Title: Resistance to Anti-smoking Information As a Function of Implicit Expectancies Toward Smoking and Smoking-cessation
Presenters/authors and affiliations:
Vahey, N.1, Barnes-Holmes, D.1, Barnes-Holmes, Y.1, & Stewart, I.2
1National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland.
2National University of Ireland, Galway, Co. Galway, Ireland.
Objectives: To examine across two studies (N = 92), how implicit expectations of quitting versus smoking impede anti-smoking messages prescribing smoking-cessation.
Design: The studies employed group comparisons (smokers at different stages of change and nonsmokers), coupled with repeated-measures analyses of target-attitudes about quitting and smoking. Between-group manipulations also allowed the examination of how implicit attitudes interact with the framing of the anti-smoking information presented.
Method: The Implicit Relational Assessment Procedure required participants to alternate between making “consistent” responses and “inconsistent” responses (e.g. responding “True” and “False” respectively, to “I Need to Smoke when Upset”) at speed. The response-time differentials between consistent and inconsistent tasks indexed implicit bias.
Results: ANOVA and regression statistics provided significant effects strongly implicating implicit attitudes in smoking-persistence and –relapse.
Conclusions: The collective findings suggest that implicit smoking- and quitting-related expectancies are important in differentially undermining smoking-cessation, by respectively precipitating smoking-relapse and undermining information that prescribes quitting.
