Introduction Cigarette smoking is one of the leading causes of mortality in the United States, accounting for 20 percent of deaths annually (Boyd, Harrell, & Pomerleau, 2001). This percentage amounts to 419,000 fatalities in the United States alone each year (Hutchinson, Niaura, & Swift, 1999). Consequently, an estimated one thousand Americans die daily due to smoking related causes (DeFronzo & Pawlak, 1994). Surprisingly however, smoking related fatalities are also the most preventable causes of death, regardless of the overwhelmingly large fatality rates.
Despite numerous anti-smoking campaigns and public health warnings, 26% of the American population still continues to smoke cigarettes (Eck, Klesges, Meyers, Peterson, Ward, & Winders, 1997). Although the smoking rate among adults has decreased throughout the years; the amount of smoking among adolescents (Cui & Soldz, 2002) and college students has recently begun to increase (Freeman, Hennessy, & Marzullo, 2001). Between 1993 and 1997, 28% of students reported smoking initiation after entering college (Freeman, et al., 2001). In addition, roughly 80% of smokers begin before the age of 20 (Aloise-Young, Graham, & Hennigan, 1996). These startling statistics suggest that although adult smoking is decreasing, a new generation of nicotine dependence is emerging among today’s college population.
In reaction to the devastating rates of smoking, an increase in anti-smoking literature and campaigns has emerged to educate the public about the severe dangers of tobacco use. Research suggests that smokers are aware of their increased risk for smoking related diseases (Benthin, Eggleston, & Gibbons, 1997). Therefore, most smokers have no justifiable reason to engage in the harmful behavior (Butera, Falomir-Pichastor, & Mugny, 2002). Yet, how is one to account for the overwhelmingly high rates of cigarette use and smoking related fatalities? The growing rate of tobacco use suggests that these health campaigns may only be effective in preventing smoking initiation in young adolescents (Flay, Giovino, Nichter, & Wakefield, 2003) and unsuccessful in changing already existent smoking attitudes and behaviors among young adults.
Many of these campaigns aim to decrease cigarette use by promoting negative attitudes towards smoking that conflict with an individual’s own ideas or behavior. However, research has shown that often individuals are motivated to misperceive or forget negative information depending on their personal involvement in the behavior (Aloise-Young et al., 1996). Accordingly, exposure to anti-smoking messages that stress the severe health issues caused by smoking may motivate highly identified smokers to misperceive health facts and underestimate their personal risk for disease. Consequently, the purpose of the present research is to investigate the effect of personal involvement in smoking on young adults’ perception of risk when exposed to negative information about smoking.
The current study is based on concepts derived from cognitive dissonance theory (Freeman et al., 2001). According to this model, individuals aim to maintain a balance between their cognitions and their behavior. Any discrepancies that contradict one’s ideas about his or herself produce an incomfortable state within the person, known as dissonance (Freeman et al., 2001). Thus, the realization that cigarette smoking is a dangerous and harmful activity is likely to generate dissonance within smokers (Benthin, et al. 1997).
The presence of dissonance was noted among college students in research conducted by Devine and Elliot (1994). Forty participants who strongly opposed an increase in tuition were randomly chosen for the study and asked to write essays about the issue. In the dissonant condition, half of the participants were randomly assigned to write a counter-attitudinal essay in favor of the tuition increase. Participants in the non-dissonant condition were requested to compose an attitudinal essay that opposed the increase (Devine & Elliot, 1994).Participants’ level of discomfort was measured at baseline and again at various times throughout the construction of the essay. Results indicated that participants who freely agreed to write the counter-attitudinal essay experienced a greater increase in discomfort than those participants who were chosen to write the attitudinal essay consistent with their beliefs (Devine & Elliot, 1994). As predicted, dissonance was present in participants whose actions conflicted with their personal ideas and beliefs. Accordingly, the current research aims to present smokers with information that is inconsistent with their personal attitudes and beliefs. Theoretically, individuals who hold more positive views toward smoking will experience a greater degree of dissonance when presented with negative information about smoking than those individuals who possess negative attitudes towards cigarette use.
Further literature proposes that dissonance is a motivational state that drives individuals to implement a reduction strategy to diminish the psychological discomfort (Devine & Elliot, 1994). Reducing distress requires individuals to find consistency between dissonant behavior or ideas and their cognitions. Thus, individuals may change the problem behavior, modify their cognitions, or acquire new cognitions (Freeman et al., 2001).
