My Pet’s Behavior, Essay Example

My fiancée and I have had a cat now for 5 months together, and both we and the cat have become conditioned within our tiny apartment.  We each have experienced operant and classical conditioning throughout our time together.  First of all, the cat has learned that if he sits quietly in front of the bathroom door and causes no problems, then one of us will turn on the kitchen faucet for him to drink water, aside from the regular water dish, which is an operant conditioning example because it is a voluntary behavior.  Our cat loves the trickling water and can sit on top of the sink for hours listening to it slowly pour out of the sink.  On the other hand, the cat used to poop all over the carpet instead of in the litter box.  I used to snap my fingers at him in a classical conditioning response, and consequently, the cat became conditioned to understand that whenever he hears the snapping of my fingers, he is in trouble, so he often runs away for a brief time.  Finally, we have also experienced operant condition in that ever morning we wake up early and take turns changing his water dish, giving him food, and cleaning out his cat pan.

References

Biederman, J. (2009, February 18). Conditioning example answers. Retrieved from http://webs.anokaramsey.edu/biederman/courses/p1110/cond2answers.htm#Example Number 1