Future Thinking Priming Especially Effective at Modifying Delay Discounting Rates among Cigarette Smokers

Abstract

Background: Tobacco use remains one of the world’s greatest preventable causes of death and disease. While most smokers want to quit, few are successful, highlighting a need for novel therapeutic approaches to support cessation efforts. Lower delay discounting (DD) rates are associated with increased smoking cessation success. Future thinking priming (FTP) reliably reduces DD rates in large populations. Smokers consistently discount more than nonsmokers, and evidence suggests that changes in DD rates are rate dependent. This study examined whether smoking status moderated the effect of FTP on DD rates and, if so, if the moderation effect could be attributed to differences in baseline rates of DD. Methods: Moderation analysis was conducted to determine whether the effect of FTP, versus neutral priming (NP), on DD differed among smokers and nonsmokers. Results: Smoking status moderated the effect of condition (FTP vs. NP) on post-intervention DD scores (b = −0.2919, p = 0.0124) and DD change scores (b = −0.2975, p = 0.0130). There was no evidence of rate dependence effects in the current sample. Conclusions: FTP had a greater effect on decreasing DD rates among smokers than nonsmokers. FTP is effective and simple to administer, which makes it a promising therapeutic approach for aiding smoking cessation.

Internal Validity of Two Promising Methods of Altering Temporal Orientation among Cigarette Smokers

“…FTP requires individuals to use a set of specially selected future-oriented words to create self-referential language. FTP has been shown to significantly decrease proximal DD rates in large and diverse groups of remote participants [ 13 , 24 ] and appears to be particularly effective at reducing DD among cigarette smokers [ 25 ]. For FTP in particular, where the respondent shoulders the burden of repeatedly producing self-referential language, it is important to examine the extent to which participants’ responses are aligned with prospective thinking over time.…”