Instinct as an explanation of behavior fell into disfavor among psychologists with the rise for behaviorism and its emphasis on learning and certain environmental factors known to shape behavior. Furthermore, the notion of fixed behavior patterns seemed deterministic and therefore incompatible with the democratic ideal. Science takes place in a social context (Hilgard, 1987), and the United States was more receptive to the begavioraists flexibility promoted by the behaviorists than the biological determinism promoted by instinct theory