Negative reinforcement
Negative reinforcement occurs when a stimulus is removed or reduced right after a behavior and, as a result, that behavior becomes more likely in the future.
"Negative" means something is taken away, not that it is bad. In negative reinforcement, a behavior ends, reduces or postpones a stimulus, usually one the person finds aversive, and that behavior increases. Behavior that ends an aversive stimulus already present is called escape; behavior that prevents or delays it is called avoidance. Both are forms of negative reinforcement.
Negative reinforcement is easy to confuse with punishment because both often involve something unpleasant. The difference is the effect: reinforcement always increases behavior, punishment always decreases it. Putting on sunglasses to stop the sun's glare is negatively reinforced, because the glare is removed and wearing sunglasses becomes more likely.
In sessions, many problem behaviors are maintained by negative reinforcement, such as tantrums that lead to tasks being removed. Supervisors use negative reinforcement constructively too, for example by teaching a client to ask for a break, so that an appropriate request (rather than problem behavior) is what ends the task for a short time. RBTs need to recognize when their own actions, like removing a demand after screaming, might be reinforcing problem behavior, and follow the plan's procedures.
Example and non-example
| Example | Each time a client says "Too loud", the RBT turns down the music, and the client says "Too loud" more often when music is loud. |
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| Non-example | Taking away a client's tablet after they hit a peer, so that hitting decreases, is negative punishment, not negative reinforcement. |
Don't confuse it with
| Negative punishment | Both involve removing a stimulus; negative reinforcement increases the behavior, negative punishment decreases it. |
|---|---|
| Positive reinforcement | Both increase behavior; negative reinforcement removes a stimulus, positive reinforcement adds one. |
Test yourself
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Question 1In the demand condition of a functional analysis, each instance of the client's hitting is followed by removal of the task. If hitting increases across sessions, which process is most likely involved?
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C: Negative reinforcement. When removing something (the task) after a behavior makes that behavior increase, the process is negative reinforcement.
- A: Positive reinforcement adds something after the behavior; here the task is taken away.
- B: Negative punishment removes something and makes behavior decrease.
- D: Extinction means the reinforcer is no longer delivered, which would make behavior decrease over time.
Task B.3 · 40-hour curriculum section D · Task C.1
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Question 2An adult client finds the bright overhead lights uncomfortable. The plan teaches the client to say "Lights down, please," and the RBT dims the lights each time the client asks. Requests increase over the next few weeks. Which procedure does this show?
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D: Negative reinforcement. The request is followed by the reduction of an uncomfortable stimulus (bright light), and the request increases. Removing or reducing a stimulus in a way that increases behavior is negative reinforcement.
- A: Positive reinforcement adds a stimulus; here the bright light is reduced.
- B: Positive punishment adds a stimulus and decreases behavior; requests increased.
- C: Negative punishment removes a stimulus and decreases behavior; requests increased.
Task C.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A
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Question 3A teen's phone alarm rings each morning and keeps ringing until the teen taps "Stop." Over the month, the teen taps "Stop" faster and faster after the alarm starts. Which statement best explains the change?
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A: Negative reinforcement, because tapping ends the ringing and tapping has increased. The ringing is already present, and tapping "Stop" ends it. Because the response terminates a stimulus and becomes faster and more likely, this is negative reinforcement (escape).
- B: Silence is the absence of the ringing; what the response does is remove the ringing, which makes this negative, not positive, reinforcement.
- C: Negative punishment would make tapping less likely, but tapping has become faster and more likely.
- D: The ringing comes before the tap, not after it, so it is not a consequence that punishes tapping.
Task C.1 · 40-hour curriculum section A
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On the RBT exam
This term belongs to task C.1 Positive and negative reinforcement in content area C, Behavior Acquisition, which is 19 of the 75 scored questions.