Which Austrian zoologist and ethologist emphasized innate versus learned behavior and studied imprinting in birds?

• A. Harry Harlow
• B. Konrad Lorenz
• C. Sigmund Freud
• D. Mary Ainsworth

Answer: (B)

Imprinting and the balance between inborn tendencies and early experience are key ideas in understanding how animals form crucial bonds and guide their initial behavior. Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian zoologist and ethologist, illustrated this with his imprinting studies in birds. In his greylag goose work, the hatchlings treated the first moving object they encountered after birth as family and followed it faithfully. This demonstrated a built-in predisposition to attach during a specific early window, a phenomenon later described as imprinting and tied to a sensitive period. Lorenz’s findings helped cement the distinction between innate behavioral templates and experiences that shape learning in animals.

The other researchers point to different areas: Harry Harlow’s famous experiments with infant monkeys focused on attachment and comfort rather than imprinting in birds; Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalytic theory about human development; Mary Ainsworth studied attachment in human infants using the Strange Situation. These do not center on imprinting in birds or the innate-versus-learned distinction in the same way Lorenz did.