Gilbert Gottlieb was born in 1929 in New York City. He received his bachelor's and master's degrees in psychology from the University of Miami in 1955 and 1956, and his doctoral degree in psychology from Duke University in 1960. Dr. Gottlieb was a research scientist at the North Carolina Division of Mental Health in Raleigh, North Carolina from 1961 to 1982. He also held an adjunct appointment as a research professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from 1974 to 1982.

In 1982, Dr. Gottlieb was hired as Head of the Psychology Department and Excellence Foundation Professor at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He served as head of the department until 1986, and continued to teach at UNCG until 1995.

Within the field of psychology, Dr. Gottlieb's specialization is in the area of developmental psychobiology. He is considered to be a pioneer researcher of behavioral embryology, or the study of prenatal factors which influence infant behavior after birth. In 1985, Dr. Gottlieb was awarded a three-year research grant from the National Science Foundation. The award allowed him to continue his studies of the sensory and perceptual aspects of imprinting, the process by which young birds or mammals form attachments to other mammals, birds, or even objects. His research was done with ducklings, which are precocial birds, or those which become completely functional and leave the nest soon after hatching. The NSF-funded project examined the auditory and visual bases of imprinting in ducklings, with a focus on the influences before hatching which cause maternal attachment afterwards.