Use of Sidman avoidance to increase door-locking behavior among college students living in residence halls.

Abstract

Sidman avoidance, facilitated by late-night telephone calls to occupants of dormitory rooms who left their doors unlocked upon retiring at night, was used to modify the behaviors of 17 students in 9 dormitory rooms. Baseline data were collected during 6 nights prior to the implementation of the intervention. Avoidance procedures were then administered to the target rooms for 6 nights before returning to the baseline conditions during the final 3 nights of the study. The procedure was effective in eliciting the desired response of locking the door upon retiring each evening.