Smokeless
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Effect of negative mood induction and mood repair on motivation to smoke.
IRAS ID
173170
Contact name
Lee Hogarth
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
There is a higher incidence of psychiatric illness in smokers compared to the general population, and comorbid psychiatric illness is associated with poorer smoking quit rates. One possibility is that negative mood increases motivation to smoke. The current experiment is designed to test three hypotheses. Firstly, we will test whether depressed smokers are more sensitive to the effect of acute negative mood increasing smoking motivation. Secondly, we will test whether individuals who report that they frequently smoke to alleviate negative affect are more sensitive to the effect of acute negative mood on smoking motivation. Finally, we will test whether a positive mood repair intervention will reverse the impact of negative mood on smoking motivation in depressed smokers.
In our experiment, participants first will complete a battery of questionnaire measures (measuring depression, anhedonia, and smoking dependence, along with their motivations for smoking and number of quit attempts). In the second phase they will undertake a computerised concurrent choice task where they can choose to enlarge one of two pictures on each trial - one of which is smoking-related, and one food-related.
The first block of this choice task will establish a baseline preference for either smoking or food pictures. All participants will experience a standard negative mood induction procedure - participants read 16 negative mood statements, whilst listening to sad music (Barber’s Adagio for Strings). They will then complete the concurrent choice task again, in the expectation that negative mood will augment choice of smoking images. In order to return participants to their original mood state prior to finishing the experiment, participants will then experience a positive mood induction: they will read 16 positive self-statements whilst listening to happy music (Mozart’s Einekleine Nachtmusik). They will complete the concurrent choice task again to examine degree of recovery from negative mood-induced smoking choice.
REC name
South West - Cornwall & Plymouth Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/SW/0199
Date of REC Opinion
2 Sep 2015
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion