Pilot study of inducing smoking cessation attempts by activating a sense of looming vulnerability

Despite widespread knowledge of the negative health consequences of cigarette smoking, in 2007 a majority (60%) of daily smokers in the USA did not make a quit attempt lasting at least 24 h. Drawing on Riskind's looming cognitive vulnerability model of anxiety, we developed a guided imagery induction intended to increase smokers' perceived susceptibility to the consequences of continued smoking and thereby to increase quit attempts. In a pilot study of this induction, 72 adult daily smokers were randomly assigned to the looming imagery condition or to a control condition exposed to guided imagery that did not concern smoking or its dangers. Those in the looming condition reported significantly higher state anxiety and highly accessible negative outcome expectancies for smoking immediately after the induction, and a significantly lower smoking rate in the month after the experiment. Nonsignificant trends favored the looming condition also for increasing contemplation of quitting, self-efficacy for abstaining from cigarettes, intrinsic motivation to quit as a function of health concerns, and most importantly the likelihood of making a quit attempt in the month following the experiment. Further development and testing of the looming induction as a way to motivate quit attempts is warranted.