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Punishment doesn’t work with parrots because they don’t understand cause and effect I have to admit to scratching my head upon first reading this particular fallacy, in light of parrots’ obvious learning abilities. It is really a double fallacy, as both clauses are demonstrably incorrect. Punishment does work with parrots, as it does with all species of learners; and parrots do understand cause and effect, as measured by the behaviors they display. There are many compelling reasons not to use punishment to reduce parrots’ problem behaviors, but their lack of understanding of the relationship between cause and effect is not one of them. Perhaps this confusion stems from a misunderstanding of the most fundamental principle of behavior, called the Law of Effect.  This law has its distant roots in observations made by Aristotle, but it was first scientifically described by the scientist EL Thorndike at the turn of the century. Since that time, the Law of Effect has been demonstrated with hundreds of different species of animals.  Simply, this law states that behavior is a function of its consequences. In other words, the frequency of a response is changed by the consequences that follow that response.  We apply the Law of Effect with two basic procedures – reinforcement and punishment. Reinforcement increases the frequency of behavior and punishment decreases the frequency of behavior.

These are scientific terms with precise meaning. Although people often think of reinforcers as rewards, that can be misleading.  Rewards generally refer to prizes, trophies and accolades but many reinforcers don’t fit that image. For example, if you shout at a bird every time it screams and the screaming continues because of your shouting, shouting is a reinforcer for that bird.

Punishment can be an equally confusing term. People often use it to mean retribution, retaliation and revenge. In applied behavior analysis, if a behavioral decrease is not observed, the consequence is not a punisher for that particular bird. As you can see, the matter of which consequences function as reinforcers or punishers is highly individual. The proof is strictly in the future rate of the bird’s behavior.  If your bird continues to behave in a particular way, it is being reinforced, regardless of your intentions.

Two of the most important characteristics of effectively delivered consequences are 1) contingency, ie the dependency or relationship between the behavior and the consequence, and 2) contiguity, ie the closeness or timing with which the consequence follows the behavior.

When a consequence is delivered inconsistently, it is hard for the learner to associate the two events. If the consequence is delivered too far in time after the behavior, this lack of immediacy decreases the effectiveness of the consequence as well. Perhaps it is inconsistent delivery and poor contiguity that accounts for the fallacy that punishment doesn’t work with parrots.

Parrots clearly understand cause and effect, as they navigate hundreds of behavioral choices daily, based on experience from which they predict outcomes. Parrots go to food bowls because doing so causes the effect of access to food; parrots step onto human hands because doing so causes the effect of being removed from their cages; and parrots scream because doing so causes the effect of favorite people appearing.

There are scientific reasons why punishment is the least preferred behavior-change strategy and should be used as rarely as possible. More than 60 years of study have shown that frequent punishment increases the probability of four side effects detrimental to the quality of life of all animals. These side effects include aggression, apathy, generalized fear, and escape/avoidance behaviors.  Unfortunately, these side effects are commonly seen among captive parrots. This should lead us to wonder if this is the fallout associated with inadvertent punishment living among humans, from the parrot’s point of view.

Fortunately, there are positive reinforcement alternatives to punishment. Positive reinforcement is the process of increasing behavior by delivering a consequence that tends to be something the bird behaves to get.  By positively reinforcing a desirable alternative behavior at the same time as ignoring an undesirable behavior, we increase what we want to see more and decrease what we want to see less.

This procedure, called differential reinforcement of alternative behavior (DRA), is different than ignoring alone, as it has a powerful positive reinforcement component.  In this way we replace problem behavior rather than only eliminate it, thereby ensuring higher rates of positive reinforcement in our parrots’ lives.

A less positive, more intrusive strategy (and therefore less desirable than differential reinforcement) to reduce problem behavior is a mild punishment (behavior decreasing) procedure called Time Out from Positive Reinforcement (T.O.).  With T.O. the consequence is the temporary removal of the bird from reinforcing activities for just a half a minute or so.  The bird is then returned to the scene of the “crime” to do it right.  No emotional behavior on the part of the teacher is necessary.

