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Imprinting

Comparative Psychology

A rapid learning process occurring during a specific developmental window that produces lasting behavioral adaptations, most famously demonstrated in young birds bonding with the first moving object they encounter after hatching. Konrad Lorenz's studies of the phenomenon are foundational to comparative psychology. 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
Core Claim
imprinting is a relatively rapid learning process that occurs during a particular developmental phase of life and leads to corresponding behavioural adaptations 1
Origin Year
1935 2
Connections

Developed By

Source Wikipedia: Konrad Lorenz

In Branch

Sources
1. Wikipedia: Imprinting (psychology)
Wikimedia Foundationopening section
Quote, opening section
imprinting is a relatively rapid learning process that occurs during a particular developmental phase of life and leads to corresponding behavioural adaptations
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2. Wikipedia: Konrad Lorenz
Wikimedia Foundation
  • Ethology section
    Lorenz's description of Prägung, imprinting, in nidifugous birds such as greylag geese in his 1935 book Der Kumpan in der Umwelt des Vogels ("The Companion in the Environment of Birds") became the foundational description of the phenomenon.
  • Developed By: Konrad Lorenz, 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.
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