What type of reinforcement involves the removal of an aversive stimulus?

Negative reinforcement involves the removal of an aversive stimulus to increase the likelihood of a behavior being repeated. In this context, an aversive stimulus refers to any unpleasant or undesirable condition that, when removed, leads to a more favorable situation for the individual. For example, if a student studies hard to avoid the stress of failing a test, the action of studying is reinforced because it removes the stressor of potential failure.

This concept is distinct from positive reinforcement, which involves adding a pleasant stimulus to encourage a behavior, and punishment, which aims to decrease a behavior by introducing an aversive consequence or removing a pleasant one. Extinction refers to the process of reducing a behavior by discontinuing the reinforcement previously associated with it, leading to the behavior weakening over time. Thus, the key characteristic of negative reinforcement is its focus on the removal of an unpleasant condition to promote a desired behavior.