understands that impulses are different than instincts and that humans have the choice to fall for them or not to. In fact, so does Michael. Michael feels as if he were to break this social norm, it would be an admirable feat. He describes himself as becoming the “Columbus of the moral world” (Aiken 4 M) if he were to go through with following an impulse. He believes that he will be altering reality in terms of some moral discovery. He believes if he follows the impulse he will be remembered as the one who changed social
Freud proposes that the primal instinct of humans is to act aggressively towards each other. In civilized society, we have restrained our inclination to aggression through law and authority. Repeatedly, in The Lake of the Woods, John Wade either acted aggressively
Did you ever notice that human nature revolves around needs, desires, and wants? There are different types of needs, such as safety, social, basic needs. These desires and impulses gives us our survival and the ability to function in the environment we live in. Our subconscious mind is responsible for the decisions we make, and such impulses makes us commit actions we have no control of. In literature, we are able to understand and judge the character’s behavior more so than our own.
...k with less than noble intentions. In the Baron, Michael discovers there are people willing to take advantage of children when he is coerced into breaking and entering. The narrator Michael explains that it was not until years into the future that he realized his misleading.
Furthermore, sometimes the desire to be accepted is stronger than prevailing conventions. This makes an individual to do things to make him feel accepted in the society. Krakauer compares the people in Alaska and McCandless. He writes, “And I’m sure there are plenty of other Alaskans who had a lot in common with McCandless when they first got here, too, including many of his critics. Which maybe why they’re so hard on him. Maybe McCandless reminds them a little too much of their former selves” (Krakauer 221). In today’s society, an individual confirms itself to what a society wants and expect him or her to be.
38) He knew that it wasn’t solving the problem, but alcohol just helped his issues so it became his gateway to drugs. Although I thought it was weird that no one noticed that he had a drinking problem since he drank a beer every opportunity he could and his school life was suffering. While visiting his brother, Jason, at Amsterdam’s he shares his excitement of their “…liberal drug policy or the legendary red light district.” (pg. 39) Michael is looking for an escape from his life. By this point he seems to be depressed and an alcoholic, but doesn’t want to look pathetic to others so he hides it. During his trip, he has his first “trip” with marijuana. His brother constant disapproval of all of his life choices and his overall personality causes Michael to ignore his brother’s judgment and ruin his relationship even
By then Michael was kicking chairs and almost breaking into tears, he was extremely depressed. This meant he could never play football again, he loved it too much to give it up but he might have to. Michael couldn’t stop thinking about how he couldn’t play football. He just wanted to get back on the field and catch the ball and forget about everything, he wanted to play the game, forget about everything, and stay in that intense moment when the balls hurtling towards you and you could be the one to score for your team. He also thought that they might not be able to pay for the surgery(Concussion Legacy Foundation)
Thinking back on the history of mankind, there is a well known pattern of barbarian and aggressive behavior inherent in human beings. The desire to conquer and control their environment has been proven to be existent in human nature. Although mankind’s conscience manages to keep these instincts in check, they can become unleashed if provoked. Often when faced with adversity, humans tend to regress and lose their sense of rationality giving rise to an emergence of their “id” personality. According to Adam Roberts analysis of the unconscious mind, “the id works outside the realms of logic or reasonableness, it just wants, and it doesn’t care how or why” (Roberts 56). Therefore, the “id” makes up the subconscious of an individual’s consciousness where all primitive desires and urges derive from. It is not attainable to conscious thought, yet it affects all of a person’s actions.
humans basic instinctual drives”. (Wikimedia) The Id is impulsive and is the source of the
The Road is a phenomenal example of how raw human nature shapes peoples’ decisions. It addresses the behaviors of people neither informed nor controlled by a social order. In the essence of The Road, people’s actions are highly dependent on the person’s basic needs. A lack of basic human needs often results in the more disturbing view of human nature. (Gilbert pg. 43) Betrayal, suicide, and cannibalism are all examples of behaviors that human nature can bring out of people.
