Punishment decreases the rate of operant responding. Negative reinforcement increases the rate of operant responding. Negative reinforcement is where an aversive stimulus is taken away after a specific behavior occurs. Since the aversive stimulus is removed, the behavior occurs again in order for the person to gain the same result. Punishment modifies a behavior, because something positive is taken away from the person, or they have to deal with something negative as a result of acting a certain way. Therefore, they stop acting that way to avoid negative results.