14 DAY TRIAL // A collaboration of researchers from the Institut Universitaire en Santé Mentale de Montréal and Université de Montréal announce in a new study the discovery of a bias smokers appear to hold with regards to negative images of their habit promoted by public health campaigns and other sources.
The study determined that people who smoke are more likely to adhere to – and internalize – the positive images of smoking they encounter, be it in commercials or elsewhere. When exposed to negative images, smokers simply choose to willingly ignore them, including the warning related to the health risks of smoking, PsychCentral reports.
Scientists analyzed people in a group of chronic smokers by looking at their emotional reactions when exposed to images associated with tobacco use, regardless of whether positive or negative. What the team found was an altered reaction when negative images were presented.
“For example, the brains of the smokers in our study were more aroused by images that showed smoking in a positive light than by images that encouraged them to stop,” says study researcher Le-Anh Dinh-Williams. “They were also more affected by aversive non-smoking related images than by images of the specific negative consequences of smoking,” the expert adds.
Such studies are important because no less than 1 in 5 adults in Canada and the United States smoke cigarettes daily, even though they are very well aware of the health dangers they expose themselves to.