and pain, desire, passion, sex, and aggression. It is the source of primal instincts. "The
As discussed in lecture, there are certain characteristics society attributes to certain races, which becomes apart of how Michael self identifies. Throughout the film there are examples of how the people around Michael racialize him. The first time he stays at the Tuohy residence, Leanne makes a comment to her husband about her concern of him stealing something. This highlights the stereotypes the characters associate with Michael’s race, which is something that he would have had to grow up dealing with on a daily basis (2009). The constant racialization Michael would of faced in a dominantly white society has a clear negative impact on his personal feelings about himself. Baker (2013) gives many examples of how racism, “significantly impact[s] the social and mental well being of youth by influencing their ability and willingness to trust, to form close relationships, and to be part of a social group” (p.82). This statement reflects many of the personal characteristics that can be seen in Michael’s personality throughout the film. An obvious example of this is seen in his attempt to form a relationship with the Tuohy’s. Due to the abandonment he faced as a child and his racialization, it is clear that although Michael wants to form trusting relationships, he hesitates to do so. As he becomes more comfortable and realizes the Tuohy’s do not have racicalized opinions about him, I think he is then able to form
Theories Student’s Name Institutional Affiliation Theories It is a well-known fact that different factors affect on human behavior as well as various aspects of people’s life. Among them the emotions detect a powerful force on humans. Strong emotions may cause people to take actions they might not perform as usual, or obviate situations that they generally enjoy. Psychologists, researchers, and philosophers have proposed a set of different theories that explain how and why people experience the emotions. I have chosen two theories of emotion that I am interested in such as: the James-Lange Theory of Emotion and the Cannon-Bard Theory of Emotion. This paper describes those theories by comparing and contrasting them; discusses the theory that I agree with and explain the reasons of it.
Thus, he is not living his life authentically to himself. After Michael has identified what he values, Dr. Vargas will guide him towards means of bringing forth those values into his life, so he can find his own meaning outside of what his parents have thrust onto him. One of the values Michael appears to regard the most is security, as he diverges from taking risks and stepping out of his comfort zone. However, this value of security stunts growth in life. Dr. Vargas may suggest to Michael to try to broaden his social circle, create more closer relationships with others to immerse himself in his new home in New Brunswick, Michael has the choice to embrace his new home or to lock himself away experiencing it. Michael will take this responsibility for his choice of locking himself away from this new home, he must transcend past qualms of moving from life as he knew in Toronto and transition to making a new life in New Brunswick. Self-transcendence is when the client transcends immediate problems, forgetting themselves and amercing themselves in the world. Michael will come to realize this environment in New Brunswick is not like Toronto, and will never replace what he left, but it is up to him to amerce himself in this environment rather than work against it. Michael should become aware that is well liked in school, not picked on
“Psychological - or more strictly speaking, psychoanalytic -investigation shows that the deepest essence of human nature, which are similar in all men and which aim at the satisfaction of certain needs... [are] self-preservation, aggression, need for love, and the impulse to attain pleasure and avoid pain...” At its simplest form, this quote perfectly explains Sigmund Freud’s theory on human nature. Human beings, according to Freud, are in a constant state of conflict within themselves; trying to satisfy their animalistic instincts, while also maintaining a socially appropriate life. Freud termed these animalistic tendencies that we have, the Id. The Id is essentially our unconscious mind, it is the part of us that has been there since the day we were born and is what drives our life’s needs and desires. The Id simply aims to satisfy our sexual or aggressive urges immediately, without taking into account any further implications. On the other hand, Freud used the term, the Superego, to describe man’s conscience and sense of morality. It is the Superego’s job to keep the Id in check by combatting the desire to satisfy urges with the feeling of guilt or anxiety. Finally, the Ego, is the conscious representation of the constant battle between the Superego and the Id. It must work to satisfy human’s instinctual tendencies while taking into account their conscience and doing what is rational and acceptable. Freud argues that these internal process that are constantly at work in our mind are what shape humans to do the things that they do. Thus, he believes, the goal of human nature is to satisfy our basic aggressive and sexual desires while adhering to cultural and social standards.
The instincts, which are mostly a part of the id, are the cause of every human behavior. Behavior is further made up of two basic instincts that are Eros (love) and Death (destructive and aggressive). Eros is responsible for establishing and preserving the unity of relationships. The Death or destructive instinct carries the purpose of un...