Subtracting a pleasant stimulus, such as taking away a student's cell phone for texting during class, illustrates which concept?

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

Answer: (D)

Removing a pleasant stimulus after a behavior and thereby reducing that behavior is negative punishment. In this example, taking away the student's cell phone after texting removes access to something they value. Because the phone is no longer available, the incentive to text during class decreases, making the behavior less likely to occur again. This is different from negative reinforcement, which would remove something aversive to encourage a behavior; it's also different from positive punishment, which adds an unpleasant consequence to decrease a behavior, and from positive reinforcement, which adds something pleasant to encourage a behavior.