ABSTRACT
Imprinting occurs characteristically, if not exclusively, in the young. In as far as it occurs in the young, imprinting is a form of early learning; although much or most of early learning is not imprinting at all. It has been the hope of many theorists that it would one day be possible to demonstrate that all learning is essentially of one kind, that is, that learning in all circumstances depends upon only one type of mechanism. Some learning theorists have come to think that there must be more than one kind of learning. However, perhaps the more prevalent view tends to be that there are as yet ‘ no necessary or sufficient reasons for deciding that there is more than one kind’ of learning (Bugelski, 1956), even though, quite clearly, different kinds of behavior are learned.
