Change is in the Air

Abstract

The main purpose of this research was to determine the success of attitude change programs for the National Quit Smoking campaign in Australia. The program comes under the umbrella of the National Tobacco Campaign. A collaborative quit-smoking health initiative, between federal, state, and territory governments and non-government organisations. The major social psychological factors to be considered are attitudes, beliefs, heuristics, behaviour and persuasion. Theoretical foundations and research evidence about key elements underlying attitude change programs will be explored. Overall, understanding the interaction between these variables may provide significant information towards social psychological strategies aimed towards the attitude change campaign.



The relationship between behaviour and health is well established and there is strong evidence for the importance of risk factors associated with smoking (Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology, 2004). These behaviours can differ dramatically depending on cultural, social, and group norms. One recent study on attitudes found that when new attitudes are formed behaviour is changed; suggesting attitudes predict behaviour (Rydell & McConnell, 2006). Thus, attitudes are the global evaluations toward some object or issue (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008). Therefore, to determine the factors necessary for success within an attitude change program is the focus for the National Tobacco Campaign in Australia. The campaign is a collaborative quit-smoking health initiative between federal, state, and territory governments including non-government organisations. Current social change programs aimed at anti smoking are becoming more prevalent in television and print media. Gone are the days of a more subtle approach, now state and national commercials air graphic health warnings to convey the message that health consequences are imminent. Whether this approach is viewed as effective or not will be investigated as research, and will help to illustrate the key elements of implicit and explicit attitudes that underlie attitude change. The Health Belief Model posits that beliefs about the ease and consequences of doing (or not doing) a certain behaviour determine whether we do (or do not do) that behaviour (Baumeister & Bushman, 2008). As a result, attitudes and behaviours will play a role in the choice to continue or alternatively quit smoking. Overall, beliefs, attitudes, behaviours, and the interplay between these social psychological variables will be explored further.


Background on the National Tobacco Campaign

The age bracket of vulnerability for tobacco use is between 10 and 18 years of age when most users start smoking and become addicted to the substance. Very few individuals begin to use tobacco as adults; almost all-first use occurs prior to graduation from high school (Encyclopedia of Applied Science, 2004). The Department of Health and Ageing in March 2005, released the National Tobacco Strategy 2004 – 2009. The national initiative implemented the National Tobacco Campaign to meet targets surrounding education and resources and to address social, economic and cultural determinants with a view to plan and invest in tobacco control over a five-year period. The National Tobacco Campaign primarily targets 18-40 year old smokers with the messages “every cigarette is doing you damage”, “it’s not just a risk - it’s a certainty that smoking will damage your health” (Quitline, 2007). Further statements that “smoking damages your arteries, lungs and eyesight,” advocates a nationally coordinated effort to help individuals quit. The campaign advertisements have been aired around the nation on television and radio, in newspapers, on buses and posters. The National Tobacco Campaign was initially implemented as a two-tiered approach with the first stage focusing on the Health Warnings Campaign in 2006 to draw attention to the graphic health warnings on the product packaging. Secondly, the next aim was to specifically reduce youth smoking rates. The key message of this campaign sought to encourage the primary target audience of young people 12-24 years in age to ‘reject smoking’, and the secondary target audience (smoker parents) to ‘quit smoking in order to discourage their children from smoking’ (Health, 2007). As a result, the campaign seeks to review this process by conducting surveys to evaluate the campaign’s success and monitor issues with other products of tobacco. The resulting reports provide information on campaign scope and recognition as well as statistics on smoking prevalence, and smoking beliefs, attitudes and behaviours (Quitline, 2007).

Implicit & Explicit Attitudes

Rydell & McConnell (2006) suggest that in recent years the focus of attitude research has shifted from understanding explicit attitudes to examining implicit attitudes also known as dual attitudes. Explicit attitudes are those in which activation can be consciously controlled, whereas implicit attitudes are those without conscious access and therefore are more automatic (Baumeister et al, 2008). Rydell & McConnell (2006) found that there were important differences between implicit and explicit attitudes especially in how they change. One important finding was the Equation Likelihood Model (ELM), which predicts that once an attitude is changed, usually by the presentation of a compelling argument or by a peripheral cue to persuasion, the original attitude no longer exists. Research suggests that people can hold different implicit attitudes and explicit attitudes about an attitude object simultaneously, and that implicit attitudes are not changed at the same rate as explicit attitudes (Wilson, cited in Rydell & McConnell 2006), some findings suggest however not a lot of research to support this notion. One study by Payne, McClernon & Dobbins (2007) found that smokers have more positive automatic responses that is implicit attitudes to smoking cues than non-smokers do. Suggesting, that some smokers may not be aware of the underlying processes leading them to smoke. Supporting the notion that if people are not cognisant of the implicit attitude, then it may not in fact change at the same rate as the explicit attitude. Another cue for persuasion is that of the Picque technique, which captures a person’s attention, by making a novel request (Baumeister & Bushman 2008). That is, when something out of the ordinary, which is not expected, occurs, this shift captures the person’s attention. For example, the recent ‘which disease’ commercials that depict smokers selecting which disease they will acquire is a good example of the Picque technique. This is indeed a novel request, highlighting the plight of the likely health consequence and providing the individual with the capacity for change. This theory posits two routes to persuasion, either through conscious or through automatic processing known as Heuristic/systematic model theory.



