Reactions

The basic elements which comprise the entire behavior of an animal or human being, in simplest and complex forms, is sometimes called - 'reactions'. In psychology reaction is the response of an organism instigated by an irritant or stimulus. It is generally assumed that our every behavior is preceded by its cause or reason in a form of either outside factors, events, internal wants/tensions, thoughts etc. All these motives of behavior will be irritants of our reactions. So to that extent one can understand reaction to be a known connection between an organism and its surrounding environment. It's worthy to point out that reactions are not unique to animals and humans (where sometimes reactions can be confused with reflexes) rather it's a much more general concept applying equally to those animals lacking nervous systems, plants, bacteria etc.

Any reaction, starting from the simplest forms in the simplest of organisms to the very complex forms found in the conscious acts of human beings, will always include three essential moments. First - reception of some irritants from the outside environment (sensorial). Followed by the second moment of conversion (informational digestion :) ) of the incoming irritant within the inner processes of an organism, stimulating activity. Finally, third moment, is a response activity (mostly in the form of a movement) developed as a result of the inner processes. This third moment is sometimes called motorial. Second moment is intimately connected to the functioning of the central nervous system and, as a result, sometimes referred to as 'central'. These three moments - sensorial, central and motorial or irritant reception, its conversion (digestion) and response activity - are necessarily present in any reaction.

Examples are abundant: heliotropism (orientation of the plant towards the sun as they grow), moth flying towards the light, dog salivating in response to the meat placed in its mouth, or human, upon hearing the door bell proceeds to opening the door - in all these instances its simple to see the existence of all three moments of a reaction. Note, that it is not always easy (as in examples above) to identify clearly all three moments of a reaction, especially in the complex forms of the human behavior, but according to the model even the most complex reactions follow the same outline as the simple reactions dictated by the three moments.

One word on the distinction between reaction and reflex. As said before reaction is a more general concept of which reflex is a particular instance. In animals possessing the central nervous system (CNS) reactions often take the form of a reflex. In fact, reflex is nothing more then a reaction of animal's nervous system. Thus, reflex is a narrow physiological concept; reaction is a wider biological concept. Reflex are absent in plants or animals not having the CNS yet one can still talk about reactions. Finally, it is not at all obvious (and there are evidence to support this) that there do not exist, in humans, reactions which are not related to the reflexory process rather then those that emerge as a consequence of chemical irritation/stimulation of the CNS from within.

Even the most basic observation of the human and animal behavior allows one to differentiate between reactions of various, distinct originations.

Some of reactions are what could be termed - heritable or congenital - and are given to a child either in the first moments of birth or form during the process of growth without any learning, studying, memorizing or external influences. Examples of heritable reactions are abundant in the newborns: crying reflex, swallowing, sucking etc, are noticeable in the first hours following the birth and remain, for the most part, unchanged throughout the life. These heritable forms of behavior can be further subdivided into reflexes and instincts.

Other reactions, per contra, form during the process of personal experience (various points in life) and come not from the inherited organization but, instead, originate as a result of the uniqueness of an individual's experience. Call these - acquired reactions.

In heritable reactions, forms of behavior, there is a lot of commonality between the animals and the human beings. On the contrary, acquired reactions are quiet distinct depending on the historical, geographical, gender based, social class and individual uniquenesses.