In 2012 the U.S. will join dozens of nations around the world in labeling cigarette packages with large photographs of diseased organs, amputated limbs and other gruesome images. Previous research has borne out the idea that when people see images of cigarette-induced ailments, they are reminded of their own mortality. But a study presented in May at the annual meeting of the Association for Psychological Science suggests that reminders of mortality might not always have the desired effect.
Jamie Arndt, a psychologist at the University of Missouri, had student smokers complete questionnaires designed to induce either thoughts of their own mortality or thoughts about failing an exam. Then the researchers offered the students a cigarette and measured every person’s smoking intensity—each puff’s volume, flow and duration. Students who did not smoke often indeed smoked with less passion after being reminded of their own mortality, as compared with the light smokers who read about failing an exam. As Arndt explains, the infrequent smokers may have been responding to thoughts of death by trying to reduce their own vulnerability. But students who were heavy smokers reacted to thoughts of death by taking even harder drags on their cigarettes. Arndt suggests they might have been subconsciously attempting to dispel a negative mood with an enjoyable activity. Although the reason is unclear, the finding suggests that the psychology involved in smoking and thinking about death is more complicated than previously assumed. Therefore, graphic warning labels on cigarettes might not have the intended effect on everyone who sees them.
This article was originally published with the title How Smokers Think about Death.
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21 Comments
Add CommentWhat a transparent effort. Anybody with half a brain knows that sort of thing is just pandering. They want to satisfy the anti-smoking lobbyists with one hand, while still collecting taxes from smokers and cigarette companies with the other. They wanna have their cake and eat it too. If they were serious about protecting our health from tobacco, they would just ban it instead, like they've done with marijuana and other substances.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI think technodestructo is talking about two different 'they's. The people who do the research are generally not the same as the people who are in the position to pass the laws.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisWhat a great idea! Let's ban the use of tobacco. While we're at it, let's ban the use of alchohol. It causes enormous health, safety, and social problems. Oh, wait, we tried that already, didn't we? That wasn't exactly a roaring success, was it? Hmmm....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisBanning tobacco is probably a bad idea, but it couldn't hurt to legalize cannabis. Easy solution, but who owns all the tobacco? What do they stand to lose if a better, safer, more versatile plant is legalized? Why is it illegal in the first place? Same reason the tobacco companies won't allow it now, it hurts their bottom line.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNicotine is extremely addictive and can change people's reactions.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOne "problem" with this type of testing is that the addiction difference between different people and light vs heavy smokers is not accounted for.
Was a second test done with heroin/crack/oxycontin addicts? Was another test done with a non-addictive substance?
Kurt Vonnegut once wrote that smoking is the only remaining acceptable form of suicide.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI have noticed that lower income people are more likely to be found in the smokers area than upper management types (not scientific statistics, just anecdotal observation).
Has anyone ever done a study to find whether smokers tend to be more likely to view life as futile?
Outlawing tobacco is not really the answer, legislating behavior is not very effective and besides, it's Darwin at work...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI can see the bumper stickers now: "When cigarettes are outlawed, only outlaws will have cigarettes."
Yeah, because BANNING marijuana actually prevented people from using it...
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisA man goes to a tobacco shop, buys a pack of cigarettes and reads the warning "Smoking produces sexual impotence". He goes back to the desk and asks: "Will you have a pack that just kills?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisCurrently, politicians want to give tax breaks to everyone...to the rich...to the poor...to the middle class. One day will come, when the only taxes collected, are from tobacco products. Then some politician will outlaw the sales of tobacco products, and the United States will fall apart.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThey are on a behavioral modification program to destroy cigarettes and eradicate them completely without making them illegal by demonizing smokers as an axis of evil....never mind that other behavioralists have worked the advertising business to get them hopelessly addicted. Then when you get them to quit you finish them off for getting fatter... hundred of years of tradition attempted to be wiped out in mere minutes not to mention govt subsidized tobacco growing plus selling the world wide and then attempting to eradicte them world wide... addictive and compulsive personalities crippled for life to keep them from being crippled for life...or get them addicted to 24/7 nicotine patches direct to the blood stream and even more expensive to teach them a lesson for their own good....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIf it is a legal addictive substance then you have to respect addictive... might make a good template for decriminalizing all drugs and putting then on gov't supported moderate addiction maintenance programs geared toward a gradual voluntary reduction or quiting with allowed recidivism as needed...
