Mating-EFT Smoking Cessation Intervention

Motivation, Smoking Cessation

The current proposal aims to develop and establish the effectiveness of a novel behavioral smoking cessation intervention. Previous research has shown that having smokers engage in episodic future thinking (EFT) about specific positive life outcomes that they could experience if they quit smoking immediately can be an effective means of reducing cigarette consumption. This intervention allowed participants to generate their own general positive life outcomes. While the existing intervention approaches motivation from a generalist perspective, the current proposal seeks to modify this intervention to fit within a Fundamental Social Motives (FSM) framework. The FSM framework posits that there exist individual differences in fundamental social motives such as self-protection, disease avoidance, affiliation, kin care, and mating motives such that some individuals are more motivated to work toward some of these goals than others. Specifically, the current proposal seeks to develop an EFT intervention that appeals to fundamental mating motives by asking participants to imagine positive mating outcomes that they might experience in one year's time if they were to quit smoking immediately. This will be accomplished via two empirical studies. Study 1 will compare the effectiveness of the mating-EFT intervention to the general-EFT intervention and a yoked control condition while examining the possibility that individual differences in relationship status, mating motives, self-efficacy, and nicotine dependence moderate these effects. Study 2 will employ a quasi-experimental design to test the effectiveness of this intervention using a tailored messaging approach, assigning smokers who are either single and motivated to seek new mates or involved in a committed relationship and not motivated to seek new mates to complete the general or mating-EFT or a control task. The investigators predict that the mating-EFT will be more effective than the general EFT in reducing cigarette consumption, particularly if it is administered to participants who have more active mating goals.

Tobacco use is one of the leading causes of preventable illness and premature death worldwide. Individuals who smoke tobacco tend to develop a physical addiction to nicotine. Behavioral interventions have been shown to be an effective means of assisting with smoking cessation. Smoking cessation interventions, especially those of a brief and intensive nature, have been shown to be a cost-effective means of preventing negative health outcomes and extending life expectancy. The PRIME theory of motivation regards cigarette addiction as a disorder of motivation. Accordingly, this theory seeks to help practitioners to identify effective means of overcoming addition through an analysis of the plans, responses, motives, impulses, and evaluations of smokers. Behavioral interventions often employ motivation interviewing with the goal of enhancing the motivation of smokers to quit by increasing their enthusiasm for positive life outcomes associated with quitting as well as giving a sense of purpose to this behavioral change. Evolutionary perspectives on human behavior suggest that the desire to find a mate is a fundamental social motive that drives much of human behavior. Accordingly, encouraging smokers to think about how quitting could be beneficial to their mating goals could be an effective means of enhancing motivation to quit. A brief intervention that requires smokers to employ episodic future thinking (EFT) has been shown to effectively reduce smoking behavior. The current proposal aims to (1) develop and test the effectiveness of a behavioral intervention that employs EFT about how immediate quitting of smoking could enhance prospects for mating success and (2) refine this intervention by identifying key individual differences that impact its effectiveness, in order to maximize successful cessation outcomes by targeting populations that would be more strongly motivated by mating-related goals. Aim 1: To develop and test the effectiveness of a behavioral smoking cessation intervention that employs EFT about future mating opportunities. EFT involves thinking about oneself experiencing a specific future event. Research indicates that this type of thinking reduces the tendency for people to discount the future costs associated with current behaviors and to reduce cigarette consumption. Since mating goals are of fundamental importance to human social life, an intervention that involves EFT about how quitting smoking could lead to increased likelihood of success in a specific future mating situation may be an especially effective means of motivating smokers to quit. Specifically, smokers will be instructed to imagine how quitting today could improve their chances of attracting a mate in a specific future mating situation. Aim 2: To determine whether individual differences in mating motives moderate the effectiveness of the proposed intervention. People who are involved in a committed romantic relationship are often less motivated to seek a new mate than people who are single. Furthermore, some people are generally more motivated to seek new mates than others, regardless of relationship status. Self-report measures are commonly used to measure individual differences in preference for sexual variety and motivation to seek new mates. The investigators aim to determine whether relationship status and mating motivation moderate the effectiveness of the proposed mating-EFT smoking cessation intervention. The investigators predict that this intervention would be most effective among individuals who are not currently involved in a committed romantic relationship and are highly motivated to seek new mates.

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