Research previously cited investigated the presence of dissonance among college students and demonstrated the relationship between dissonance and reduction strategies (Devine & Elliot, 1994). Findings of the study indicated that participants in the dissonant condition, who were asked to compose a counter-attitudinal essay experienced greater levels of discomfort than did participants in the control condition. Thus, writing the counter-attitudinal essay caused participants distress because their actions contradicted their personal beliefs. Additional findings show that participants in the dissonant condition reported significantly more attitudinal changes than those in the control group (Devine & Elliot, 1994). This reveals that when faced with dissonance, participants chose to modify their existent attitudes and adopt less negative views towards the tuition increase, in order to maintain consistency between their behavior and cognitions. Based on these findings, the current study hypothesizes that when exposed to dissonant information, smokers will be motivated to modify their cognitions to maintain this consistency.
Additional support for the motivational nature of dissonance is illustrated in research conducted by Chase, Stice, and Trost (2002). Researchers investigated the effectiveness of cognitive dissonance theory in achieving attitude and behavioral changes in adolescent girls who suffered from elevated body dissatisfaction. At the start of the research, all participants completed a baseline survey which assessed initial attitudes towards body dissatisfaction, dieting practices and internalization of the thin-ideal and, attended 3 weekly 1 hour intervention sessions throughout the study that addressed these issues (Chase et al, 2002).
Participants were randomly assigned to either the dissonance intervention or the healthy weight control intervention. The healthy weight control intervention utilized group discussions to address the importance of maintaining a balanced diet and the benefits of regular exercise to one’s health. In contrast, the dissonance intervention asked participants to help create a body acceptance program for younger girls that addressed the dangers associated with extreme body dissatisfaction. This strategy involved writing counter-attitudinal essays, role playing, and other exercises that forced participants to refute the thin-ideal and foster personal acceptance (Chase et al., 2002). These activities required participants to think and act in certain ways that conflicted with their negative attitudes towards their bodies.
Findings of the study suggest that the dissonance intervention created psychological discomfort which motivated both behavioral and attitudinal changes. Specifically, participants in the dissonant condition indicated significantly fewer positive attitudes towards the thin-ideal, less negative affect, and less bulimic symptoms after the intervention (Chase et al., 2002). The induced dissonance motivated participants to implement a reduction strategy, thus, resulting in the modification of cognitions and behaviors.
As demonstrated in previous research, cognitive dissonance has practical applications when trying to produce desirable modifications in attitudes and behavior (Chase et al., 2002). Accordingly, anti-smoking campaigns expose smokers to negative information about cigarette smoking that is inconsistent with their personal image, attitudes, or behavior in attempts to motivate behavioral changes. Theoretically, smokers are expected to decrease their cigarette use in response to these ads in order to regain consistency between their behavior and their cognitions.
However, the increased rate of cigarette use among young adults suggests that current anti-smoking messages are ineffective in changing existent smoking behaviors (Flay, et al. 2003). Thus, the majority of individuals may modify their cognitions instead, “which may involve avoiding, misperceiving, or forgetting dissonance-arousing information” (Freeman et al., 2001, p. 427). Therefore, when presented with information regarding the adverse effects of smoking, many smokers may be prompted to ignore or distort this message. This may involve underestimating their own risk for developing specific health issues. Accordingly, the current study predicts that smokers who are exposed to negative health information about the dangers associated with smoking will misperceive the information, and consequently underestimate their personal risk for disease.
One important mediator of the effects of anti-smoking messages is an individual’s personal involvement in smoking. When a person is in highly involved in a behavior, he or she is more likely to distinguish the information as threatening and misperceive it as a result. In contrast, moderate involvement in behavior may motivate the accurate interpretation of a message (Freeman et al., 2001). Consequently, a heavy smoker may be more motivated to misperceive or distort anti-smoking message than an individual who considers tobacco use less personally relevant (Freeman et al., 2001). Accordingly, the present study predicts that increased involvement in smoking will motivate smokers to misperceive anti-smoking information.
In support of this relationship between smoking involvement and the misperception of dissonant information, Falomir and Invernizzi (1999) found that highly identified smokers (those who considered tobacco use important to their self concept) and weakly identified smokers differed in their reaction to anti-smoking messages. Particularly, exposure to anti-smoking messages increased weakly identified smokers’ intentions to quit smoking (Falomir & Invernizzi, 1999). They were able to reduce the dissonance created by the anti-smoking message by increasing their plans of cessation. In contrast, individuals who viewed smoking as highly relevant to their self-concept were unaffected by the anti-smoking campaign (Falomir & Invernizzi, 1999). This illustrates that these individuals distorted the anti-smoking messages to reduce the psychological discomfort.
