36 Animal Irtelligence 
due to an instinctive reaction to confinement or to an asso- 
ciation, it is likely to succeed in letting the cat out of the 
box. . The cat that is clawir’, all ovér the box in her impul- 
sive struggle will probably. law the string or loop or button 
so as to open the door. And gradually all all the other r Non. 
successful impulses will be stamped out it and the particular - 
impulse leading to the successful act will be stamped in by 
the resulting pleasure, until, after many trials, the cat will, 
when put in the.box, immediately claw the button or loop 
a a definite way. 
_.The starting ‘point for the formation of any association, 
in these cases, then, is the set of instinctive activities which 
,are aroused when a cat feels discomfort in the box either 
‘because of confinement or a desire for food. This discom- 
fort, plus the sense-impression of a surrounding, confining 
wall, expresses itself, prior to any experience, in squeezings, 
clawings, bitings, etc. ' From among these movements one 
is selected by success. But this is the starting point only 
in the case of the first box experienced.’ After that the cat 
has associated with the feeling of confiiement certain im- 
-pulses which have led to success more than others and are 
thereby strengthened. Wd A cat that has learned to escape 
from A by clawing has. when put into C or G, a greater ten- 
\dency to claw at things than it instinctively had at the start, 
and a less tendency to squeeze through holes. A very 
pleasant form of this decrease in instinctive impulses was 
noticed in the gradual cessation of howling and mewing. 
‘However, the useless instinctive impulses die out slowly, 
and often play an important part even after the cat has had 
experience with six or eight boxes. | And what is important 
in our previous statement, namely, that the activity of an 
animal when first put into a new box is not directed by any 
appreciation of ‘hat box’s character, but by certain general 
