To quit or to continue? Psychological distances, rational decision-making and antismoking intention among current smokers

Up to date, little research has been conducted to understand the role of psychological distances (PDs) on smoking behaviour. PD theory posits that individuals mentally construe events, objects, or ideas based on their perceived distance in terms of spatial, temporal, social, and hypothetical dimensions, influencing their judgments and decision-making processes. The aim of the current study was (1) to provide a comprehensive exploration of PDs of costs and benefits of tobacco smoking and antismoking intention and (2) to examine whether smoking can be attributed to rational behaviour based on the PD weighted balance of perceived costs and benefits of quitting and continuing smoking. Causal models delineating the relationships among temporal and hypothetical PDs, personal relevance and antismoking intention were tested on survey data of 1486 smokers (880 men, M_age=39.9 years). PDs proved to be an important factor in the cognitive evaluation process of smoking behaviour; perceived temporal distance to smoking continuation/cessation was related to personal importance and hypothetical PDs, which was associated with anti-smoking intention. Further, antismoking intention was related to the PD weighted gain-cost balance of quitting and continuing smoking. The current findings enhance our knowledge of the cognitive evaluation of the outcomes of smoking, indicating that the choice of not quitting smoking may be partially based on a biased rational decision making process.