Which of the following statements about positive and negative punishment is true?

The statement that negative punishment removes desired stimuli to decrease behavior is accurate. Negative punishment involves taking away a pleasant stimulus following a behavior, which leads to a decrease in that behavior. For example, if a child loses access to playing video games when they misbehave, the removal of that enjoyable activity serves to reduce the likelihood of the misbehavior occurring again.

Understanding this concept is crucial in behavior analysis, as it helps to differentiate the impact of removing versus adding stimuli in the context of behavior modification. In contrast, the other options either misrepresent the concepts of punishment and reinforcement or confuse their definitions.