How Negative Punishment Works

Negative punishment is one form of punishment that can be used to modify behavior. It involves removing a reinforcer to decrease the likelihood of a behavior. An example of this would be taking away a child's favorite toy after they throw a tantrum.

Negative punishment is an important concept in B. F. Skinner's theory of operant conditioning. In behavioral psychology, the goal of punishment is to decrease unwanted behavior. In the case of negative punishment, it involves taking something good or desirable away to reduce the occurrence of a particular behavior.

Negative Punishment Examples

Can you identify examples of negative punishment? Losing access to a toy, being grounded, and losing reward tokens are all examples of negative punishment. In each case, something good is being taken away as a result of the individual's undesirable behavior.

There are a few different types of negative punishment. These include:

Response Cost:

This involves taking away a reinforcer or privilege that the person already earned.

• After two children get into a fight over who gets to play with a new toy, the mother simply takes the toy away from both children
• A teenage girl stays out for an hour past her curfew, so her parents ground her for a week
• A third-grade boy yells at another student during class, so his teacher takes away his "good behavior" tokens that can be redeemed for prizes

Time Out:

This involves removing a favorite reinforcer for a period of time following an undesirable behavior.

• A child gets in trouble for acting out in class and has to stay inside for recess
• A pre-schooler is not allowed to play with their favorite blocks for the rest of the day after they hit another student

Ignoring:

This involves withholding attention after an undesirable behavior.

• A teacher does not call on a student after they repeatedly interrupt
• A parent does not respond to a child's whining to get something that they want

Negative Punishment vs. Positive Punishment

Negative punishment should also be distinguished from positive punishment. Positive punishment is when something undesirable is added after an unwanted behavior has occurred. For instance, when a child throws a temper tantrum, they are given extra chores.

Both types of punishment have the same end goal: to decrease a behavior. The difference lies in whether something is added or removed. It can be helpful to remember what negative and positive mean in this context: negative means to take away, and positive means to add.

The Effects of Negative Punishment

While negative punishment can be highly effective, Skinner and other researchers have suggested that a number of different factors can influence its success.

Immediacy

Negative punishment is more effective when it occurs immediately after the behavior. If a child throws a tantrum and the parent takes away a privilege later than day, the punishment will be less likely to have the desired effect.

Consistency

If negative punishment only happens occasionally, it's likely to be effective. For example, if a child realizes that most of the time, they won't lose a favorite item after a behavior, they will probably keep engaging in the behavior.

Driving over the speed limit is another common example. Because you don't get a ticket every time you speed, you're more likely to do it (especially if you think you won't get caught.)

Contingency

The use of negative punishment must be contingent on the behavior. If the desired stimulus is removed regardless of whether a person engages in the behavior, the punishment will not be effective.

Potential Challenges With Negative Punishment

Consider this example: a teenage girl has a driver's license, but it does not allow her to drive at night. However, she drives at night several times a week without facing consequences. One evening while driving a friend home, she is pulled over and issued a ticket.

As a result, she received a notice in the mail a week later informing her that her driving privileges had been revoked for 30 days. Once she regains her license, she goes back to driving at night even though she has six more months before legally driving during the evening and nighttime hours.

As you might have guessed, losing her license is a negative punishment in this example. So why would she continue to engage in the behavior even though it led to punishment?

Because the punishment was inconsistently applied (she drove at night many times without facing punishment) and because the punishment was not applied immediately (her driving privileges were not revoked until a week after she was caught), the negative punishment was ineffective at curtailing her behavior.

Use Negative Punishment With Caution

Negative punishment can have its uses, but many experts believe it should be used infrequently and with caution.

When used too often, negative punishment can have unwanted effects. While much of the research focuses on the effects of positive punishment, researchers have found that punishment can be demoralizing and may contribute to feelings of anger, anxiety, and increased aggression.

It might also contribute to learned helplessness. If a person feels that nothing they can do will change a situation, they may simply stop trying to change.

Rather than use negative punishment on its own, it can be more effective to pair it with positive reinforcement. This allows the individual to be rewarded for making desired changes in behavior.