Punishment  

By Sonny Stollenmaier

 

Recently, more and more information has become available regarding the use of positive reinforcement strategies to modify undesirable behaviours in pet parrots. This means rewarding the bird for any behaviour it exhibits that we wish to see it do more often. We can also shape new behaviours by rewarding individual steps that eventually lead to a complete behaviour for example, rewarding a bird for lifting its wings, first just a little, then higher and higher until they are open all the way like a ‘Big Eagle’.

But what about punishment?

Should we punish our birds to modify undesirable behaviour; and if so, when is it appropriate to do so?

And if we do punish them, just how exactly should this be done?

 

 

Defining punishment

 

According to the dictionary punishment is, “A penalty imposed for wrongdoing”. Punishment in the conventional sense, the way most of us tend to use it on a daily basis, means to reprimand, scold or even hurt an individual in order to stop a particular behaviour in its tracks, to prevent it from reoccurring, or to deter others from partaking in a similar act.

 

In the scientific field of behaviour analysis the term punishment is more specific. It means, any consequence that causes the future reduction of the behaviour that preceded the consequence. By definition this means that if the behaviour does not reduce in frequency (the amount of times it occurs) after the punishing consequence has been delivered the consequence was not a punishment.

For example, if your parrot bites you and you chose to punish him by hitting him over the beak and he bites again and even harder, the consequence of having been hit was not punishing. In fact, if the biting continues, hitting may be a consequence that serves to reinforce and worsen the very behaviour you thought you punished.

The same point applies to shouting: Your parrot screams for attention and you yell at him to shut up, yet his screaming continues. Again, based on the fact that he continues to scream, we know that the behaviour was not effectively punished by your shouting. You may even have inadvertently reinforced it!  

If on the other hand you ignore your bird when he screams and he subsequently chooses to scream less for attention, your simply ignoring the parrot was indeed a punishment.

 

 

Show him who’s boss!

 

There are a vast number of people that will recommend that you dominate your bird. “You’ve got to show him who’s boss or else he’ll dominate you and he’ll do what he likes” is a phrase I still hear on a regular basis. I get many phone calls from parrot owners that were advised by the breeder or a so-called parrot behaviour consultant that these birds are bossy, little, dominating creatures that need to be put in their place routinely. The first time parrot owner may innocently follow this advice and given a little time might find themselves with a snappy and difficult bird on their hands. The reasons for this are simple: showing someone who’s boss requires insisting on one’s view or desired outcome, no matter what. It therefore inevitably requires a degree of force to get one’s way usually against the wishes of the parrot.

 

 

Until field researchers discover some concrete evidence to suggest that a dominance based hierarchy does exist in wild parrot flocks anyone should consider it prudent not to dominate parrots.

Assuming we are in fact wrong and it was found that parrots truly did not strive to dominate others, we would have caused immeasurable, unnecessary harm to our pet birds by forcible maintaining our position as boss.

But then again, what if tomorrow undeniable evidence emerged that parrots are in fact domineering creatures that strive to climb the hierarchy ladder? Would those who advocate to control our birds by means of domineering behaviour actually be wise to take this approach? Absolutely not!

The message that emerges is: no matter whether parrots or, indeed any other animal, strive to dominate each other in the wild we will cause harm to our relationships with them by exercising dominance.

Surly it is inappropriate to attempt to change a parrot’s behaviour by exercising force when it has been clearly demonstrated that behaviour can be modified, using positive, non-aggressive strategies instead.

 

I do, however, believe that there is a very real need for teaching social guidelines. Parrots in the wild do make it clear to each other what is and what isn’t acceptable behaviour and harmless squabbles do occur. When we choose to spoil our pet birds by playing with them endlessly while they’re young, cute and cuddly, or by allowing them to play wherever they wish in the house and then suddenly remove these privileges we mustn’t be surprised that the parrot then demands its usual rights. The bird has not become dominant. We have altered the goal posts and expect the bird to simply follow suit. Subsequently, the parrot’s apparently unreasonable demands or ill-behaviour are then often dealt with using punishment.

 

 

Common forms of punishment that get suggested to bring an ‘unruly’ parrot under control include:

 

• Hitting the bird on the beak when it bites.

• Covering the cage when it screams.

• Spraying the bird with water when it screams.

• Removing its food to teach it a lesson.

• Dropping it on the floor when it doesn’t behave on your arm.

 

 

 

Side effects of punishment

 

There is no doubt that punishment can work. After all, without it most life forms would simply be extinct. However, punishing events that occur in nature are simply there to preserve life and may not necessarily produce aggression. For example, a particular plant may taste extremely bitter and eating it would result in an unpleasant, punishing event for the animal due to the taste or even its toxic effects. The animal will have learnt not to go near this particular plant, sparing both its own and the plant’s life. However, there is a huge difference between the relationship between the bird and the plant and the bird and its human companion – trust. The plant does not require the bird’s trust nor is it in any way bothered about the bird’s resulting future behaviour. We, on the other hand, are very much dependent on our pet bird’s trust. Needless to say, a relationship that includes trust is by far more enriching and punishment, at least the wrong kind, is undoubtedly counterproductive to trust building.

