Faculty of Sociology, Bielefeld University, Bielefeld, Germany.
PLoS One. 2013 Aug 5;8(8):e71452. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0071452. Print 2013.
Enhancing cognitive performance with substances--especially prescription drugs--is a fiercely debated topic among scholars and in the media. The empirical basis for these discussions is limited, given that the actual nature of factors that influence the acceptability of and willingness to use cognitive enhancement substances remains unclear. In an online factorial survey, contextual and substance-specific characteristics of substances that improve academic performance were varied experimentally and presented to respondents. Students in four German universities rated their willingness to use and moral acceptance of different substances for cognitive enhancement. We found that the overall willingness to use performance enhancing substances is low. Most respondents considered the use of these substances as morally unacceptable. Situational influences such as peer pressure, policies concerning substance use, relative performance level of peers, but also characteristics of the substance, such as perceptions of substance safety, shape the willingness and acceptability of using a substance to enhance academic performance. Among the findings is evidence of a contagion effect meaning that the willingness was higher when the respondents have more CE drug users in their social network. We also found deterrence effects from strong side effects of using the substance, as well as from policy regulations and sanctions. Regulations might activate social norms against usage and sanctions can be seen as costly to users. Moreover, enhancement substances seem to be most tempting to low performers to catch up with others compared to high performers. By identifying contextual factors and substance characteristics influencing the willingness and acceptability of cognitive enhancers, policy approaches could consider these insights to better manage the use of such substances.
提高认知表现的物质——尤其是处方药物——是学者和媒体中激烈争论的话题。由于影响认知增强物质的可接受性和使用意愿的实际因素的性质尚不清楚，这些讨论的实证基础是有限的。在一项在线析因调查中，我们通过实验改变了提高学术成绩的物质的情境和物质特异性特征，并将其呈现给受访者。四所德国大学的学生对不同物质提高认知能力的使用意愿和道德接受程度进行了评分。我们发现，提高认知表现的物质的整体使用意愿较低。大多数受访者认为使用这些物质在道德上是不可接受的。情境影响，如同伴压力、关于物质使用的政策、同伴的相对表现水平，以及物质的特征，如对物质安全性的看法，塑造了使用物质来提高学术表现的意愿和可接受性。研究结果表明存在一种传染效应，即当受访者的社交网络中有更多的 CE 药物使用者时，他们的使用意愿更高。我们还发现，使用物质会产生强烈的副作用，以及政策法规和制裁，会产生威慑效应。法规可能会激活反对使用的社会规范，而制裁对使用者来说可能是昂贵的。此外，与高表现者相比，增强物质对低表现者来说更有吸引力，以赶上其他人。通过确定影响认知增强剂的使用意愿和可接受性的情境因素和物质特征，政策方法可以考虑这些观点，以更好地管理这些物质的使用。
