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“Smoking Kills” vs. “Smoking Makes Restless”: Effectiveness of Different Warning Labels on Smoking Behavior

Received: 12 September 2013     Published: 20 October 2013
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Abstract

Warning labels on cigarette packages rely on the negative health aspects of smoking. For smokers, however, smoking is related to positive as well as to negative outcomes. Positive smoking outcomes are shown to be crucial in activating smoking behaviour. Thus, this study compared current health warnings with warning labels contradicting positive outcomes. In a field study, 39 adult smokers were followed over a 5-day period to investigate the effect of the different types of warning labels on actual smoking behaviour. Our results provide evidence that smokers, who received warning labels contradicting positive outcome expectancies, smoked less than smokers, who received current health warnings. Thus, contradicting positive smoking outcomes on cigarette warning labels may be an effective tool in smoking prevention and intervention.

Published in Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (Volume 2, Issue 5)
DOI 10.11648/j.pbs.20130205.12
Page(s) 181-187
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2013. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Smoking, Cigarette Health Warnings, Outcome Expectancies, Cessation

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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Sabine Glock, Simone Maria Ritter, Rutger Engels, Ap Dijksterhuis, Rick Bart van Baaren, et al. (2013). “Smoking Kills” vs. “Smoking Makes Restless”: Effectiveness of Different Warning Labels on Smoking Behavior. Psychology and Behavioral Sciences, 2(5), 181-187. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20130205.12

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    ACS Style

    Sabine Glock; Simone Maria Ritter; Rutger Engels; Ap Dijksterhuis; Rick Bart van Baaren, et al. “Smoking Kills” vs. “Smoking Makes Restless”: Effectiveness of Different Warning Labels on Smoking Behavior. Psychol. Behav. Sci. 2013, 2(5), 181-187. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20130205.12

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    AMA Style

    Sabine Glock, Simone Maria Ritter, Rutger Engels, Ap Dijksterhuis, Rick Bart van Baaren, et al. “Smoking Kills” vs. “Smoking Makes Restless”: Effectiveness of Different Warning Labels on Smoking Behavior. Psychol Behav Sci. 2013;2(5):181-187. doi: 10.11648/j.pbs.20130205.12

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  • @article{10.11648/j.pbs.20130205.12,
      author = {Sabine Glock and Simone Maria Ritter and Rutger Engels and Ap Dijksterhuis and Rick Bart van Baaren and Barbara Caterina Nadine Müller},
      title = {“Smoking Kills” vs. “Smoking Makes Restless”: Effectiveness of Different Warning Labels on Smoking Behavior},
      journal = {Psychology and Behavioral Sciences},
      volume = {2},
      number = {5},
      pages = {181-187},
      doi = {10.11648/j.pbs.20130205.12},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20130205.12},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.pbs.20130205.12},
      abstract = {Warning labels on cigarette packages rely on the negative health aspects of smoking. For smokers, however, smoking is related to positive as well as to negative outcomes. Positive smoking outcomes are shown to be crucial in activating smoking behaviour. Thus, this study compared current health warnings with warning labels contradicting positive outcomes. In a field study, 39 adult smokers were followed over a 5-day period to investigate the effect of the different types of warning labels on actual smoking behaviour. Our results provide evidence that smokers, who received warning labels contradicting positive outcome expectancies, smoked less than smokers, who received current health warnings. Thus, contradicting positive smoking outcomes on cigarette warning labels may be an effective tool in smoking prevention and intervention.},
     year = {2013}
    }
    

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    T1  - “Smoking Kills” vs. “Smoking Makes Restless”: Effectiveness of Different Warning Labels on Smoking Behavior
    AU  - Sabine Glock
    AU  - Simone Maria Ritter
    AU  - Rutger Engels
    AU  - Ap Dijksterhuis
    AU  - Rick Bart van Baaren
    AU  - Barbara Caterina Nadine Müller
    Y1  - 2013/10/20
    PY  - 2013
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20130205.12
    DO  - 10.11648/j.pbs.20130205.12
    T2  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
    JF  - Psychology and Behavioral Sciences
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    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2328-7845
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.pbs.20130205.12
    AB  - Warning labels on cigarette packages rely on the negative health aspects of smoking. For smokers, however, smoking is related to positive as well as to negative outcomes. Positive smoking outcomes are shown to be crucial in activating smoking behaviour. Thus, this study compared current health warnings with warning labels contradicting positive outcomes. In a field study, 39 adult smokers were followed over a 5-day period to investigate the effect of the different types of warning labels on actual smoking behaviour. Our results provide evidence that smokers, who received warning labels contradicting positive outcome expectancies, smoked less than smokers, who received current health warnings. Thus, contradicting positive smoking outcomes on cigarette warning labels may be an effective tool in smoking prevention and intervention.
    VL  - 2
    IS  - 5
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • LCMI Research Unit, University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg, Luxembourg

  • Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

  • Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

  • Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

  • Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

  • Behavioural Science Institute, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

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