Why do psychologists prefer negative reinforcement to punishment?
Christopher Wintheiser
2025-06-14 15:05:50
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: 12
The goal of reinforcement procedures is to increase behavior. The goal of punishment procedures is to decrease behavior. Reinforcement procedures should always be utilized first. Punishment procedures may become necessary when reinforcement options are exhausted. Negative reinforcement increases the target behavior by taking away something aversive. In the ABA world, positive means adding something and negative means taking away something. Negative reinforcement increases the target behavior by taking away something aversive, which is different from punishment. The BACB’s Professional and Ethical Compliance Code for Behavior Analysts states that reinforcement procedures should always be utilized first, which implies a preference for reinforcement over punishment.
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