Israeli research: Contrary to popular belief, smokers are not risk takers but are influenced by immediate benefit

The results of the study indicate that cigarette smokers tend to be tempted by immediate profit more than the non-smokers

For years researchers around the world have been trying to decipher the reasons why people continue to smoke despite the dangers involved. It is difficult to pin the explanation on scraping addiction in view of the fact that many succeed in quitting. Common opinion suggested that smokers have a personality characterized by an increased tendency to take risks, a theory that was supported by evidence that smokers tend to take more risks than "non-smokers" even in situations unrelated to smoking, such as using seat belts in a car, and having unprotected sex. However, a new study by Israeli researchers published this month in the respected scientific journal PLOS ONE and reviewed this week in the "New York Times" shows that, contrary to what was commonly thought, the tendency to smoke may stem from a completely different reason.

In a study conducted by Dr. Ill Art from the Department of Agricultural Economics and Director of the Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environment at the Hebrew University, and Prof. Eldad Yachiam and Olga Arashevsky from the Faculty of Industrial Engineering and Management at the Technion, the researchers found that smokers are not characterized by an increased tendency to risk but rather a reduced tendency to resist the temptation of profit immediate

The researchers compared decision making of "light smokers" versus "non-smokers" in a laboratory risk-taking game that focuses on patterns of choice between four virtual decks of cards. Each deck has a certain probability of yielding a profit and a probability of yielding a loss, and the participants in the experiment were asked to choose 60 times between the different decks. One of the decks was more "tempting" than the others - choosing it 9 out of 10 times yielded the highest profit among the decks ($100 profit) but with a 10% probability it led to the highest loss of $1,200.

The results of the study showed that the non-smokers learned that in the long run the tempting pack is not worth it. They realized that although this deck in most cases yields the highest profit among the decks, every few turns it causes such a big loss that it wipes out their profits. Therefore, they tended to abandon this deck during the game and choose more of the other decks. On the other hand, the group of smokers continued to choose the tempting pack even though in cumulative weighting it ultimately caused them losses. In other words, the smokers focused on the possibility of a high immediate profit instead of the long-term cumulative profit.

In another experiment, the researchers increased the probability that choosing the most tempting and dangerous deck would result in an immediate loss (smaller than $1200). This change eliminated the differences in choosing this pack between smokers and non-smokers. This finding indicates that smokers are not willing to take more risks than non-smokers but are more influenced by the immediate time frame. So as soon as the chances of the tempting and dangerous pack to give them the highest profit instantly have diminished, Henna this pack among the smokers.

The findings showed that smokers are characterized by a tendency to be tempted by alternatives that give immediate profit but cause damage in the long term even in situations different from the situation of lighting a cigarette. Regarding the implications of the study, Dr. Art says: "Our findings suggest the possibility of making it easier for smokers to quit smoking by focusing on reducing the immediate gains associated with smoking. The findings suggest, for example, that a ban on smoking in public places, which was originally intended to reduce harm from passive smoking, may also reduce the level of smoking among the smokers themselves due to the additional cost added as a result of reducing the ability to smoke immediately whenever one feels like it."

Dr. Art further says: "We do not claim that smokers lack self-control, or that this is the only reason why they smoke. But the research indicates that an increased tendency to focus on immediate profit, rather than a love of risk, distinguishes people who smoke from those who don't. We believe that this finding is an important element in understanding the totality of the causes of smoking. However, I would be wary of overly aggressive applications in the context of adding an immediate cost to smoking. For example, in an experiment conducted already in the XNUMXs, psychologists created a pack of cigarettes that caused the person who took a cigarette to receive a small electronic market. It is not difficult to guess that this caused the subjects to avoid smoking, but this idea is too creative to say the least and you can find other, less aggressive methods. For example, someone told us that when she quit smoking, she kept an 'emergency pack' locked in a side drawer and wrapped it tightly in scotch tape so that she would have to make an effort if she suddenly felt the need to smoke. So even on a personal level, it seems possible to apply our findings in a friendly way."