"Cigarettes kill," but don't tell smokers

Study shows that warnings related to self-esteem were more effective than those indicating "cigarettes kill" in reducing smoking, according to media reports quoting the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology Monday.
Psychologists from the U.S., Switzerland and Germany conducted a small study and drew the conclusion that warnings such as "smoking makes you unattractive" or "smoking brings you and the people around you severe damage" do a better job in talking people out of their habit.
This worked especially well when people smoked to boost their self-esteem, such as young people who learned to smoke to become popular or fit in with their peers, the psychologists figured out.
"To succeed with anti-smoking messages on cigarette packs one has to take into account that considering their death may make people smoke," the study said.
A total of 39 psychology students, smokers aged between 17 and 41, participated in the study.
"On the one hand, death-related warnings were not effective and even ironically caused more positive smoking attitudes among smokers who based their self-esteem on smoking," the study said.
"On the other hand, warning messages that were unrelated to death effectively reduced smoking attitudes" among those who smoke for self-esteem.