What does negative reinforcement achieve in behavioral psychology?

Negative reinforcement in behavioral psychology refers to the process of increasing the likelihood of a desired behavior by removing an aversive or painful stimulus. When an individual experiences a negative condition, such as discomfort or unpleasantness, and they perform a specific behavior that alleviates this condition, they are more likely to repeat that behavior in the future.

For example, consider a person who takes medication to alleviate a headache. The act of taking the medication removes the painful stimulus (the headache), thus reinforcing the behavior of taking medication in response to future headaches. This illustrates how negative reinforcement encourages behavior by removing something undesirable rather than introducing a punishment or discomfort, which would be contrary to the goals of reinforcement.

This concept differentiates negative reinforcement from other processes in behavioral psychology, such as positive reinforcement, which is about adding a pleasant stimulus, or punishment, which focuses on the introduction of an aversive consequence.