Which term describes removing a stimulus that encourages a behavior to continue?

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Extinction is at work when you withhold the reinforcement that previously encouraged a behavior, leading to a gradual decrease in that behavior. The idea is that the consequence sustaining the behavior is no longer delivered, so the behavior is no longer reinforced and tends to fade over time. Negative reinforcement, by contrast, increases a behavior by removing an aversive stimulus, not by removing the reinforcing consequence. Positive reinforcement adds a pleasant outcome to boost a behavior, and punishment introduces or removes stimuli to decrease behavior. So the description most closely matches extinction.