Which of the following statements pertains to the essence of reinforcement?

The essence of reinforcement is that it increases the likelihood of a behavior occurring again in the future. Reinforcement can be understood within the framework of operant conditioning, where behaviors are strengthened when they are followed by favorable consequences. This process can involve positive reinforcement, where a desirable stimulus is presented, or negative reinforcement, where an aversive stimulus is removed. In both cases, the outcome is a higher probability that the behavior will be repeated.

Reinforcement does not always lead to punishment, as punishment is typically a separate concept aimed at decreasing a behavior rather than increasing one. Additionally, while conditioned responses and unconditioned stimuli are part of learning theories, they do not directly describe the function of reinforcement itself, which is primarily about behavior change rather than the response type or the nature of stimuli involved.