A behavior is followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that decreases the future frequency of the behavior. Which term is this?

• A. Positive Reinforcement
• B. Positive Punishment
• C. Punisher
• D. Post Reinforcement Pause

Answer: (B)

When a behavior is followed immediately by the presentation of a stimulus that decreases the future frequency of that behavior, the term is positive punishment. Here, the added stimulus (the punisher) makes the behavior less likely to occur again in the future. The key idea is that something is being added after the behavior, and this added consequence reduces how often the behavior happens.

This is different from positive reinforcement, where the added stimulus increases the behavior, and from negative punishment, where a stimulus is removed to decrease behavior. The “punisher” is the consequence after the behavior that lowers its future occurrence. A post reinforcement pause is a temporary pause after reinforcement, not a punishment. For example, if a child gets a loud noise after touching a toy and then touches the toy less often, that loud noise serves as positive punishment.