Each set of programs consists of four basic parts: 1. Genetic Imperatives. Totally hard-wired programs or “instincts.” 2. Imprints. These are more-or-less hard wired programs which the brain is genetically designed to accept only at certain points in its development. These points are known, in ethology, as times of imprint vulnerability. 3. Conditioning. These are programs built onto the imprints. They are looser and fairly easy to change with counter-conditioning. 4. Learning. This is even looser and “softer” than conditioning.
