<story><title>Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape</title><url>http://www.wired.com/2014/10/cat-thinks-youre-huge-unpredictable-ape/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jchendy</author><text>&amp;quot;This is because cats evolved as solitary hunters with little need for reading social cues, especially those for behavior modification.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;p&gt;“How the hell is your cat supposed to know that you’re yelling at him because you want him to stop scratching the couch?”&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;When your cat does the thing you want her do to, reward her with a treat, or affection.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;If we accept that cats can&amp;#x27;t learn from negative reinforcement, why would we think that positive reinforcement would work?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rbehrends</author><text>That&amp;#x27;s not negative reinforcement. Negative reinforcement is when behavior is reinforced by &lt;i&gt;removing an aversive stimulus&lt;/i&gt;. Yelling at a cat because it&amp;#x27;s scratching the couch is &lt;i&gt;positive punishment&lt;/i&gt; [1].&lt;p&gt;And punishment works quite differently from reinforcement to begin with; it is typically less effective for far better socialized species such as humans and dogs, too.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Operant_conditioning#Consequences_that_shape_behavior:_Reinforcement.2C_punishment.2C_and_extinction&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;http:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Operant_conditioning#Consequenc...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape</title><url>http://www.wired.com/2014/10/cat-thinks-youre-huge-unpredictable-ape/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>jchendy</author><text>&amp;quot;This is because cats evolved as solitary hunters with little need for reading social cues, especially those for behavior modification.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;p&gt;“How the hell is your cat supposed to know that you’re yelling at him because you want him to stop scratching the couch?”&lt;p&gt;[...]&lt;p&gt;&amp;quot;When your cat does the thing you want her do to, reward her with a treat, or affection.&amp;quot;&lt;p&gt;If we accept that cats can&amp;#x27;t learn from negative reinforcement, why would we think that positive reinforcement would work?</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Proleps</author><text>Punishment also works on cats. You just have to be very consistent when applying it (this is exactly the same for dogs). If you punish your cat(or dog) you have to do it immediately. If the cat is done scratching its nails, and you squirt water, you are too late.&lt;p&gt;[Edit] Changed negative reinforcement to punishment, rbehrends was correct when he pointed out that negative reinforcement is something different.</text></comment>