unts amongst people in
general, and is open to almost endless modification. This fund of
unlearned tendencies is the capital with which each child starts, the
capital which makes education and progress possible, as well as the
capital which limits the extent to which progress and development in
any line may proceed." _The Psychology of Childhood_, pp. 21, 22, 23.

Weigle, in his _Talks to Sunday School Teachers_, begins his second
chapter in a rather unique and helpful manner relative to this same
question:

"The little human animal, like every other, is born going. He is
already wound up. His lungs expand and contract; his heart is pumping
away; his stomach is ready to handle food. These organic, vital
activities he does not initiate. They begin themselves. The organism
possesses them by nature. They are the very conditions of life.

"There are many other activities, not so obviously vital as these,
for which nature winds him up quite as thoroughly--yes, and sets him
to go off at the proper time for each. He will suck when brought to
the breast as unfailingly as his lungs will begin to work upon
contact with the air. He will cry from hunger or discomfort, clasp
anything that touches his fingers or toes, carry to his mouth
whatever he can grasp, in time smile when smiled at, later grow
afraid when left alone or in the dark, manifest anger and affection,
walk, run, play, question, imitate, collect things, pull things
apart, put them together again, take pleasure in being with friends,
act shy before strangers, find a chum, belong to a 'gang' or 'bunch,'
quarrel, fight, become reconciled, and some day fall in love with one
of the opposite sex. These, and many more, are just his natural human
ways. He does not of purpose initiate them any more than he initiates
breathing or heart-beat. He does these things because he is so born
and built. They are his instincts."

As Norsworthy and Whitley point out, we are not especially concerned
with the boundary lines between automatic actions, reflexes, and
instincts--we are rather concerned with the fact that human beings
possess native tendencies to act in particular ways. Some psychologists
stress them as instincts; others as capacities, but they have all pretty
generally agreed that under certain stimuli there are natural tendencies
to react.

These tendencies begin to manifest themselves at birth--