114 Chapter 7the visual cue of the owner crouching down and holding out the treat may be
more salient, and therefore overshadow the sound of the cat’s name being called.
The result being that the cat does not come to call when he cannot see the owner,
or if the owner does not crouch down and hold out a treat.Superstitious behaviour
During training (operant conditioning) an animal may perform a response in addition
to, or instead of, the behaviour we intend to reinforce. If reward follows the perfor-
mance of this response the animal may believe that this is the behaviour that elicited
the reward.
Practical feline example
● When training a cat to sit on command, the cat may also lift its paw after being
given the command to ‘Sit’. The cat may then learn that the command ‘Sit’ means
‘lift paw’ or ‘sit and lift paw’.
Context-specific learning
When an animal learns a response, it will make associations not only with the direct
consequence of the behaviour but also with the set of circumstances surrounding the
event or place where learning took place. If learning takes place in a variety of differ-
ent contexts, the behaviour and learning will become generalized to most other con-
texts. But if learning only occurs in one context, the same response will be much less
likely to occur in other contexts.
Practical feline examples
● If a cat has had a frightening experience in the kitchen, but nowhere else in the
house, it is more likely to exhibit fear and vigilance in the kitchen and less likely
to in other areas of the house.
● If the cat has been trained to come to call while it is in the living room and
nowhere else, it will be less likely to respond when called from other areas of the
house or garden.
Learned helplessness
An animal may eventually ‘give up’ trying to avoid an aversive stimulus if previous
attempts have been unsuccessful.
Practical feline example
● A cat in a restricted situation, e.g. a shelter, cattery or hospital cage, might be highly
fearful of the surrounding environment and attempt to hide. If there is nowhere
provided for the cat to hide and it is in this situation for a reasonable length of time
it may simply give up trying, even if provision to hide is later offered.