Whenever someone posts that they utilize a spray bottle, hand quake, or some other "punishing" technique there are always three or four people that jump all over them saying that they should never do this.
But why?
I've seen quite a few people ask and it is a darn good question....
First we need to define exactly what punishment is.... And then look at why it is that we engage in training that involves what other people say is punishment?
Here is punishment as I understand it: Punishment is a training technique that is used to reduce unwanted behaviour.
Through punishment we are attempting to reduce or stop screaming, feather plucking, biting and so on, in our fids. Through the threat of punishment we attempt to have the bird stop whatever it is they are doing. For instance if a spray of water is used to reduce screaming then lifting up the spray bottle with often result in screaming stopping - if, indeed, the spray of water works as a "punishment."
There are two types of punishment if you accept the definition I presented. Positive punishment which is the application of a stimulus (a spray of water) to reduce a behaviour (screaming) and Negative punishment (a time-out) to reduce a behaviour (screaming). Negative punishment involves removal of a positive stimulus while positive punishment involves the appication of a negative stimulus.
The difference between positive and negative punishment is quite important.
There are several issues that occur with positive punishment. Application of a stimulus can lead to fear, avoidance and aggressive behaviours. For example if we are using a water spray to decrease screaming then a possible response could be avoidance of the water bottle used for spraying, avoidance of the individual doing the spraying, or aggression towards the bottle or the person holding the bottle.
Negative punishment, on the other hand, does not have a direct stimulus and therefore is less likely to end up with undesirable behaviours. One has to be careful with negative punishment technique. A time-out is a well-known negative punishment technique, but if one "removes" the bird from a stimulating environment to a neutral environment using the hand (or a finger) then the hand (or finger) can become the punishing stimulus and biting or avoidance behaviours can result.
Punishment as a training tool is also thought of as a poor training tool because it does not tell the parrot what we want the bird to *do.* As a result it is kind-of a double negative - the bird is hit with a stream of water and it ceases to squack (which, for whatever reason, it likes doing). But what does the parrot *do* instead? How does the bird know what to do? All it knows is it was just squirted out of the blue... And if it doesn't like it it will attempt to avoid such squirts in the future by doing whatever it can to avoid the squirt.
If the parrot learns that the squacks are resulting in the squirt then as soon as the water bottle is lifted the squacks will cease. However, if the parrot does not associate the squacks with the squirt then other behaviours could occur... Attempting to dodge the squirt by moving to another location (while still squacking perhaps) for example...
Once learned, avoidance behaviours are extremely resistant to being "untrained." So once your fid has developed a "dodging" behaviour then it is a long, slow process to "untrain" the behaviour. Just ask people who "chase their birds" around the house to get them back to the cage.
So why do we use punishment?
We do it because it is effective and rewarding *to us* in the short to intermediate term. A spray of water quiets a bird, quaking the hand stops the biting... It is quick and effective and is rewarding to us.
But one has to keep in mind that the purpose of a punishing technique is to *reduce* the behaviour. If the behaviour stops immediately but does not reduce in frequency or actually increases in frequency then the punishment technique is actually a reinforcing technique and the bird is simply being training to scream more often (if for a shorter time) until you give it what it wants (maybe a spray of water).
Punishment techniques have their place. A parrot that is feather plucking or self-mutilating, and no reinforcer can be found that overcomes this behaviour, may be considered for a punishment technique. Or a bird that is super-aggressive and does not respond to positive training techniques may also be considered.
But whenever punishment it is used it *should* be backed-up positive reinforcement training of alternative behaviours so that the bird knows what to do. The aggressive bird may find that head scritches are much better than attacking the nearest person - or the self-mutalating bird may find that flight feathers are kind-of nice to have...
So... The reason why I, and so many others, "jump all over" people who are attempting to apply a punishment technique is because it can lead to severe problems with behaviour in the long run...
Please... think long and hard about it before you attempt a punishment technique on any animal but especially a parrot...
Reference material:
Behavior Analysis and Parrot Learning,
S.G. Friedman, Steve Martin, and Bobbi Brinker
ScienceDirect - Journal of Exotic Pet Medicine : The Art of Training Parrots
Secrets of Parrot Training