Whining

I agree, your cat is most likely whining for attention. If you want to reduce the whining you have to not pay any attention to your cat when he/she is whining. Cats are very social and their meow is actually them trying to mimick human language. The more that you talk to a cat, the more the cat will verbally try to communicate with you.

That is a good question, unfortunately there is no real answer. My female black cat Taz whines because she is a momma's girl. I nursed her from starvation. I think she does it because she knows she'll get my attention. Most of them just want extra attention.