What is the goal of negative punishment in behavior management?

The goal of negative punishment in behavior management is indeed to decrease the likelihood of a behavior recurring. In this approach, something desirable is removed following a behavior, which effectively reduces the chances that the behavior will happen again in the future. This differs from positive punishment, where an aversive consequence is presented to decrease a behavior.

When applying negative punishment, it is crucial to ensure that the consequence is directly related to the undesired behavior, thereby helping individuals learn to modify their actions in order to avoid the removal of the pleasant outcome. For example, if a child is playing with a toy inappropriately, the caregiver might remove the toy for a period of time. This removal ideally teaches the child that certain behaviors result in losing access to things they enjoy, encouraging them to adopt more appropriate behaviors.

The other choices focus on increasing behavior or applying reinforcement strategies rather than addressing the goal of decreasing unwanted behaviors.