COGNITIVE CONTROL AND COGNITIVE DISSONANCE

CIGARETTE SMOKERS AND NONSMOKERS WERE DIVIDED INTO CONSTRICTED (HIGH-INTERFERENCE PRONE) AND FLEXIBLE (LOW-INTERFERENCE PRONE) GROUPS BASED ON THEIR PERFORMANCE ON THE STROOP COLOR-WORD TEST. RESPONSES ON A SMOKING QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTERED TO ALL SS INDICATED THAT FLEXIBLE COMPARED WITH CONSTRICTED SMOKERS DENIED A RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CIGARETTE SMOKING AND LUNG CANCER TO A SIGNIFICANTLY GREATER EXTENT, DESPITE THE FACT THAT THEY SMOKED SIGNIFICANTLY LESS. THE BELIEF DIFFERENCE WAS FOUND IN THE ENTIRE SAMPLE OF SMOKERS AS WELL AS IN A SUBGROUP OF STABLE SMOKERS. CONSTRICTED SS SHOWED A GREATER TENDENCY, ALMOST SIGNIFICANT, TOWARD RECENT DECREASES IN SMOKING. THE RESULTS SUGGESTED THAT FACILITY IN IGNORING THE INTRUSIVE WORDS ON THE STROOP COLOR-WORD TEST EXTENDS TO THE AREA OF BELIEF. (16 REF.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).