2020-10-21
ศัพท์ น่าสับสน ชุด I – Instinct – intuition
การใช้ภาษาอังกฤษ ที่ถือว่า ถูกต้อง ในที่นี้ เป็นไป ตามมาตรฐาน ของภาษา
การใช้ภาษาอังกฤษ ไม่กำหนดมาตฐาน ถือตามส่วนใหญ่ที่ใช้แต่ละท้องถิ่น
ความหมาย อาจยืดหยุ่น ขึ้นอยู่กับ ตำแหน่ง/หน้าที่ ในประโยค
Dictionary.com
ออกเสียง instinct = ‘IN-stingkt’
ออกเสียง intuition = ‘in-too-ISH-uhn’
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree
instinct
innate aspect of behavior; strong impulse;
natural capability or aptitude:
He acted on instinct.
Not to be confused with:
intuition – knowing without the use of natural processes;
acute insight:
She had an intuition that her children were in danger.
prescience – knowledge of things before they exist or happen;
foresight:
He had a prescience that there would be an earthquake.
THE AMERICAN HERITAGE® SCIENCE DICTIONARY
Instinct
An inherited tendency of an organism to behavein a certain way,
usually in reaction to its environment and for the purpose of fulfilling a specific need. The development and performance of instinctive behavior
does not depend upon the specific details of an individual's learning experiences. Instead, instinctive behavior develops in the same way for all individuals of the same species or of the same sex of a species.
For example, birds will build the form of nest typical of their species
although they may never have seen such a nest being built before.
Some butterfly species undertake long migrations to wintering grounds that they have never seen.
Behavior in animals often reflects the influence of a combination of instinct and learning.
The basic song pattern of many bird species is inherited, but it is often refined by learning from other members of the species. Dogs that naturally seek to gather animals such as sheep or cattle into a group are said to have a herding instinct,
but the effective use of this instinct by the dog also requires learning on the dog's part.
Instinct, as opposed to reflex, is usually used of inherited behavior patterns that are more complex or sometimes involve a degree of interaction with learning processes.
Dictionary of Problem Words and Expression
Instinct – intuition
These words are used interchangeably
to apply to an inborn tendency, natural impulse, or inner perception.
“My Instinct was not to trust that man” probably means the same thing
as “My intuition told me not to trust that man.”
An Instinct is something inborn and natural,
not dependent upon any thinking process of any kind
(an Instinct to fear falling from a height);
Intuition does not depend upon reasoning either
but does convey the idea of knowledge and awareness:
“a woman’s intuition”; “a speaker’s intuitionthat his talk is too intellectual.”
An infant is born with instincts, someof which are preserved into adulthood;
an infant is born without intuition but forms opinions and judgments as he experience life.
A baby is born with the instinct to survive.
Later, that baby becomes aware (has an intuition) that survival requires effort.
Picturesque Expressions: A Thematic Dictionary,
Intuition
by ear Relying on an innate sense of what sounds or feels right; without referring to, or depending upon prescribed procedures or written music. This use of ear, referring to an ability to recognize musical intervals, dates from the early 16th century. At that time, play it by ear meant to sing or play an instrument without printed music. By the 19th century, the same phrase came to mean to proceed one step at a time, trusting intuition and a subtle sense of timing, rather than a prearranged plan, to determine the proper course of action.
“What happens then?” “I don’t know…. We’re playing it by ear at the moment.” (A. Smith, East-Enders, 1961)
Both this figurative use and the earlier one heard in musical contexts are current today.
by the seat of one’s pants
By instinct or intuition; just barely, narrowly.
This expression was originally an aviation term meaning to fly without instruments, and thus to be forced to rely upon the instincts acquired through past experience. The sense of ‘just barely, narrowly’ would seem to be an outgrowth of this aviation use, since a pilot flying by the seat of his pants is apt to escape disaster by a very narrow margin.
feel in one’s bones To intuit; to sense something before it becomes apparent. This expression probably stems from the ability of people who suffer from bone diseases such as arthritis and rheumatism to predict changes in the weather because of increased pain. This ability is due to the fact that changes in atmospheric pressure and humidity may affect the bones and joints of such individuals. Since changes in pressure and humidity often precede a change in the weather, these people seem to sense the change before it becomes apparent. In its current usage, feel in one’s bones is no longer limited to people with bone disorders or to changes in the weather.
follow one’s nose To be guided by instinct, to play it by ear. The expression clearly derives from an animal’s keen and usually unerring sense of smell. The phrase was used figuratively as early as 1692 by Richard Bentley in one of his Boyle lectures:
The main maxim of his philosophy was, to trust to his senses, and follow his nose.
