Hereditarily Determined Specific Responses

Let us now consider what particular aspects of human or animal behavior can be explained in terms of reflex mechanisms such as we have outlined in the previous chapter. The forms of response which can be included under this classification will be primarily hereditary in their determination, since they must depend principally upon anatomical arrangements of neurones which are built into the organism at birth, or which develop as an inevitable consequence of congenital forces. The factors which may be involved in addition to anatomical continuity, such as threshold, chronaxy, and sensitiveness to general organic conditions, must also be regarded as having an hereditary basis. Nevertheless, we may find that the exercise of such reflex mechanisms, or their interactions with one another, produce significant changes in their operation.