Certainly. For quite a while, it was popular in certain anthropological circles (think Margaret Mead and her circle) to maintain that human beings came into the world as “blank slates”…..With no “human nature” whatever. That everything we were was learned as a result of experience and culture.

This idea persisted for quite a while in academic circles but was dead wrong. In fact, Stephen Pinker wrote a whole book on the subject, “The Blank Slate”. Good read…

Humans have certain hard-wired characteristics and reactions. The reason that we don’t often see these as “instinctive” is that they are filtered through our large and complex cerebral cortex, and to some degree modified by culture.

But they are still there. And they tend to come to the fore very rapidly under the influence of inhibition-lowering drugs like alcohol… Or under stress.

For instance, we are strongly territorial. When we are at a concert or perhaps the beach, all we need do to “stake out” our seat or spot is leave something there. A hat, a towel, whatever. Others will respect this quite strongly.

Very rarely will someone enter a fenced yard unless they have some criminal intent….

For a very good read on this subject, in addition to Pinker’s book, try reading The Human Animal by Desmond Morris. It’s an older book and any library should have it…. A zoologist looks at human behavior…. Talks about fighting behavior, mating behavior… The whole gamut.