Success with attitude change regarding advertising


It is important for advertisers to understand how consumers interpret the marketing claims, for products because such interpretations are likely to influence decisions about whether to try a product (O’Connor, Ashare & Fix, 2007). Yet another different approach evolves from a study conducted by McGrath & Mahood (2004) who suggested that it might be more beneficial to place advertising for certain products within the context of high arousal programs rather than less arousing programs. This theory suggests that advertising likeability and awareness for a brand would be better suited to employ arousing programming. One weakness with this particular study is the primary focus on a television medium without studying the effects on print media or any other type of media. Still, the study raises some interesting points surrounding advertising strategies, particularly as the National Tobacco Campaign is aimed quite heavily at using television as the chosen medium to convey its message. A study by Devlin, Eadie, Stead & Evans (2007) found that mass media campaigns can play an important role in reaching large numbers of young people directly with preventative messages. Their results indicated that no single anti-smoking message appeal is likely to have universal appeal and that young people’s response is mediated by the values and heuristics they attach to smoking. So one social psychological concept of brand loyalty may have no impact on a smoker who holds a positive belief toward a brand and thus their commitment to continue purchasing this same brand remains (Baumeister & Bushman (2008). Moreover, Cognitive Dissonance Theory may come into play here with reference to the level of arousal regarding program times. If graphic health warnings are depicted at popular time slots, the cognitive dissonance theory that inconsistencies produce psychological discomfort may lead people to ationalize their behaviour or change their attitudes to anti-smoking. The National Tobacco Campaign as mentioned above is implementing their strategy over a five-year period. These commercials may serve as prompts to individuals; however, whether individuals yield to the message is another thing. Baumeister & Bushman (2008) suggest that moderately intelligent people are the easiest to persuade. Yet a finding by Mazanov & Byrne (2007) found their results indicated that smokers are likely to continue smoking irrespective of their intention. A statement like this might have implications on such things as the quit smoking campaign.



In summary, the study conducted by (Rydell & McConnell, 2006), shows that implicit attitudes and explicit attitudes form and change, based on different processes that support systems of reasoning approach to attitude change. Understanding attitude change and more specifically the different processes underlying implicit and explicit attitude change is extremely important for advancing attitude formation and attitude change. As Lawton, Conner & Parker, (2007) suggest, that for risky behaviours, there is often incongruence between cognitions and behaviour. More specifically, people are aware of the risks, think the risks are bad yet still engage in the behaviour. Hence, the interplay between implicit and explicit attitudes is extremely important for diverse areas of social psychology namely attitude formation, persuasion and attitude-behaviour (Rydell & McConnell, 2006). To effectively, work on the attitude change campaign such as the National Quit Smoking, is to work with these social psychological variables in mind.

(1474 words)

References


Bishop, G. (2004). Health and culture. Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology, 153-157. Retrieved 28 August 2007, from Health Reference Centre database. (Gale UC).


Copeland, E.P. & Crepeau-Hobson, F. (2004). Health Promotion in Schools. Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology,. 159-166. Retrieved 28 August 2007, from Health Reference Centre database. (Gale UC).


Devlin, E., Eadie, D., Stead, M. & Evans, K. (2007). Comparative study of young people’s response to anti-smoking messages. International Journal of Advertising, 26(1), 99-128.


Lawton, R., Conner, M. & Parker, D. (2007). Beyond cognition: predicting health risk behaviours from instrumental and affective beliefs. Health Psychology 26(3), 259-267.


McGrath, J.M. & Mahood, C. (2004). The impact of arousing programming and product involvement on advertising effectiveness. Journal of current issues and rsearch in advertising. 26(2), 41-52.


