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Open Access Thesis

Keywords

Cigarette smokers; Tobacco--Physiological effect;

Abstract

Past research has shown that smoking attenuates stress and reduces emotional behavior in smokers. Smoking also generally leads to the facilitation of performance on a variety of tasks. Deprivation of smoking has consistently produced performance and mood decrements. The purpose of this investigation was to assess the effects of three hours of deprivation and smoking on performance and mood in smokers while operating a complex computer simulation. The following hypotheses were constructed: (a) Nondeprived smokers who smoke nicotine cigarettes will show superior subjective and objective performance, will rate the stimulation as less difficult and stressful, and will possess higher self-efficacy than deprived smokers who smoke nicotine free cigarettes; (b) nondeprived smokers who smoke nicotine cigarettes will show the fewest mood changes and deprived subjects who smoked nicotine free cigarettes will show the greatest mood changes; and (c) subjects smoking nicotine cigarettes will rate their cigarettes as more helpful in performance and controlling mood than subjects smoking nicotine free cigarettes. Sixty-two college students (24 males and 38 females) were recruited from several introductory psychology sections to serve as subjects. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of four conditions in a 2 x 2 (Deprived vs. Nondeprived x Nicotine vs. Nicotine Free Cigarette) factorial design. Subjects operated a computer simulation of an air traffic controller's job for two 20-minute periods. After these periods, subjects either smoked a nicotine or nicotine free cigarette. Mood was assessed before operating the simulation and before and after each cigarette was smoked. Subjects' evaluation of their performance, and the difficulty and stressfulness of the simulation were measured as well as subjects' prediction of future performance. A composite objective performance score was constructed to reflect subjects' performance on the simulation. In addition, subjects rated the cigarettes they smoked on several continua and evaluated them on their usefulness. The findings only partially corroborate past research: (a) Smoking nicotine cigarettes aided subjective performance, regardless of deprivation type; (b) subjects who were not deprived showed larger improvements in objective performance and larger reductions in difficulty ratings than those who were deprived regardless of type of cigarette smoked; (c) mood generally changed as a function of the procedure, with the most intense mood being experienced when first exposed with the simulation; and (d) nicotine cigarettes were rated as being more helpful to performance and mood control than nicotine free cigarettes. Possible interpretations of these results were presented. In addition, limitations of the study were discussed with recommendations for future research.

Year of Submission

1985

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Psychology

First Advisor

Frank Barrios

Second Advisor

Linda Walsh

Third Advisor

Andrew R. Gilpin

Comments

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Date Original

1985

Object Description

1 PDF file (156 leaves)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

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