Attitudes and perceptions toward smoking: smokers' views of themselves and other smokers.

A sample of American smokers completed a questionnaire regarding their motivations for and opinions about smoking. The subjects also indicated their perceptions of how other smokers feel about the same issues. The results indicated that the subjects perceived psychological addiction as the primary reason for their own smoking. The subjects perceived differences between their own motivations and opinions and those of the other smokers'. The subjects were likely to be more critical of their own smoking. The longer the subjects had been smoking, and the more cigarettes they smoked, the more likely they were to say that smoking is psychologically and physically addictive and that quitting would be difficult.