1) A reductive procedure in which a specified amount of available reinforcers are continently withdrawn following the response. Usually these reinforcers are withdrawn from the client's reserve, as with loss of points or yardage, or fines. However, in a modification of this procedure, bonus response cost, the reinforcers are taken away from a reserved pool of potential bonus reinforcers.

2) The procedure of reducing the frequency of a target behavior by making removal of a reinforcer contingent on the target behavior.

3) Any property of responding or consequence of responding that may reduce or punish it. Examples include increases in response effort or force and response-contingent loss or reduction of reinforcers (especially, with humans, point loss superimposed on responding maintained by points; in such cases, however, the effectiveness of points as reinforcers is often assumed rather than confirmed experimentally).

4) The removal of a positive reinforcer contingent on behavior is called response cost, and this procedure decreases operant behavior.