Addiction and Rational Choice: Evidence from an Eye Tracking Experiment with Cigarette Packages

Abstract

We asked 97 current cigarette smokers to make 12 binary choices between experimental packages with varying warnings and background colors. Each participant had to decide which of the two packages contained cigarettes less risky for his health. Confronted with repugnant, threatening images, these smokers nonetheless made choices that were context independent, adhered to transitivity, and consistent with an additive utility model. Eye tracking measurements confirmed that the choices of 65 percent of participants were further compatible with a noise-reducing lexicographic utility model. This subset of participants smoked significantly more cigarettes per day. Our findings support a model in which addiction permits the smoker to suppress aversive stimuli and negative emotions that would otherwise interfere with short-term rational decision making.