Defensive evaluation of antismoking messages among college-age smokers: The role of possible selves

This study hypothesized that individuals respond to antismoking messages in a biased or defensive manner to the degree that smoking is a personally re levant activity for them. The authors operationalized the personal relevanc e of smoking variously as smoking behavior (smoking status, rate, duration, and recent attempts to quit), endorsement of the smoker stereotype, and im portance of smoking behavior as an identity within the self-concept (curren t self and possible selves). In the experiment, smokers (n = 82) and nonsmo kers (n = 105) privately viewed several antismoking video segments. smoking status, current smoking identity, and long-term future smoking identity we re significantly associated with a defensive evaluation of antismoking mess ages. The study concludes that the concept of possible selves (H. Markus & P. Nurius, 1986) is critical in understanding college-age smoking and in th e design of effective antismoking campaigns.