Negative reinforcement and punishment are often confused.Differentiate the two and describe the desired outcome of each.

Punishment occurs when an unpleasant event follows a behavior and decreases its frequency.A punishment may include a specific antecedent that cues the employee that a consequence (punisher)will follow a specific behavior.Punishment decreases the frequency of an undesired behavior.To qualify as a punisher,an event must decrease the undesirable behavior.
Negative reinforcement refers to an unpleasant event that precedes the behavior and is removed when the desired behavior occurs.Negative reinforcement increases the likelihood that the desired behavior will occur.Negative reinforcement is sometimes confused with punishment because both use unpleasant events to influence behavior.Negative reinforcement is used to increase the frequency of a desired behavior.Managers and team members frequently use negative reinforcement when an employee hasn't done something that is necessary or desired.