Konrad Lorenz: biography and theory of the father of ethology

The fascinating field of the study of animal behavior was born thanks to this scientist.

Konrad Lorenz, author of highly influential books on animal behavior and winner of the 1973 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, is considered one of the fathers of modern ethology, the science that analyzes animal behavior using techniques from biology and psychology.

In this article we will talk about the biography of Konrad Lorenz and his most significant theoretical contributions, especially the concept of imprinting.especially the concept of imprinting and other key developments in the field of ethology. For the latter, we will briefly review the founding of the discipline, in which Niko Tinbergen also played a key role.

Konrad Lorenz biography

Konrad Zacharias Lorenz was born in Vienna in 1903, when the city was still the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. During his childhood Lorenz already showed an intense interest in animals, which led him to devote himself to zoology, with a special focus on ornithology and ornithology.with a special focus on ornithology. From an early age he had a large number of pets, some of them very unusual.

However, Lorenz's university career began with medicine; in 1928 he obtained a doctorate in this discipline, and it was not until 1933 when he completed his studies in zoology, also obtaining a doctorate in his true vocation. During this time Lorenz studied the behavior and physiology of various animals and gave influential lectures on the subject.

Lorenz lived in Germany during Nazism. At this time he was sympathetic to the ideas and sympathized with Hitler's eugenic ideas. and collaborated with the regime as a psychologist, although he later tried to deny his affiliation to this movement and showed his rejection of genocide. He participated in the war as a doctor and was a prisoner of the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1948.

After his release Lorenz returned to Austria, where he was given important positions in various institutions related to ethology, physiology and psychology; he also founded the Max Planck Institute for Behavioral Physiology. In his later years he focused on the application of his ideas to human behavior. He died in 1989 in his hometown.

The foundation of ethology

In 1936 Konrad Lorenz met Niko Tinbergen, who also met him in 1936. Niko Tinbergen, who was also an ornithologist as well as a biologist.. The studies with geese that they carried out together constituted the starting point of the discipline whose foundation is attributed to these authors: ethology, based on the scientific study of animal behavior, especially in natural contexts.

Although the contributions of authors such as Jean-Baptiste Lamarck or Charles Darwin are clear antecedents of modern ethology, this science did not begin to develop and popularize in the form in which we know it today until Lorenz and Tinbergen carried out their studies, first in Europe and later also in the United States.

Ethology is primarily subordinate to biology, although it also maintains a very relevant relationship with psychology. In this sense, ethology focuses on the behavior of non-human animals, while comparative psychology is more interested in the similarities and differences between the behavior of non-human animals and that of our species.

A fundamental concept of ethology is that of fixed patterns of behavior, proposed by Konrad LorenzThe concept of fixed patterns of behavior, put forward by Konrad Lorenz and his teacher Oskar Heinroth, is a fundamental concept in ethology. These are instinctive, preprogrammed responses that occur in response to specific environmental stimuli; this would include, for example, the mating rituals of many types of birds.

The phenomenon of imprinting

While observing the behavior of newborn duck and goose hatchlings, Lorenz detected an extremely striking behavior: when hatching, the animals followed the first moving object they saw, regardless of whether it was their mother or not. Lorenz called this biologically prepared behavior pattern "imprinting"..

But the influence of imprinting did not end after birth. Lorenz noticed that the hatchlings established a very close social bond with the humans they imprinted, to the point that, once they reached maturity, they tried to mate with members of our species rather than with other birds of their own. The imprinting seemed to be irreversible.

Imprinting is a phenomenon limited to a small number of speciesIt does not occur in all animals, not even in all birds. Nevertheless, this concept served Lorenz as the basis for his hypothesis on fixed patterns of behavior, which have a broader character, and as the cornerstone of his contributions to ethology in general.

Lorenz's contributions on imprinting and similar phenomena opposed behaviorism, which rejected the role of instincts in behavior, especially in human behavior. Ethology has contributed to the understanding of the Biological basis of behavior and the closeness between people and other animals.

Implications for Psychology

The work of Konrad Lorenz has served to establish a relationship between zoology and the behavioral sciences. The study of imprinting, in turn, helps to understand that genetics does not usually express itself in a unilateral mannerIt requires the presence of an environment "foreseen" by evolution, but which is not always present.