<p> Recent theories of attitudes and cognition have made a distinction between explicit attitudes that are conscious, deliberate judgments people make when asked to do so, and implicit attitudes, or those that are made automatically and without conscious effort (Greenwald and Banaji, 1995). This study integrated research and theory of implicit attitudes about smoking with the Transtheoretical Model's understanding of the process individuals go through as they quit smoking, to test the moderating effect of motivation to change on implicit smoking attitudes and to evaluate the indirect (mediated) effects of implicit smoking attitudes on cigarette demand through explicit smoking attitudes. Participants were <i>N</i>=283 daily smokers who completed an online survey that measured characteristics of their smoking, motivational Readiness to change, decisional balance considerations (Pros and Cons of smoking), and demand for cigarettes (Cigarette Purchase Task), before completing the Smoking Implicit Association Test. Results of multiple regression analyses indicated that as implicit attitudes about smoking became more positive, smokers reported on average more explicit positive attitudes (Pros of smoking) about smoking and less negative explicit attitudes (Cons of smoking) about smoking, beyond the effect Readiness for change had on those explicit smoking attitudes. Readiness to change did not moderate the effect of implicit smoking attitudes on decisional balance considerations. Decisional balance considerations were important predictors of smoker's responses on the smoking purchase task and accounted for the relationship between implicit smoking attitudes and choices on a hypothetical smoking purchase task. More positive implicit smoking attitudes indirectly predicted that smokers would purchase cigarettes at higher average prices before consumption dropped to zero, greater average maximum financial expenditure on cigarettes, and higher average price at which expenditure was maximized. These results may be useful for understanding how cigarette prices affect attitudes about smoking and increase the likelihood that people will quit.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3637322 |
| Date | 29 October 2014 |
| Creators | Greene, Preston Archer |
| Publisher | University of Maryland, Baltimore County |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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