Well, that's debatable to say the least. There are plenty of examples of people who seem to have no survival instinct whatever. People who commit suicide, who are keen on extreme sports, who drive too fast or take unfamiliar drugs. Or for that matter refuse to follow basic safety measures in a pandemic.
People die every day because they give little thought to survival and simply do what they feel like doing.
I wouldn't say I have much of a survival instinct. What I have is more a problem-avoidance instinct. I don't want to do anything that might jeopardise my physical or mental health and make my life a problem for myself and other people around me. I don't want to become a burden or a nuisance or an object of pity.
Not that any possible survival instinct has ever been seriously tested. I've never been trapped in a burning house, kept prisoner in a locked basement or been stranded on a mountain top. I've never had to survive more than busy main roads or too much alcohol or gnawing hunger.
Mind you, the survival instinct isn't just about physical survival. It can also mean mental and emotional survival. Can you survive abusive parents or an aggressive boss or a domineering spouse without crumbling psychologically?
I've survived in that sense several times in my life. So maybe I have a survival instinct of sorts, just not the one people normally think of.
I've been lucky enough never to lose my mind.
My survival instinct too has helped me survive physical as well as mental perils. Sometimes I wonder however, whether surviving those was worth the effort. My survival instinct currently is taking enough safeguards against the chinese virus and I think that I have been successful but, whether I will till the danger passes is anybody's guess.
ReplyDeleteRamana: It looks like your survival instinct is functioning well and successfully warding off the virus.
DeleteI think the "survival" instinct only really pertains to fight or flight immediate situations. Longer term survival is simply living a healthier or safer lifestyle and not taking the unnecessary risks that some others do, like ignoring appropriate protective measures during COVID.
ReplyDeleteQuitting smoking, for example, is quite the opposite. A smoker's inclination is to keep on toking which is the antithesis of a survival inclination.
Food is another example. The instinct is to eat. For many, reducing what one eats would be a better long-term survival strategy, but it is hard when so much satisfaction can be derived from eating. Indeed, sometimes for some, eating can be a coping strategy for mental and emotional issues.
Mike: So why do some people deliberately adopt a healthy lifestyle while others happily take obvious risks like taking unknown drugs that might kill them? Also, if you adopt a healthy lifestyle, is that a survival instinct or just a desire not to cause problems (or grief) for your family?
DeleteIt may be just semantics, but I don't think an aversion to risky behavior is an instinct. I believe it's more a function of who you are, what you've experienced and observed, and the hand life deals you.
DeleteMike: I agree, your response to any given situation is heavily influenced by your upbringing, your experience of life etc.
DeleteI agree with Mike. We can only assess survival instincts under very stressful/dangerous/hazardous situations. I am a survivor in spite of all the odds.
ReplyDeleteXO
WWW
www: See my reply to Mike. So suppose someone willingly gets into a hazardous situation and seems to be blind to the risks? What happened to their survival instinct?
DeleteProblem avoidance instinct. I have that because of where I live. That's why the cops are never at my door. lol
ReplyDeleteMary: I can see you have to do a lot of problem avoidance, given all the dodgy activities going on around you!
DeleteMike gave a great response. I admit that when I feel physically threatened, my first instinct is to protect myself and not others.
ReplyDeleteBijoux: I think my natural reaction would be the same - to protect myself first and foremost.
DeleteWhen I had a succession of four different presidents of my company, to whom I reported, I said at the end, I survived all but the last. The last did not survive his last supervisor. Wall street companies are tough.
ReplyDeleteJoanne: I can imagine surviving that sort of cut-throat environment would be quite a challenge. It must be satisfying to have done so.
DeleteI am in agreement with most of the commenters - survival instinct is really only relevant in life-threatening situations. Instincts are wired-in behaviors triggered by a particular stimulus. I think what you are really talking about is wondering why there is so much variability in how decisions people make about things that might improve or diminish their odds of living a longer life. And that, as with most things, is far too complicated to have a single variable answer.
ReplyDeleteAgent: You're right, I'm wondering about people's very different reactions to dangerous or life-threatening situations. Why do some people seem to actively court danger, while others rapidly retreat from it?
Delete(I meant "how people make decisions" - I was typing too fast!)
ReplyDeleteI try to live a healthy lifestyle and avoid risks. The idea of dying doesn't worry me... I was in the ER once when I could have died of sepsis if the antibiotics hadn't worked, but I was relaxed and happy because I had made the right choice in going there. If something happens I don't want it to be my fault. Once it's out of my hands why worry?
ReplyDeleteJean: Indeed, there's no point in worrying about something you're no longer in control of. Which is why I'm not worrying much about the coronavirus!
DeleteI agree with Secret Agent Woman, and this is a complicated subject! The brain , or sub-conscious might decide what is life threatening - and the brain might overreact sometimes, etc.
ReplyDeleteSx
Ms Scarlet: Yes, it's complicated. How you respond to a hazardous situation is based on so many factors - how you think, how you feel, what you've been taught, what's going on around you etc.
DeleteMy father survived, or extracted himself from, some dangerous episodes and he said he just went with his gut feeling. What formed that 'gut feeling' though is imponderable.
ReplyDeleteFly: Interesting. As you say, what prompts a gut feeling is imponderable. Glad he managed to get himself out of danger.
DeleteThe closest I've ever been to true danger is having a husband in Viet Nam. We were lucky that his assignments were fairly safe ones. He only took enemy fire one time that whole year. They hit him. But even that was a fairly safe shot from which to recover having only hit muscle.
ReplyDeleteLinda: Indeed, lucky that he had fairly safe assignments. Too many youngsters were just so much cannon fodder, cut down in their prime.
DeleteI think the survival instinct refers to instances when a person’s life is immediately imperiled which they realize on some level and resist what seems eminent death which I’ve known. That’s different than the risks some people take and the thrill seekers actions, I think. Suicide, euthanasia are also in categories of their own separate from a survival instinct i’m inclined to believe.
ReplyDeleteJoared: I guess it depends how widely you interpret the "survival instinct". Yes, there's a difference between suddenly being in a life-or-death situation and enjoying dangerous activities.
Delete