Which psychologist is known for demonstrating that some behaviors are innate and studied imprinting in birds?

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

Answer: (A)

Imprinting is an innate, early-developing behavior that occurs during a brief window after birth or hatching, guiding an animal to form a strong, lasting bond with a caregiver or object. Konrad Lorenz famously demonstrated this with geese: newborn goslings would follow the first moving thing they saw after hatching, typically the researcher, showing that this attachment is largely innate and constrained by a critical or sensitive period. This work established imprinting as an automatic, species-specific process that can shape social bonds from the very start of life.

In contrast, Mary Ainsworth's work focused on human attachment using the Strange Situation to categorize attachment styles. Harry Harlow studied the importance of contact comfort in rhesus monkeys with surrogate mothers. Sigmund Freud developed psychoanalytic theory about unconscious processes and early childhood conflicts. The match for imprinting in birds and innate, early bonding is Konrad Lorenz.