True or False: Negative reinforcement and positive punishment are interchangeable terms.

• A. True
• B. False
• C. Sometimes
• D. Not defined

Answer: (B)

The key idea here is understanding how reinforcement and punishment differ and how adding or removing a stimulus changes behavior. Negative reinforcement strengthens a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus after the behavior occurs. For example, finishing a task to stop an annoying nagging sound makes it more likely you’ll finish tasks again in the future. Positive punishment weakens a behavior by presenting an aversive stimulus after the behavior. An example is giving extra chores after misbehavior, which makes the misbehavior less likely to occur again. Because one process is about increasing behavior and the other about decreasing behavior, and because they involve opposite actions on stimuli (removing versus adding), they are not interchangeable. Also, the terms “positive” and “negative” refer to adding or removing stimuli, not whether the outcome is good or bad.