Editing Konrad Lorenz (section)

== Ethology ==
{{further|Imprinting (psychology)|Ritualization}}

Lorenz is recognized as one of the founding fathers of the field of [[ethology]], the study of animal behavior. He is best known for his research of the principle of attachment, or [[imprinting (psychology)|imprinting]], through which in some species a bond is formed between a newborn animal and its caregiver. This principle had been discovered by [[Douglas Spalding]] in the 19th century, and Lorenz's mentor Oskar Heinroth had also worked on the topic, but 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.<ref name=patterns>Burkhardt, R. W. (2005). ''Patterns of behavior: Konrad Lorenz, Niko Tinbergen, and the founding of ethology''. University of Chicago Press.</ref>

Here, Lorenz used [[Jakob von Uexküll]]'s concept of [[Umwelt]] to understand how the limited perception of animals filtered out certain phenomena with which they interacted instinctively. For example, a young goose instinctively bonds with the first moving stimulus it perceives, whether it be its mother, or a person. Lorenz showed that this behavior of [[Imprinting (psychology)|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.<ref name=species /> He developed a theory of instinctive behavior that saw behavior patterns as largely innate but triggered through environmental stimuli, for example the [[hawk/goose effect]]. He argued that animals have an inner drive to carry out instinctive behaviors, and that if they do not encounter the right stimulus they will eventually engage in the behavior with an inappropriate stimulus.<ref>Yount, L. (2009). A to Z of Biologists. Infobase Publishing. pp. 183–184</ref>

Lorenz's approach to ethology derived from a skepticism towards the studies of animal behavior done in laboratory settings. He considered that in order to understand the mechanisms of animal behavior, it was necessary to observe their full range of behaviors in their natural context. Lorenz did not carry out much traditional fieldwork but observed animals near his home. His method involved empathizing with animals, often using anthropomorphization to imagine their mental states. He believed that animals were capable of experiencing many of the same emotions as humans.<ref name=species /><ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Vicedo | first1 = M. | year = 2009 | title = The father of ethology and the foster mother of ducks: Konrad Lorenz as an Expert on Motherhood | journal = Isis | volume = 100 | issue = 2| pages = 263–291 | doi=10.1086/599553| pmid = 19653490 | s2cid = 45373309 | hdl = 11858/00-001M-0000-002A-B0E9-E | hdl-access = free }}</ref>

Tinbergen, Lorenz's friend with whom he conjointly received the Nobel Prize, summarized Lorenz's major contribution to ethology as making behavior a topic of biological inquiry, considering behavior a part of an animal's evolutionary equipment.<ref>Tinbergen, N. (1963). On Aims and Methods of Ethology. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie, 20(4), 410–433.</ref> Tinbergen and Lorenz contributed to making Ethology a recognized sub-discipline within Biology and founded the first specialized journal of the field "[[Ethology (journal)|Ethology]]" (originally "Zeitschift für Tierpsychologie")<ref name=species>{{cite book | last=Allen | first=Colin | title=Species of mind: the philosophy and biology of cognitive ethology | publisher=MIT Press | publication-place=Cambridge, Mass | year=1997 | isbn=978-0-262-51108-7 | oclc=42328566 }}</ref>