Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessments (AEPA) 2026 – 400 Free Practice Questions to Pass the Exam

The term that describes the process of making an undesirable behavior less frequent by introducing an unpleasant outcome is punishment. Punishment involves presenting an adverse consequence or removing a positive stimulus in response to a behavior, which aims to decrease the likelihood of that behavior occurring in the future.

In contrast, negative reinforcement is focused on increasing a desirable behavior by removing an unpleasant stimulus after the behavior occurs, which is not applicable in the context of decreasing undesirable behavior. Operant conditioning is a broader concept that includes both reinforcement and punishment as mechanisms for shaping behavior. Classical conditioning involves learning by association between stimuli rather than behavior modification through consequences. Therefore, punishment is the most precise term for the scenario described in the question.