Negative punishment

A consequence in which something pleasant is removed following a behaviour, with the result that the behaviour decreases. The “negative” refers to subtraction (something is taken away), not to the behaviour being bad.

A puppy mouthing too hard and play stopping, a horse becoming pushy at the gate and the handler walking away, a child losing screen time for breaking a household rule, are all examples of negative punishment. The behaviour produces the loss of something the individual values, and the behaviour becomes less likely in future as a result.

Negative punishment is one of the four quadrants of operant conditioning and is generally considered the most welfare-positive of the four. Unlike positive punishment, it does not add an aversive stimulus to the situation. Unlike negative reinforcement, it does not depend on the prior presence of an aversive stimulus. The animal simply experiences the absence or removal of something they wanted, which carries minimal welfare cost when applied carefully.

Negative punishment is widely used in modern applied animal behaviour work, particularly in combination with positive reinforcement of a desired alternative behaviour. The puppy who learns that mouthing too hard ends play, but that gentle mouthing produces continued play, is being trained with a combination of negative punishment and positive reinforcement, and the combination tends to produce durable learning without welfare cost.

The effectiveness of negative punishment depends on the value the animal places on what is being withdrawn. If the animal does not particularly want what is being removed, the consequence will not function as punishment.