 

According to Irene Pepperberg, an American scientist who has researched cognitive and communicative abilities in Grey Parrots for over 20 years, parrots have the social skills of a 2 year old human – practically none - they are extremely self-centred. These birds’ happiness in captivity is entirely dependent on us; on how we treat them and care for them. If the person that looks after a pet bird then breaks this trust, the parrot has no option but to become defensive in order to obtain its needs and wishes.

 

The more we inappropriately punish our birds in whatever given situation with any of the above examples the more likely it is that the bird becomes more defensive. The owner may then think that the bird still hasn’t learnt how to behave properly and elevates the level of punishment, and is often surprised that the bird’s behaviour gets worse and worse. More often, however, the punished behaviour does indeed decrease, yet another problem behaviour arises in its place. For example, covering a parrot’s cage routinely during the day in order to stop it from screaming may well work to stop the screaming temporarily but due to the continuous sensory deprivation might cause the bird to become frustrated. Frustration is an emotion that can show itself in a number of ways, depending on the individual. The parrot might subsequently become noisier at different times or might even start to self-harm or more likely, is going to start to bite as it will associate the unwelcome consequence (in this case, being covered up or shut away) with the person who delivered it.

 

 

When punishment isn’t punishing

 

Biting and screaming are probably behaviours that cause parrot owners the greatest degree of dismay. As mentioned before, these behaviours are often dealt with by means of conventional punishment, forms of punishment that we think should work.

Parrots often get sprayed with water to shut them up, for example.

This appears to work for two different reasons:

Point one: The bird hates it and given time learns that screaming will cause it to get drenched and the parrot therefore chooses to keep quiet.

Point two: The parrot sits and preens quietly after being sprayed which is a natural behaviour that tends to follow getting wet.

Point two, however, applies to both types of bird, those who love water and those who loath it. For those bird’s that like getting wet the spraying was actually a reinforcing consequence and the screaming will carry on, as it clearly has been rewarded.

The same applies to being shouted at. Many parrots love their owners shouting at them, as after all, it very closely resembles ‘parrot screaming’, and again, this was therefore not a punishing consequence for such a bird.

Before you employ any forms of punishment be sure to think carefully and to assess your bird’s behaviour, likes and dislikes, in order not to accidentally elevate the very behaviour you wish to see less of.

 

I am not against the use of punishment but it must be after all other avenues of changing the behaviour positively have been explored first. It also crucial that the punishment comes immediately after the undesired behaviour has been exhibited. Scientific, controlled experiments have shown that the greater the time interval between the behaviour and the punishing consequence the less effective the punishing consequence tends to be.

 

 

Alternatives

 

Teaching desired behaviours to replace unwanted behaviours by means of positive reinforcement should always come first. Parrots can be taught to whistle, chatter or make other natural sounds in place of screaming by rewarding the bird whenever it partakes in such a desired behaviour, for example.  As mentioned in a previous article, you can reduce your parrot’s screaming by listening for a sound that your bird makes which you find pleasant. Turn and attend to your parrot every time he makes such a sound and ideally reward him with a favourite food item too, in order to reinforce him making this sound. You will quickly find that this sound will be made more frequently and the screaming is likely to reduce as long as you do not reward this by ANY means of attention.

 

 

Dr. Susan Friedman, a psychology professor, reminds us that our use of positive reinforcement is limited only by our willingness to understand behaviour in new ways. Devising positive reinforcement solutions is as much a creative endeavour as a technological one. When her students present problem situations that they argue can not be improved with positive reinforcement, Susan asks, “If I gave you £10 000 right now for thinking of a positive reinforcement strategy to address this problem could you come up with one now?” She told me that she has never had a student fail this challenge. The solutions are there, we only have to commit to devising them.

 

 

Why do we punish the way we do?

 

So why then are people so fast to continue using conventional forms of punishment? Firstly, I believe that all too often parrot owners simply don’t make the connection between the diminishing behaviour due to punishment and the long term side effects that include increased aggression, apathy and avoidance/escape behaviour and general fears.

More importantly, however, heavy punishment is quick! It often takes considerably longer to teach the learner what not to do using positive reinforcement strategies than it does using punishment. Take my two dogs for example. Every time my partner wants to take them out for a walk they bark like crazy. It is loud and annoying and a problem for the rest of the neighbourhood when this happens early on a Sunday morning. The barking starts just as soon as the leads are picked up and to be put on the dogs.