MacLaughlan, M. & Mulatu, M.S. (2004). Health psychology, cross cultural. Encyclopedia of Applied Psychology, 167-178. Retrieved 28 August 2007, from Health Reference Centre database. (Gale UC).


Mazanov, J. & Byrne, D.G. (2007). “Do you intend to take smoke?” : A test of the assumed psychological equivalence in adolescent smoker and nonsmoker intention to change smoking behaviour. Australian Journal of Psychology. 59(1), 34-42.


O’Connor, R.J., Ashare, R.L. & Fix, B.V. (2007). College student’s expectancies for light cigarettes and potential reduced exposure products. American Journal of Health Behaviour, 31(4), 402-410.


Payne, K.B., McClernon, J.F. & Dobbins, Ian G. (2007). Automatic affective responses to smoking cues. Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology, 15(4). 400-409.



Rydell, R.J.& McConnell, A.R.(2006). Understanding implicit and explicit attitude change. A systems of reasoning analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 91(6), 995-1008.




Australian Government Dept of Health & Ageing (nd). How smoking harms your health
Whats in cigarette smoke? Retrieved 28 August 2007 from
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-drugs-tobacco-resources.htm/$FILE/tobcfacts_harms.pdf

Department of Health & Ageing (2007).
Retrieved 28 August 2007 from
http://www.health.gov.au/internet/wcms/Publishing.nsf/Content/phd-pub-tobacco-tobccstrat2-cnt.htm


Quitline (2006).
Retrieved 28 August 2007 from
(www.quitnow.info.au)

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Self-assessment

Strength: I was honest in my postings, and appreciated fellow students postings and would thank them accordingly. I believe that fosters good relationships for online engagement.

I definitely could have done more posts on my own blog. I had a few however, that certainly could have been enhanced. I feel I’m better placed now to know the ins and outs and how to navigate my way around so that’s definitely turned into a strength.
Certainly more postings would have been ideal. I feel I did actively engage with my fellow students however, as I indicated below there were times when I didn’t write down the name of someones blog (and as there were quite a few) I couldn’t remember which one I wanted to go back to. So I changed my ways and endeavoured to post a comment when I saw the blog immediately. A good learning for blog 2.


1. Theory

Strength: I believe I have identified and understood the use of the key theories. I had to pull in the reins as my topic was growing and I was going too broadly. So I hope I have adequately captured the relevant theoretical literature for my essay. One weakness I would identify is selecting the appropriate number of theories. I will admit to chasing my tail with assessments over the last fortnight and know that I would have loved one more week to complete the essay. But then I'd rather hand over a kidney then do an essay. This has been a challenging exercise with the blog, I'm enjoying it however, there is a lot of work in maintaining what is required.

2. Research
Weakness: I don’t believe I adequately captured the most effective research findings. There were many articles however, not all of them covered the specific topic I was covering. I did want to change topics but felt that it was too late. I am an advocate for the anti-smoking campaign, hence why I wanted to undertake the topic however, felt that there was a great deal of online literature as opposed to journal articles. Text books were fine to provide an overview on social psychological concepts however, more journal articles would have been better. Strength: research journal articles for Blog 2 earlier in the 2nd half of semester to determine if the topic is suitable. I will be more succinct with the next blog, fleshing out more information.

3. Written Expression


Readability Flesch R/Ease 23, Flesch KC 15.9.

I believe I have used the APA style effectively with my essay.

I utilised the Mindmeister concept mapping and felt like I needed to do Mindmeister 101. I am hoping to improve on my concept mapping skills for Blog 2. To be honest I refined the layout of my concept map because it started to get the better of me and I thought I would never get it done if I elaborated too much. So I kept is simple.

I believe the layout to my blog is easy to navigate around. I tried to go with a simplistic approach with not much clutter purely for ease of access for myself and for others viewing my blog.

4. Online engagement

I certainly felt like I developed skills in using a blog for example, understanding how the elements worked within the site, embedding items and joining You Tube to access clips. I remember one night I was working away at my blog for what seemed like an eternity and yet when I finished it hardly looked like much work had been done. However, I knew how much behind the scenes work had been accomplished and therefore felt good about it. This really took up a great deal of time particularly when you’re a novice. However, there is nothing like being thrown in the deep end..it was sink or swim and I felt like I had floaties on. So, I thought I did ok considering my level of experience. I enjoyed the online engagement regarding feedback and suggestions from fellow students. I found after I would go through everyone’s blog sites I couldn’t remember some that I wanted to go back to – so from then on, I tried to do postings then and there without leaving it to another time.
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