Go to a Cigar Bar (if your name is on the list), and count how many low income people are there.Smoking is prevalent in all socio-economic groups.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI practised medicine for 44 years. I noted a peculiar thing.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisNon smokers also die.
as a smoker who wants to quit and has several times in the past(for five years one time)...raising the price(taxing)...is causing more people to quit and others to never start(the key)...raise them again....
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisMy anecdotal observation is that people with high risk life styles are generally smokers. If you think you are going to die young/soon, cigarettes don't seem that big a risk.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisOTOH, the idea amongst young girls that the pill can cause cancer, often leads to pregnancy, a much higher risk than getting cancer later in life. That set of attitudes might be a more useful area for research.
I was a staff member of the Pan American Health Org. where smoking was prohibited. I recall smoking off premises in the cold winters huddled in a corner with other colleagues. The PAHO anti-smoking poster with photographs of diseased organs and other gruesome images including causing impotence was a game breaker for me. After 40 years, I stopped smoking and I am the better for it. Don't miss it at all! Now I need to convince my 22 year old son.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisProhibit smoking will do the criminal element a huge favor. Remember when we prohibited alcohol consumption? No taxes and lots of sleaze making money (Like the drug cartels). Taxing bad habits could also pay for the health care they will need. And the nice thing is the cigarette smokers keep the SSI demands lower by dying sooner. And cigarette smokers are a hell of a lot more productive than heroine users (Ray Charles excepted because he could afford it).
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisAnd I do not smoke---but I am a Pulmonologist that appreciates the business.
When women figure out that smoking enhances impotence, they will rejoice, because it will come about right around menopause.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to this"Hard" to imagine preferring a cigarette over an erection.
I suppose we could all just stop smoking, stop drinking, become vegetarians, run 20 miles a day and LIVE FOREVER! But no.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisI'm reminded of a Letter to the Editor in some major newsmagazine, written in response to Dr. Gene Ornish and his recommendations for a heart-healthy diet. The letter basically read (paraphrasing):
"If the only way I'm going to live to a ripe old age is on a diet of bran muffins and eggplant casserole ... WHY WOULD I WANT TO???"
Let's face it: People like their vices. People NEED their vices. Some people smoke, some people drink, some people gamble, and some people engage in indiscriminate sex. Moderation and risk reduction can and should play a role in all of these activities.
For my money, the best article on WHY people smoke can be found here:
http://www.spiked-online.com/articles/0000000CA8B1.htm
The idea that smokers were "subconsciously attempting to dispel a negative mood with an enjoyable activity" is a bit of a stretch. It is much more likely that such labels Provoke a mood of "if all is lost,then what's the point?"
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisSmoking is heavily addictive, and requires extraordinary willpower to quit -- something that many people fail at over and over again. Adding such bleak messages to the cigarette packages may just exasperate feelings of hopelessness for regular smokers, triggering a "screw-it" attitude that throws any inhibitions they might have had to the wind. Such labels would be far more effective if they promoted the positive aspects of quitting or reducing intake -- such as studies showing that when smokers quite, their lungs can often recover, or that reduced intake lowers risk.
Of course, the real goal of these labels is not to target current adult smokers, but to try to scare away young people from starting. Weather this works as planned, or weather it just adds more to the danger and rebellion intrigue that is at the heart of youth smoking is yet to be seen.
Kate McCoy
http://www.keepyourchildsafe.org
Anyone who smokes has something wrong with their brain!
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisIt's that simple. What to do about it...wish we knew.