Imprinting in Psychology

Key Takeaways

• Imprinting is a survival mechanism where animals form a strong bond with the first thing they see.
• Humans experience imprinting, which affects how we form bonds and relationships throughout our lives.
• Therapy can help individuals develop healthier relationship patterns by understanding their early imprints.

Imprinting refers to a well-researched phenomenon within animals where they form an extremely close and dependent bond with the first animal they see after being born. For example, when ducklings hatch, they tend to imprint on their parent and follow them everywhere.

The core purpose of imprinting is survival, which makes sense considering that young animals are dependent upon their parents for food and protection. Let us not forget that humans are animals too, and we can also experience imprinting. Imprinting in humans isn’t as simple as us forming an inseparable bond with the first human we see when we are born.

Instead, human imprinting involves how we form socio-emotional bonds with others in ways that impact us throughout our lifespan. This article will explain what human imprinting is, provide examples to help you understand the concept better, and explore the effects of imprinting.

What Is Human Imprinting?

Konrad Lorenz was an ethologist who focused on animal behavior and was able to show that the concept of imprinting was real. One of his most famous experiments that proved the power of imprinting was hatching ducklings and watching as they imprinted on the first thing they saw.

It is important to note that he learned ducklings didn’t only imprint on a parent. Instead the imprinting was focused on the first object they saw—which in some cases was an inanimate object. While imprinting was first studied in relation to non-human animals, the concepts and various forms of imprinting can apply to humans as well.

Is Imprinting Real for Humans?

Considering that much of the research presented thus far has focused on animals, it is fair to wonder if imprinting is real for humans. It is and has been documented within psychology. In fact, attachment theory builds upon Lorenz’s findings on imprinting.

Attachment theory refers to humans’ need to form a strong attachment with their caregiver for the sake of safety and nourishment—which isn’t significantly different from animal imprinting.

However, attachment theory accounts for the reality of human behavior and finds that the relationships we have with our caregivers can influence the relationships we have with others throughout our lifetime.

Types of Imprinting 

There are three different forms of imprinting—filial, sexual, and limbic. Each of these types of imprinting occurs in both animals and humans, and all seek to meet the core need of survival.  

• Filial imprinting refers to the most basic form of imprinting when a deep bond is built between two animals, usually a newborn and a parent. This imprinting is critical for the young animal’s survival. 
• Sexual imprinting is when a human develops a desire for a certain type of person that is based upon experiences they’ve had in the formative stage of their life. While this is often discussed in regard to animals, it also occurs in humans and is why we might find ourselves with a “type”. Within sexual imprinting is something called the Westermarck effect. This form of imprinting creates an aversion to developing sexual feelings for one another within a family system. 
• Limbic imprinting speaks to how experiences in the womb and shortly after being born can influence our limbic system. The limbic system is known for managing the behaviors we need for survival. Disruptions to the limbic system while in the womb can lead to challenges with the limbic system throughout life.

What Are Some Examples of Imprinting?

There are various examples of imprinting—from the aforementioned duckling example to animals who don’t immediately recognize their species yet still imprint. Lorenz and renowned biologist Niko Tinbergen noticed the latter when witnessing greylag goslings and jackdaws fail to recognize members of their own species, but did show an imprinting response to the first moving animal they saw. 

Aside from animal imprinting, we can look at the ways in which humans engage in imprinting. When it comes to sexual imprinting, you might find yourself drawn to soft-spoken partners because you were raised by a quiet and gentle person.

Conversely, you could have been raised by a parent with alcoholism and find yourself continually ending up in relationships with problem drinkers.

Remember—in imprinting, we are seeking safety for the purpose of survival. While it may seem contradictory to choose partners that mimic an unsafe caregiver, it is actually a matter of maladaptive coping. Though your caregiver was unsafe, they were still your caregiver and an instinctual response is to find someone who feels familiar to this caregiver.

Effects of Imprinting

Sexual imprinting can have some of the largest impacts on our lives because it directly correlates to attraction and why we like who we like. Sometimes, like in the aforementioned example of finding yourself in relationships with those who have drinking problems because that is what you witnessed growing up, you realize that your sexual imprinting is not serving your best interests.

It is important to note that we can develop awareness around our sexual imprinting and develop healthier patterns.

Anyone who has put in the work towards secure attachment would likely not move towards an unstable attachment situation.

Howard says that through attachment repair, folks will often find themselves lacking attraction to potentially unsafe partners.

For those who are struggling with developing healthy relationships with safe partners and suspect it might be due to early experiences you’ve had with caregivers, therapy with a provider who specializes in an attachment-based modality can be deeply helpful. 

Imprinting revolutionized the way we understand human development. From Lorenz performing the first successful experiment that proved the concept of imprinting to now, there have been advances in how we understand various animal species, human development, and how we can heal adverse impacts from our early experiences with our caregivers to develop healthy, safe, and secure attachments.

Verywell Mind uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy.

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By Julia Childs Heyl, MSW

Julia Childs Heyl, MSW, is a clinical social worker and writer. As a writer, she focuses on mental health disparities and uses critical race theory as her preferred theoretical framework. In her clinical work, she specializes in treating people of color experiencing anxiety, depression, and trauma through depth therapy and EMDR (eye movement desensitization and reprocessing) trauma therapy.

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