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Response cost is defined in behavior analysis as a procedure in which a specific amount of reinforcement is removed contingent on a given behavior, typically a challenging or undesirable one. This means that when an individual engages in an inappropriate behavior, they lose access to a reinforcer they had previously earned, which serves to decrease the likelihood of that undesired behavior occurring again in the future.

This method relies on the principle of negative punishment, where the removal of a reinforcing stimulus results in a decrease in behavior. For example, if a child loses tokens for misbehaving, the tokens represent positive reinforcement for desired behaviors. By removing those tokens in response to the undesirable behavior, the child is conditioned to associate the behavior with losing something valuable, thus reducing the frequency of that behavior.

The other options do not accurately capture the essence of response cost. Positive reinforcement refers to adding a pleasant stimulus to increase behavior, while methods of teaching through modeling involve demonstrating behaviors rather than modifying them through consequences. Measuring overall behavior improvement does not relate directly to the concept of response cost as it focuses on assessing progress rather than the conditional removal of a reinforcement based on behavior.