William James’s 1890 classic The Principles of Psychology portrayed instincts as inherited tendencies, natural, biologically grounded impulses such as fear, sociability, curiosity, acquisitiveness, and play that guide human behaviour long before deliberation or reasoning has time to intervene.

James argued that these instincts, though primitive in origin, are not fixed destinies: because humans also inherit extraordinary capacities for learning, reflection, and habit-formation, our instincts provide an initial motivational direction that can be shaped, ennobled, or redirected through culture, education, and conscious effort. This insight remains deeply valuable today. On a personal level, it reminds us that many emotional reactions are not personal failures but ancestral legacies we can understand and reshape. At the level of society, it supports the creation of institutions, such as schools, communities, and workplaces, that channel our innate impulses (for cooperation, curiosity, achievement, and even competition) toward collective wellbeing rather than conflict.

James’s work thus offers a hopeful view of human nature: we are born with tendencies, not destinies, and by understanding our instinctual inheritance we can build healthier lives and healthier societies. As a Christian psychologist, William James understood the dangers of relying on one's own understanding or instinct, which can be flawed. As Proverbs 16:25 states: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death".

William James thought may have implications for our understanding of life strategies. As we have seen, James argued that instincts are inherited psycho-biological tendencies that predispose individuals to perceive, feel, and act in particular ways before extensive learning occurs, providing the natural foundations upon which more complex patterns of behaviour are built. From a contemporary life-strategy perspective, James’s view can be linked to the development of cognitive and behavioural strategies that individuals use to manage relationships, pursue goals, regulate emotions, and enhance wellbeing across the lifespan. While instincts supply basic motivational dispositions, later theorists such as John Bowlby (1969/1982) demonstrated how innate attachment tendencies shape enduring interpersonal strategies, and Albert Bandura (1986) showed how self-regulatory skills and beliefs about personal efficacy transform biologically grounded tendencies into adaptive patterns of action. Similarly, positive psychology researchers such as Martin Seligman (2011) have emphasised that flourishing depends not merely on inherited predispositions but on the deliberate cultivation of strengths, meaning, engagement, and supportive relationships. Thus, life strategies can be understood as learned, reflective, and socially shaped extensions of innate tendencies, enabling individuals to optimize wellbeing and happiness in changing environments.

From a Christian perspective, instincts are part of God’s created design within human nature (Genesis 1:26–27), but they are not intended to govern human behaviour independently. His account of instincts as inherited tendencies provides a valuable description of how God’s creatures are naturally disposed to act, while requiring theological qualification concerning human nature, moral responsibility, and the image of God. In The Principles of Psychology (1890), James argued that instincts are innate, biologically inherited predispositions that guide behaviour prior to reflection, a view that influenced later psychology and was developed and debated by thinkers such as Douglas A. Spalding (1873), C. Lloyd Morgan (1896), and William McDougall (1908). Christians may affirm that many instinctive tendencies reflect the Creator’s providential ordering of creation (Genesis 1:24–25; Psalm 104:24), yet Scripture also teaches that human beings are uniquely created in the image of God (Genesis 1:26–27), capable of rational deliberation, moral judgment, and spiritual communion with God.

Consequently, while instincts can help explain aspects of human behaviour, they do not exhaust the meaning of personhood. Christian theology further holds that human nature is affected by the Fall (Genesis 3; Romans 5:12), so inherited tendencies may be directed toward either good or disordered ends, requiring the transforming work of divine grace and sanctification through the Holy Spirit (Romans 12:2; Galatians 5:16–23). Believers are called to shape their natural impulses into godly life strategies that promote love of God and neighbour, responsible stewardship, personal flourishing, and faithful participation in God’s purposes for human life.

Thus, James’s theory offers an important naturalistic account of behavioural predispositions, but Christianity interprets such tendencies within a broader theological framework that includes creation, sin, redemption, and the ultimate vocation of humanity in Christ.