Appeal to Smokers' Vanity

Dying from smoking cigarettes is one thing. Yellow teeth, wrinkles and bad breath (Halitosis) are something else altogether, according to one psychological study.

The study, recently published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, indicates that smokers, many of whom develop the habit because they want to boost their self image, are more likely to be deterred by warnings that smoking will make them unattractive than by warnings that it could lead to their deaths.

Further, the study suggests that the more dire death warnings might actually backfire. When confronted with those warnings, some people bolster their habit by developing coping mechanisms to justify continuing to smoke.

According to the Telegraph, a British newspaper that reported on the study, researchers in the United States, Switzerland and Germany, questioned 39 psychology students who said they were smokers.

The answer? Perhaps warnings on cigarette packs should say that smoking can kill you, and while emphasizing that being dead is not at all becoming.

Discover how I cured my nasty Bad Breath here.

Source The Post and Courier

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