Similarly, increased personal involvement in coffee consumption increased motivations to disregard negative health information about the behavior. When presented with negative information regarding caffeine consumption, coffee drinkers were more critical of the message than non-coffee drinkers (Liberman & Chaiken, 1992). Thus, coffee drinkers were more motivated to find false or unreliable facts in the message, so that they may disregard the information. In concurrence with previous research, the current study hypothesizes that individuals more involved in smoking will be prompted to misperceive information about the negative health effects associated with their behavior. Based on supportive literature (Freeman et al., 2001), the current research defines personal involvement in terms of three related variables: smoking status, attitudes towards smoking, and the consistency between one’s identity and traits related to the stereotypical smoker.
The present study defines smoking status as one’s current smoking habits, and predicts that smokers will be more motivated to misperceive anti-smoking information than nonsmokers. Previous literature (Flay, et al., 2003) has noted a relationship between this variable and individuals’ reaction to anti-smoking campaigns. One field experiment examined the effectiveness of an anti-smoking campaign in reducing tobacco use among 7th graders in Finland (Flay et al., 2003). The school-based program taught students refusal skills to overcome the social pressures applied by peers, adults, and the media to initiate smoking. Students were also exposed to mass media and community activities to promote smoking cessation within adults.
After a four-year period, smoking rates among the students who received the anti-smoking program were significantly lower than those in the control group (Flay et al., 2003). However, after eight years, lowered smoking rates were only present among those students who were nonsmokers at the onset of the program (Flay et al., 2003). The anti-smoking campaign was only effective in decreasing smoking initiation and had no effect on smoking cessation among adolescents. Consequently, results suggest that current smoking status is an important mediator to the accurate interpretation of anti-smoking information (Flay et al., 2003).
The second variable associated with personal involvement in smoking is one’s attitudes toward the behavior. Research conducted by Cui et al. (2002) illustrated a relationship between one’s attitudes and current behaviors. Throughout a 7-year longitudinal study 852 students were surveyed annually to examine the relationship between their attitudes towards smoking and related tobacco use (Cui et al., 2002). Adolescents who were less involved in tobacco use sustained less favorable attitudes towards the behavior. Students who abstained from smoking demonstrated the least amount of positive beliefs about smoking. In contrast, students who smoked regularly tended to display the most favorable attitudes toward tobacco use (Cui et al., 2002).
Additionally, adolescents who experimented with smoking (experimenters) and those who began smoking late in the study (late escalators) indicated more positive attitudes towards smoking during periods when they were currently involved in the behavior (Cui et al., 2002). In other words, during periods in the study when they indicated cigarette use, they also reported more positive attitudes toward smoking. Students who experimented with tobacco from time to time reported more positive attitudes toward smoking while they were currently involved in the behavior. Additionally, late escalators who abstained from smoking early in the study initially demonstrated negative attitudes toward tobacco use. However, their smoking attitudes gradually became more positive as they began smoking (Cui& Soldz, 2002).. Results of the study suggest that positive attitudes towards cigarette use are an indicator of personal involvement in smoking and therefore, related one’s motivation to misperceive dissonant information. Consequently, the current study predicts that individuals with more positive attitudes towards smoking will demonstrate less perception of risk than those individuals who hold more negative views.
The third variable relevant to one’s involvement in smoking is the consistency between his or her self-concept and traits associated with the stereotypical smoker. Research (Freeman et al., 2001) suggests that the more strongly one relates to the stereotypical smoker, the more likely they are to be involved in smoking. Additional findings demonstrated that nonsmoking adolescents who indicated a high consistency between their self-image and smoker stereotypes were more likely to initiation tobacco use within the next year (Aloise-Young et al., 1996). Accordingly, the present study hypothesizes that smokers will indicate a greater consistency between their identity and traits associated with stereotypical smokers. Furthermore, these individuals will be more motivated to misperceive the anti-smoking information and underestimate their risk.In summary, previous research suggests that increased personal involvement in smoking may motivate individuals to misperceive negative health information associated with the behavior (Freeman et al., 2001). As a result, they may distort, avoid, or forget the dissonant information in attempts to regain consistency between their cognitions and behavior (Liberman et al., 1992). The current study identifies personal involvement in smoking as one’s smoking status, attitudes towards smoking, and the consistency between one’s self-concept and smoker stereotype, and makes predictions about each of these variables. It is hypothesized that smokers exposed to anti-smoking information will rate their chances of disease to be less than nonsmokers. Secondly, the present study also predicts that individuals with more positive attitudes towards smoking will underestimate their risk for disease in comparison to individuals with more negative views. Lastly, it is theorized that smokers will conform more to the smoker stereotype than nonsmokers. Accordingly, the present research hypothesizes that individuals with increased involvement in smoking will be motivated to misperceive the anti-smoking information, and thus underestimate their risk for smoking related diseases.
Abstract Introduction Method Results Discussion Appendices References