Innate

innate

A biological character is known as innate when it is given as of the Naissance of the individual. That does not imply that this character is observable as of the birth. Indeed, it can be a question of a feature which is expressed only under certain conditions or at certain periods during the Ontogenèse of an organization. For example, the Pilosité is an innate character which appears truly only with the Puberté at the human being. In general, an innate character is controlled by one or more Gène S, but it can also be related to factors related to the environment Biophysique and Biochimique met by the Fœtus during the Grossesse.

One opposes often innate and acquired but these two concepts is actually not exclusive one of the other.

Various innate directions of

In various fields, and in particular in the study of the animal behaviors (ethology) or human (Psychology), one opposes innate characters traditionally and characters acquired according to the following distinction:

  • the innate one indicating the features which depend on the genetic inheritance of the Espèce. In ethology, one also speaks about Instinct S to indicate behaviors thus specified by the Gène S.
  • the asset indicating the characters which result from the environmental factors. The acquired behaviors are thus the result of the experiment, the individual Apprentissage (for example, in the case of conditioned reflexes), etc

However, this distinction proves to be simplistic because it does not take into account the factors not-genetics which can determine certain biological characters before even the birth. It is for example the case of the uterine environment intra- in the belly of the Mère at the Mammifère S: at the time of the Gestation, the Embryon then the Fœtus will be confronted with a multitude of chemical factors (e.g., Hormone S) but also biophysics (e.g., Température, environment its ore), etc which can have important consequences on its later development.

In addition, innate and acquired are not inevitably exclusive one of the other: a feature can completely have a genetic component and be affected by the environment. It is thus of the Pigmentation of the human Peau: it is controlled at the same time by genetic factors as the differences between human races to them testifies, but the color of the skin also depends on the degree of exposure to the rays UV. Thus, the same person will have a different skin color between the Hiver and the be.

Of simple appearance, the concept of innate actually appears difficult to apprehend. Indeed, as one indicated higher, it is completely possible that an innate feature is expressed only well after the birth, sometimes even only under certain quite precise conditions. For example, the ethologist Konrad Lorenz showed that certain species of birds recognize in an innate way the silhouette of a bird of prey planing in the sky, without same of never to have seen before. But in the absence of adapted stimulus, i.e. in the absence of such a threat, this faculty remains " silencieuse". In these species, faculty to react to the form of a Prédateur quite innate because is thus transmitted by heredity and not acquired.

The use of the same word in Biology and Psychologie on concepts not strictly equivalent can also be with the source of difficulties. Indeed, the psychological tradition stresses the training in the formation of the acquired features whereas the biological tradition insists on the mechanisms which induce differences between the Phénotype S of two individuals carrying same the Génotype. Following the progress carried out in Genetic molecular during second half of the 20th century, the biologists thus use rather the distinction between environmental, genetic factors and epigenetic S (i.e. factors which, without deteriorating the sequence of the Nucléotide S carried by the Chromosome S, modifies nevertheless the expression of the Gène S).

See too

Internal bonds

Random links:Camila Pasillo | Clonaid | Just Another Band From L.A.. | Cross from Iran of football | Ferran Adrià | Garden of the calm morning | Richard_Dobbs_Spaight,_JR.