Learning, Training and Behaviour 103
● It needs to be given as soon as possible after the desired behaviour. The bigger
the delay the less chance that the reward will become associated with the
behaviour.
● It needs to be sufficiently rewarding (Box 7.1).
● It should be easy to give and receive.
● It should not be so excessively rewarding or overexciting that it increases arousal
to a level that disrupts the cat’s ability to learn, or results in frustration when the
cat is denied access to the reward until it has performed the desired behaviour.
During training, the cat should remain calm, interested and keen to receive the
reward but should not appear ‘obsessed’ with it.
● The long-term effectiveness of a reward as a reinforcer can also be influenced by
how often it is presented (Box 7.2).
Unintentional reinforcement
One reason why some unwanted learned behaviours appear so difficult to break is
that they can easily be unintentionally rewarded; if this occurs intermittently the
behaviour becomes more resistant to extinction (see Non-reward, page 109).
Practical feline example
● A cat may learn that pushing items off a shelf is an effective way of getting his
owner’s attention. The owner tries to ignore the behaviour so that the cat no
longer gets the reward of the owner’s attention. But when the cat is about to push
something delicate and valuable off the shelf the owner still responds, giving the
cat the attention it wants, and thereby intermittently reinforcing the behaviour
and making the behaviour even more likely to continue.
Self-rewarding behaviour
If a reward occurs following a behaviour without intervention from another individ-
ual we can say that the behaviour is ‘self-rewarding’. For example, for a cat jumping
up onto a work surface and eating any food that has been left there can be a self-
rewarding behaviour.
Secondary reinforcement
A Primary reinforcer is something that an animal desires and is usually something
necessary for survival and/or well-being, for example, food, safety, shelter, comfort or
social interaction.
A Secondary reinforcer (also known as a conditioned reinforcer – see Classical
conditioning) is something that has become strongly associated with a primary
reinforcer.
The most common secondary reinforcer for humans is money, which is nothing
more than paper, metal, plastic or just figures on a computer screen, none of which is