Recently I have been lucky enough to raise two kittens. The first a girl named ‘Zoe’ an the second a boy named ‘Stewie’.  Zoe was only three days old when I got her six weeks ago, and Stewie although two or three days older than Zoe, came when they were both three weeks. Part of being a good foster mom to kittens is teaching them bite inhibition especially if they’re alone, I was faced with figuring that out before Stewie came along and my older cats took a better interest in both kittens. That taken care I knew my focus could now go back to teaching them how to eat by themselves an litterbox training. And as they have become more mobile where they can and cannot jump onto, which means a great time to experiment with operant conditioning.

Operant conditioning is a process in which behavior is modified through the use of positive and negative reinforcement. This creates a connection between the behavior and the consequence or reward.(Learning Theories). This idea was pioneered by B.F. Skinner, the most well-known psychologist, but it got it’s start with Pavlov and his dogs. Normally when we think of Pavlov we think on classical conditioning. “Classical conditioning is “classical” in that it is the first systematic study of basic laws of learning / conditioning.”  (Simply Psychology). Pavlov’s dogs began salivate when exposed to a particular stimulus i.e. him walking into the room, regardless of if they received their food or not.  Other important people are Edward Thorndike and John Watson.

Zoe and Stewie are just beginning to play and explore their world, but they’re also starting to climb out of their designated area outside of playtime. At this point and time, we prefer not to let them play unsupervised because of them biting on cords, not being able to get them to the litterbox in time in case they decide to go on the floor (which has already happened once!), or getting stuck in or under something.

My wife and I decided to use the spray bottle a form of negative reinforcement and the word nein, which is no in German. This has worked great on our other cats as it really doesn’t matter what they’re doing. I can yell nein from the other room without actually going towards them and they’ll stop, regardless of if I have a spray bottle or not. Cats however do still have a mind of their own and they’ll constantly try anything when you’re off your guard. Now when they climb up we say nein and give them a good spray, they drop down we don’t spray anymore, we don’t say nein.

In general, this works they stay in their area, but given that they’re kittens and need to eat frequently the most persistent times are during meal times. It is important to note that like Pavlov’s dogs the mere sight of me walking by will trigger them to meow and try to climb out regardless of if I’m coming with food or not. But they’ve come to expect their meal times. Food acts as a positive reinforcement for them, so if they’ve tried to climb out and first we reinforce them negatively, we wait quietly for them settle down and stop trying to escape, then we put down their food. In between meal times I only have to say nein maybe once or twice and know that they won’t be trying again until they get hungry, and the need for the positive stimulus overrides their memory of the negative stimulus.

References:

McLeod, S. (2016). Pavlov’s Dogs. Retrieved September 11, 2016, from http://www.simplypsychology.org/pavlov.html

Educational Psychology Interactive: Operant Conditioning. (n.d.). Retrieved September 11, 2016, from http://www.edpsycinteractive.org/topics/behavior/operant.html

Classical and Operant Conditioning – Behaviorist Theories. (2016). Retrieved September 11, 2016, from https://www.learning-theories.com/operant-conditioning-skinner.html