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Psychologist

Konrad Lorenz

Comparative Psychology

Austrian zoologist and ethologist whose studies of imprinting and instinctive behavior in animals, honored with the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, are foundational to comparative psychology's study of non-human behavior. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Birth Year
1903 1
Death Year
1989 1
Nationality / Culture
Austrian 1
Defining Contribution
Described the process by which some nidifugous birds bond instinctively with the first moving object they see within the first hours of hatching, the phenomenon of imprinting. 1
Connections

Associated With

Comparative Psychology, Branches of Psychology

Pioneer of ethology and the comparative study of behavior across species.

Critical Period, Psychological Phenomena

Lorenz's imprinting research established the concept of a critical period during which an organism is especially sensitive to a particular kind of learning.

In Branch

Comparative Psychology, Branches of Psychology
Additional Source Wikipedia: Konrad LorenzOpening biographical paragraph

Theories and Concepts Developed

Imprinting, Theories and Concepts
Source Wikipedia: Konrad Lorenz
In the Other Atlases
  • Also in Geography Atlas: Austria, nationality there.
  • Also in Science Atlas: Konrad Lorenz, the same subject.
Sources
1. Wikipedia: Konrad Lorenz
Wikimedia Foundation
  • opening paragraph, following the Nobel Prize introduction
    the process by which some nidifugous birds (i.e. birds that leave their nest early) bond instinctively with the first moving object that they see within the first hours of hatching
  • infobox
    Austrian zoologist (1903-1989)
  • Theories and Concepts Developed: Imprinting, Imprinting research section
    Lorenz showed that this behavior of imprinting is what allows the goose to learn to recognize members of its own species, enabling them to be the object of subsequent behavior patterns such as mating.
  • In Branch: Comparative Psychology, Opening biographical paragraph
    He is often regarded as one of the founders of modern ethology, the study of animal behavior.
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