Response Cost is a type of negative punishment where a learner loses access to positive reinforcers or privileges as a consequence of engaging in undesirable behavior. The removal of these reinforcers is intended to decrease the future occurrence of the problem behavior.
Example
A child earns tokens for completing tasks, which can be exchanged for a reward. If the child engages in disruptive behavior during class, the teacher may take away a token as a consequence. The loss of the token serves as a response cost, decreasing the likelihood that the disruptive behavior will occur in the future.