A Closer Look at Instincts

In animals, instincts are inherent tendencies to engage spontaneously in a particular

pattern of behavior. Examples of this include a dog shaking after it gets wet, a sea turtle
seeking out the ocean after hatching, or a bird migrating before the winter season.
Ethologist Konrad Lorenz famously demonstrated the power of instincts when he was
able to get young geese to imprint on him. He noted that geese would become attached to
the first moving thing they encountered after they hatched, which in most cases would be
their mothers. However, by ensuring that he was the first thing the geese encountered,
they instead became attached, or imprinted, on him.