In operant conditioning, which quadrant reduces a behavior by presenting an aversive consequence?

• A. Negative punishment
• B. Positive punishment
• C. Positive reinforcement
• D. Negative reinforcement

Answer: (B)

In operant conditioning, the key idea is how adding or removing something after a behavior changes how often that behavior happens. Presenting an aversive consequence after the behavior is a way to weaken it, since the dog learns that the behavior leads to something unpleasant. This is known as positive punishment, where “positive” means adding an aversive stimulus to reduce the undesired behavior. For example, scolding or a quick spray of water after a jump teaches the dog to stop jumping because the consequence is undesirable. In contrast, positive reinforcement would add something good to increase a desired behavior, and negative reinforcement would remove an unpleasant condition to make a behavior more likely. Negative punishment would take away something pleasant to decrease a behavior.