A gaggle of baby geese instinctually form a bond with their mother. this is an example of ___________. a. shaping b. imprinting c. association d. habituation

b. imprinting

A gaggle of baby geese instinctually form a bond with their mother. this is an example of imprinting. 

• Imprinting is a form of rapid learning that occurs in certain animals at a very early stage of life. It allows an animal to recognize another animal, person, or thing as a parent or other object of habitual trust. The concept is most famously observed in birds, such as geese and ducks; young goslings and ducklings that are in the critical period of their first few hours or days of life will follow and become attached to the first moving object they see and hear, which is usually their mother. This process was extensively studied by Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian zoologist, ethologist, and ornithologist. Imprinting helps the young to survive by staying close to their mother, who provides them with food and protection.
• Shaping, on the other hand, is a technique used in behavioral training in which successive approximations toward a desired behavior are rewarded. It is used to teach complex behaviors that are not naturally occurring.
• Association is a principle where an organism learns the relationship between two stimuli or between a stimulus and a response; this is often discussed in the context of classical and operant conditioning.
• Habituation is a simple form of learning that involves a decrease in response to a repeated stimulus. Over time, animals, including humans, will react less and less to a stimulus if it is presented repeatedly without any reinforcement, punishment, or any change in intensity.