Now, there are two ways of dealing with this situation: 1) whack the dogs over the nose or back (conventional punishment) which would result in unhappy, frightened dogs but would shut them up instantly. 2) Reinforce them for being quiet by giving them a treat whenever they don’t bark in this situation.

But what if there is no quiet gap in the barking that we could reinforce? The dogs’ barking is clearly a behaviour and this behaviour is maintained because the consequence is that the leads are put on quickly so that we can get out the door and start the walking which does shut them up. The walking in itself is of course the consequence that reinforces the barking. So, considering that there is never really a QUIET moment to reinforce in this situation I suggested to my partner to simply put the leads down on the table and to sit down, ignoring the dogs until they are quiet and to then praise them for being quiet and resume the putting-on-leads procedure and to stop and sit down again immediately when the barking starts again until they have learnt that barking alters the consequence: the walk won’t take place. Technically speaking this is a form of punishment, however, it won’t have destroyed any trust nor will it have hurt the dogs.

The very same applies to parrots. It takes considerably more time and effort to reinforce a parrot being quiet by waiting for quiet moments and rewarding those than it does to take a bucket full of water and to poor it over it in order to shut it up.

 

 

Appropriate ways of reducing problem behaviour – a number of examples

 

If for example you carry your bird on your arm and he nips you to hear you yelp “ouch” and shout at him and he probably considers your response fun, the nipping will carry on and might even get worse. You can change this by changing the consequence (your responds). Next time your feathered friend engages in this game do not react but simply take him off your arm or shoulder and place him unceremoniously and immediately on the floor. Most parrots dislike being placed on the floor and this is therefore a punishing result for your bird. Be sure not to blur the message by adding a floury of words “You naughty parrot! I’ll show you…” or some other kind of added drama.

 

Another example involves my friend’s young Grey. This immature African Grey declared the kitchen her territory and decided to dive-bomb any visitors she didn’t like by flying straight at their faces. This amazed me somewhat as this kind of aggressive behaviour is often associated with male, white cockatoos but I have never heard of a Grey youngster behaving in this way. Still, this was a very self-confident and outgoing young bird. Understandably, the owner wanted her young Grey to learn how to behave in company as opposed to shutting her away for hours whenever non-family members were around. A quick and effective solution needed to be found, as after all, such behaviour could result in a serious eye or facial injury.

I suggested that she should invest in a small second cage (e.g. a cockatiel cage) which should only contain one perch, no food and no water and nothing else that could in any way stimulate or entertain the bird. This cage was then placed outside the kitchen door. The next time Chiku dived towards a guest she was quickly picked up and put in the cage on her own for a maximum of 2 minutes. She was then allowed back into the room with all the others to get another chance at being a nice host. It only took a few short attempts, less than 10, for Chiku to learn not to dive bomb people. Her behaving nicely in company has been reinforced with treats.

The mild form of punishment I have just described is referred to as time-out from positive reinforcement, which is a method often used by modern child psychologists (they use a time-out room, not a cage for children). ‘Time-out’ as a form of discipline, however, only works if it is delivered in a short, sharp unceremonious way, again getting to the cage as quickly as possible without any shouting or chat and the stay in the cage must be kept short. If these rules are not observed the message will get blurred and the lesson won’t have been learnt. The learner, in this case the parrot, must also be given the chance to behave differently in the same situation again straight after ‘time-out’ has been completed and must be rewarded for behaving more appropriately.

 

Simply withdrawing one’s presence can also be an effective way of decreasing problem behaviour a creature as social as a parrot. Whenever my pet macaw gets too noisy for too long I simply leave the room for a little while. She tends to stop screaming pretty quickly then but I do appreciate that this does not apply to all birds. The key, however, is to use your presence as a reinforcing consequence, i.e. you are there and attend to the bird when it is quiet or behaves appropriately, and change the consequence by withdrawing your company when a behaviour becomes unacceptable. As with all other learning process this will only be effective if you stick to a certain timing criteria. If you leave the room and stay away for half an hour, the message will have been weakened too much for the bird to make the connection. Return as soon as you can and give your bird the chance to offer the behaviours that you are after.

 

 

Conclusion

 

There is a great number of ways of punishing behaviours in companion parrots. Some work, most have serious side-effects, causing or creating new problems in our relationship with the bird.

Before you discipline your pet parrot make absolutely sure that you have exploited all other avenues of altering the behaviour you wish to see less of without the use of force.

Try not to buy into the dominance construct. All behaviours that I have so far come across, that were apparently due to the parrot being domineering, could be altered easily and without punishment and had nothing to do with dominance. Aggression due to territorialism is not the same as dominance.

I would always consider it prudent to consult with a reputable parrot trainer or behaviour consultant first before you inflict any form of punishment on your pet that you think should work but could very well harm your relationship with your treasured friend.

 

Copyright © 2004 Sonny Stollenmaier