Cognitive reactions to smoking relapse: The reciprocal relation between dissonance and self-esteem.
Abstract
Perceptions of health risk associated with smoking, commitment to quitting, and self-concept were assessed among smokers before, during, and after their participation in cessation clinics. Consistent with expectations derived from cognitive dissonance theory, results indicated that relapsers' perception of risk declined after they resumed smoking, although the decline was significant only for relapsers with high self-esteem; high self-esteem relapsers experienced a significantly greater decline in commitment to quitting than did low self-esteem relapsers; and decline in risk perception among relapsers was associated with maintenance of self-esteem. The implications of these results for dissonance theory and the study of smoking relapse and cessation are discussed.
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Smokers who relapsed and began smoking again reduced their self-perceived risk of acquiring smoking-related illnesses, but only among high self-esteem smokers.
“The smokers who relapsed and began smoking again reduced the dissonance associated with this attitude-discrepant behavior (discrepant because they were committed to quitting smoking) by reducing their self-perceived risk of acquiring smoking-related illnesses.”
From The psychology of self-defense: Self-affirmation theory (2006) · cites this paper as Gibbons et al., 1997
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Dynamics of identity: between self-enhancement and self-assessment
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- Authors
- Gibbons, F. X., Eggleston, T. J., & Benthin, A. C.
- Affiliations
- Iowa State University (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology
- Published
- 1997-01
- Volume
- 72
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 184-195
- ISSN
- 0022-3514 (ISSN-L)
- 1939-1315
- OpenAlex
- W2087104567
- Cited by
- 138
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 5 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 3 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 6 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 3.26
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Personality and Social Psychology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institutes of Health (5r03da007534-02)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (DA07534A)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Smoking Behavior and Cessation
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Behavioral Health and Interventions
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes
- Keywords
- smoking relapse, cognitive dissonance, self-esteem, health risk perception, smoking cessation, self-concept
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Analysis of Variance, Attitude to Health, Cognitive Dissonance, Ego, Female, Humans, Male, Motivation, Recurrence, Regression Analysis, Risk-Taking, Self Concept, Time Factors, Smoking Cessation
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