When a stimulus is ADDED to the environment, and this causes a DECREASE in a behavior over time, what type of consequential operation is this?

• A. Negative Reinforcement
• B. Positive Reinforcement
• C. Negative Punishment
• D. Positive Punishment

Answer: (D)

Adding an aversive or undesirable stimulus after a behavior, which leads to that behavior occurring less often in the future, is positive punishment. In this frame, the “positive” part means you add something to the environment, and the “punishment” part means the consequence decreases the likelihood of the behavior. So the added stimulus suppresses the behavior over time. If you were removing something after the behavior to decrease it, that would be negative punishment; if you were adding something to increase the behavior, that would be positive reinforcement; if you were removing an aversive stimulus to increase the behavior, that would be negative reinforcement.