Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the approach-avoidance bias among smokers towards pictorial health warnings. For this purpose, a computer-based Approach-Avoidance Task (AAT) was conducted for smokers (male college students who smoked less than 20 cigarettes per day, n=19) and non-smokers (male college students who smoked less than 5 cigarettes over their entire lives, n=19), and the AAT score was calculated. Results showed that smokers were significantly more likely to avoid smoking warning stimuli than non-smokers, however, there was no difference between groups for neutral stimuli. Smokers also tended to have slower approach bias to smoking warning stimuli than non-smokers. Finally, we present the clinical implications and limitations of this study and provide suggestions for subsequent studies.