The expression also has the similar but somewhat less figurative meaning of ‘go straight forward, continue on in a direct course.’
know which way the wind blows See SHREWDNESS.
a little bird An undisclosed source; a secret witness; intuition. This phrase refers to the ubiquitous yet unobtrusive nature of a small bird that, theoretically at least, is able to observe many covert goings-on as it flies through the air. Since the beginning of recorded history (and no doubt before), birds have been respected and, at times, revered for their godlike powers of flight and sight. Many Greek and Roman soothsayers cited their purported understanding of avian language as a source of their knowledge and intuitive or psychic abilities. According to the Koran, the sacred book of Islam, Solomon was advised of Queen Sheba’s activities by a tiny lapwing, and Muhammad himself was counseled by a pigeon. In addition, some early religious woodcuts show various popes listening to the whispered advice of a small bird. These and many other legends have given rise to the almost universal adage, a little bird told me, an expression indicating that the speaker knows a secret or other confidential matter by virtue of intuition or some undisclosed source.
Curse not the king, no not in thy thought; and curse not the rich in thy bedchamber: for a bird of the air shall carry thy voice, and that which hath wings shall tell the matter. (Ecclesiastes 10:20)
We bear our civil swords and native fire
As far as France. I heard a bird so sing,
Whose music, to my thinking, pleased the king.
(Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part II V,v)
my little finger told me that See OMEN.
rule of thumb See CRITERION.
a shot in the dark A wild guess; a random conjecture. This widely used expression combines shot ‘an attempt’ with the phrase in the dark ‘uninformed’ to imply that a given conjecture is made without the benefit of relevant information or assistance. In most cases, however, a “shot in the dark” does involve an element of intuitive reasoning. “Shot in the Dark” was the title of an amusing 1964 movie that starred Peter Sellers as the bumbling Inspector Jacques Clouseau.
Merriam-Webster Dictionary
Usage Notes
Is There a Difference Between ‘Instinctive’ and ‘Instinctual?
Sometimes it’s best to go with your gut.
What to Know
Instinctive and instinctual sufficiently cover the same use cases when meaning "of or relating to, or based on instinct."
Depending on who you ask however their meanings might be slightly different. "Instinctual" appears more frequently in scientific writing and refers to the notion of behavior itself, while "instinctive" may sometimes be reserved to describe specific behaviors.
The adjectives instinctive and instinctual are very similar and used similarly in many contexts. As such, their definitions also have a lot in common.
Instinctive is defined as “of, relating to, or being instinct” and “prompted by natural instinct or propensity : arising spontaneously.”
Instinctual is shown as an undefined run-on at instinct in Merriam-Webster Online. In Merriam-Webster Unabridged it has its own entry and definition: “of, relating to, or based on instincts,” with the examples “instinctual behavior” and “the instinctual society of social insects.”
Instinctive vs. Instinctual
Some older or more conservative usage commentators find the words to be virtually synonymous, and say that instinctive fills all needs where instinctual might be considered. The grammarian H. W. Fowler, in Modern English Usage, called instinctual a "superfluous word": "Why anyone should have thought it necessary to coin a new one on the analogy of contractual, habitual, etc., is not clear; perhaps the psychologists wanted an adjective of their own."
It is notable that Fowler is inclined to attribute instinctual to psychologists. There’s nothing in historical evidence to suggest that psychologists are responsible for coining the word. The earliest citation given in the OED comes not from scientific writing but a 1924 novel by Gilbert Knox (pseudonym of the Canadian author Madge Macbeth).
But instinctual does tend to appear in writings pertaining to the science of evolutionary instinct. A person writing from a scientific background might be more liable than a layperson to see a distinction in use between instinctive and instinctual, and more critically, might be inclined to see a need for such a distinction.
In Scientific Writing
That may be why more recent commentators do see a distinction between the two: namely, that instinctive describes something (as an action) done or controlled by one’s instincts:
All at once, with an instinctive quickening of her senses, Kit knew that she was not alone, that someone was very close.
— Elizabeth George Speare, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, 1958
This was not a slip of memory in the heat of debate. This was dishonest, a repeated misrepresentation, in the interests of claiming power, so bald and so systematic that the only instinctive response (Did too!) was that of the schoolyard.
— Joan Didion, The New York Review of Books, 5 Oct. 2006
Instinctual, on the other hand, tends to be used in contexts where it means “relating to instinct,” describing not specific behaviors but the notion of behavior itself. For that reason instinctual tends to be used more in scientific writing:
Such inevitability is the mark of instinctual behavior in any species, which is guided toward certain states by emotion-driven rules of mental development.
— E. O. Wilson, The Atlantic, April 1998
Vertebrate biologists have long taken it almost for granted that snakes in general are asocial animals, leading simplistic lives of solitude filled only with basic instinctual drives toward food and sex.
— Rulon W. Clark, Natural History, March 2005
If you find yourself needing to choose between instinctive and instinctual, your best bet might be to trust your instincts.
