Journal Facts

Journal
Journal of Environmental Systems
ISSN
0047-2433 (print) 1541-3802 (electronic)
Volume
9
Issue
1
Date
1/1/1979

Article Facts

Title
Reducing Cigarette Smoking in Supermarkets and Elevators
DOI
10.2190/QHNL-A363-83UK-69QW
Authors
  • Leonard A. Jason
  • Roy Clay
  • Michael Martin
Pages
57-66
Online Date
05/09/2002

Article Links

Reducing Cigarette Smoking in Supermarkets and Elevators

Leonard A. Jason
Roy Clay
Michael Martin

DOI: 10.2190/QHNL-A363-83UK-69QW

Abstract

Practically all nonsmokers are passive smokers since they are repeatedly forced to breath cigarette-smoke polluted air in public settings. The present experiment investigated various behavioral stimulus and consequence control strategies directed towards reducing smoking behaviors in settings frequented by nonsmokers. The first tactic, posting no-smoking signs, failed to reduce the rates of smoking in a Chicago supermarket. When a research assistant approached smokers and requested them to put out their cigarettes, over 90 per cent complied. The second study took place in elevators, a particularly troublesome behavior setting for nonsmokers. Using an ABAB design, a relatively simple consequence control tactic (politely requesting smokers to extinguish their cigarettes) produced dramatic reductions in smoking behaviors in elevators.

Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.