The T.O. procedure will do the work for you. As with all procedures, T.O. must be implemented with impeccable consistently and immediacy.  These strategies are discussed in more detail in several of the books on the attached reading list.

Conclusion

Improving your skills as critical consumers of behavior information and as parrot teachers, trainers and caregivers is a lot like getting in shape: you have to get out of your comfort zone, stretch to meet your objectives, and commit to change. It’s hard work replacing common sense with scientific knowledge and skill.

Many people have told me that these are not realistic goals for someone named Average J. Bird-Owner. However, having taught thousands of students the basics of behavior science applied to companion parrots and other animals, I have yet to meet a single person with this name. I have met a lot of other people whose curiosity, intelligence and devotion to improving the lives of parrots is far from average.

It is hard to resist jumping from facts to stories, ie our personal interpretations of the facts.  Many of us have a tendency to fall in love with our own explanations too quickly.  These are two reasons why scientific thinking is so important. Scientific thinking increases our ability to sort out the wheat from the chaff that collects around the subject of parrot behavior.

Perhaps the three most important skills of scientific thinking are 1) stick with behavioral explanations that can be observed and measured;  2) consider alternative explanations for what you observe that are based on the interaction between behavior and the environment; and  3) ask anyone making assertions about parrots, “How do you know that?”  Be assured that confident experts are impressed by people who ask this question and they are happy to respond.

Adding just these three skills to your parrot caregiving toolbox will greatly improve your ability to provide well for your bird. To acquire more teaching tools, read some of the books suggested below.  As you will quickly learn, the fundamental principles of learning and behavior apply to all species of learners.  As such, no behavior toolbox is complete without the tools of behavior science.

Alphabetical List of Suggested Readings

 

• Animal Training: Successful Animal Management through Positive Reinforcement by Ken Ramirez (1999).
• Clicking With Birds: A Beginners Guide to Clicker Training Your Companion Parrot by Linda Morrow (available at  http://www.avi-train.com/manual.html).
• Clicker Training with Birds by Melinda Johnson.
• Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson
• Do Animals Think? by Clive D L Wynn
• Don’t Shoot the Dog: The New Art of Teaching and Training (revised edition) by Karen Pryor.
• First Course in Applied Behavior Analysis by Paul Chance.
• Good Bird! A Guide to Solving Behavioral Problems in Companion Parrots! by Barbara Heidenreich.
• How Dogs Learn by Mary Burch, PhD & Jon S Bailey, PhD.
• The Power of Positive Parenting A Positive Way to Raise Children by Glen Latham.

*I want to thank all the participants of the Parrot BAS internet list, who inspired this article, for their fine teaching and learning.

An earlier version of the paper was presented at the StopPDD Conference, Nov 2004

Susan G Friedman PhD is a psychology professor at Utah State University. Over the last decade, she has helped pioneer efforts to apply to animals the scientifically sound teaching technology and ethical standard of Applied Behavior Analysis that is so effective with human learners.

Susan has given a wide variety of workshops and conference presentations, including the Association of Avian Veterinarians, the European Association of Zoos and Aquaria, the American Federation of Aviculturists and Moorpark College’s Exotic Animal Training and Management program.  She was a guest speaker on the topic of learning and behavior for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Colloquium and presented workshops in Africa, Canada, France, Israel and Holland.

Susan teaches two on-line courses, one for veterinarians and other animal professionals, and another for pet owners (www.behaviroworks.org). Her articles have been translated into 9 languages.

Susan is also a core member of the Condor Recovery Project and has been nominated for the Media Award, given by the International Association of Behavior Analysis, for her efforts to disseminate to pet owners, veterinarians, animal trainers and zookeepers some of the essential tools they need to empower and enrich the lives of all learners.