What is negative reinforcement?

Negative reinforcement is a concept in behavior psychology that involves the removal of an unpleasant stimulus to increase the likelihood of a desired behavior being repeated in the future. This process works on the principle that when an undesirable condition is eliminated, the individual is more likely to engage in the behavior that led to the removal of that condition.

For example, if a student studies hard to avoid the stress and anxiety of failing a test, the removal of that stress (the unpleasant stimulus) acts as a reinforcement for the studying behavior. As a result, the student is more likely to study again to avoid the negative outcome.

This differs from other forms of reinforcement and punishment. In contrast, adding a pleasant stimulus to encourage behavior relates to positive reinforcement, while applying punishment involves adding an adverse consequence to decrease an undesired behavior. Negative feedback serves as a way to discourage behavior but does not fit the definition of negative reinforcement, as it still involves a negative input rather than the removal of one.