What is negative punishment?

• A. Removing something desirable to decrease behavior
• B. Adding something pleasant to decrease behavior
• C. Removing something undesirable to decrease behavior
• D. Adding something desirable to decrease behavior

Answer: (A)

Negative punishment means reducing a behavior by taking away a valued stimulus after the behavior occurs. By removing something the person wants, the consequence makes the undesired behavior less likely to happen again. For example, taking away a teen’s access to video games or the car keys after misbehavior teaches that the behavior leads to loss of a privilege, so they’re less likely to repeat it. This differs from negative reinforcement, where you remove something aversive to increase a behavior (like turning off a loud noise when someone cooperates). The other options describe adding a desirable thing (positive punishment) or removing an undesirable thing in a way that isn’t about punishing the behavior (which isn’t how negative punishment works).