<p>Scientists at Oxford University found that no-smoking signs have an “ironic effect” on smokers, driving them to react and think of tobacco, the researchers said.<br /><br />“You get ironic effects when you couple information that people perceive with negation,” researcher Brian Earp said.<br /><br />“When I say ‘don’t think of a pink elephant’, I have just put the thought of a pink elephant in your head,” Earp was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.<br /><br />He said: “A lot of public health messages are framed in a negative way—say no to drugs, don’t drink and drive, no smoking. No-smoking signs in particular are everywhere. If you are a smoker walking down a street you’re likely to pass five or six of these signs in windows or on doors. If you have a chronically positive attitude to smoking this could boost your craving.”<br /><br />To test the theory, Earp and his team first primed a group of smoking volunteers from a town in New England in the US, by showing them a number of photographs. Some included a no-smoking sign in the background or at the edge of the image, while others had the signs edited out.<br /><br />Next, the same volunteers took part in a “joystick test” looking at their reactions to a series of screen images.<br /><br />The technique is widely used to assess instinctive tendencies to embrace or avoid certain stimuli.Moving the joystick away is associated with avoidance, while drawing it towards the body indicates a desire to bring the stimulus closer.<br /><br />In a series of experiments, the researchers showed that participants who had earlier been shown no-smoking signs were more drawn to smoking-related images such as ashtrays and cigarettes.</p>
<p>Scientists at Oxford University found that no-smoking signs have an “ironic effect” on smokers, driving them to react and think of tobacco, the researchers said.<br /><br />“You get ironic effects when you couple information that people perceive with negation,” researcher Brian Earp said.<br /><br />“When I say ‘don’t think of a pink elephant’, I have just put the thought of a pink elephant in your head,” Earp was quoted as saying by the Daily Mail.<br /><br />He said: “A lot of public health messages are framed in a negative way—say no to drugs, don’t drink and drive, no smoking. No-smoking signs in particular are everywhere. If you are a smoker walking down a street you’re likely to pass five or six of these signs in windows or on doors. If you have a chronically positive attitude to smoking this could boost your craving.”<br /><br />To test the theory, Earp and his team first primed a group of smoking volunteers from a town in New England in the US, by showing them a number of photographs. Some included a no-smoking sign in the background or at the edge of the image, while others had the signs edited out.<br /><br />Next, the same volunteers took part in a “joystick test” looking at their reactions to a series of screen images.<br /><br />The technique is widely used to assess instinctive tendencies to embrace or avoid certain stimuli.Moving the joystick away is associated with avoidance, while drawing it towards the body indicates a desire to bring the stimulus closer.<br /><br />In a series of experiments, the researchers showed that participants who had earlier been shown no-smoking signs were more drawn to smoking-related images such as ashtrays and cigarettes.</p>