Read this article on smoking and the brain: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marina-picciotto/smoking-in-movies-think-smoking-looks_b_810561.html
Summarize the article. What are your thoughts on this piece? What is most interesting to you? Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn? How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article? What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
Provide a list of proper M&E terms that you used in your blog post.
Photo credit: smoking and sad girlby *hidlight (http://hidlight.deviantart.com)
Smoking
What was the most interesting part of this article?
The most interesting part of the article was when they discussed that it isn’t simply the nicotine in cigarettes that causes a person to be addicted but it’s also the motion of putting a cigarette to your lips (brain activity) that can also be a leading factor to addiction.
What would you like to learn more about?
I would like to learn more about how an action can cause someone to be addicted to something.
What did you learn?
That 50% of smokers try to quit every year and only 5% succeed.
Concepts from chapter three?
The fact that a movement like putting a cigarette to your lips can cause someone to be addicted as well as the chemicals in the cigarette. Chapter three talks about neurons within the brain that send neurotransmitters to other neurons in the brain. Those little messages that bounce from one neuron to the next cause the brain to tell the body to do a movement that it knows how to do based on habit. The habit as well as the chemicals cause the addiction.
What does it teach you about the motivation to quit?
That having an addiction to cigarettes is very difficult to deal with and is a very hard habit to quit. If you don’t start you won’t have to worry about it.
Terms
Motivation, Neurotransmitters and Neurons
Summarize the article.
The article is about what motivates people to smoke knowing what they know about it. It says that just watching someone smoke, if you are an ex-smoker, activates the part of the brain that makes you want to smoke. Just watching a movie with smoking can cause a relapse. Majority of those who try to quit relapse. For the most part it is understood why people have a hard time quitting, but we are far from knowing the best way to help someone quit.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
It makes sense. I know a guy who keeps a can of beef jerky in his back pocket, where his chewing tobacco used to be. Just having it there and having something to put in his lip satisfied the craving enough to get passed it.
What is most interesting to you?
I find it interesting that with all the technology out there today, only 5% of the 50% that tried to quit could succeed. I think the new technology of electric cigarettes will help the addiction to smoking. Not just the chemical addiction, but also the psychological addiction. You still go through the motions and get the nicotine, but the smoke itself isn’t present.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that.
I wouldn’t mind learning more about why people in today’s day and age even get started smoking. This article has explained why it’s easy to stop, but not why so many start. I understand back in the day there was a lack of knowledge of the health effects, but as long as I can remember smoking was known to be deadly. And today I know more people my age that smoke than those that don’t smoke. Discovery Health website lists the top 10 reason people start smoking. They include social rewards, risk-taking behavior, parental influence, genetic predisposition. However, the number one cause is stress relief. The nicotine in a cigarette calms a person’s nerves, and it’s that reward that gets them hooked.
What did you learn? How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
I learned that will power is not always enough to kick bad habits once they are started. The brain can be triggered by something as simple as a movie and from there releases its own neurotransmitters causing a really bad craving from within. Dopamine levels can be very low when your body is having withdrawals from addictive behaviors. The body’s biochemicals and hormones take over and cravings can be thru the roof causing relapse.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
The information tells me that quitting is not purely psychological, but is very much so chemical. A person’s “willpower” may have very little to do with why they have a smoking relapse. To quit you have to fight from both battle fields. You have to play the mental game, but also pay attention to the chemical reactions your body is going thru. Everyone is different and has different genes, so even though smoking may be easy to quit for one person, it may be the hardest thing in the world to do for another.
Provide a list of proper M&E terms that you used in your blog post
Neurotransmitters, addiction, dopamine, biochemical, psychological
What are your thoughts on this piece? What is most interesting to you?
I honestly thought that the entire article was very interesting. The main points that I thought were the most interesting is the concept that seeing another same physical motion can activate the brain areas that are responsible. This would mean that seeing someone reach for and smoke a cigarette will activate the same brain response in whoever is watching. This can create relapse in someone who had previously quit smoking. I thought it was interesting because I had never heard of that concept before. I also was surprised and interested in some of the facts and information that they gave. I was surprised deaths attributed to smoking is more than AIDS, drug use, motor vehicle accident, suicides, and murders combined. I was also really surprised that smoking prevents wounds from healing.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about
One thing that I would really like to learn more about the information of smoking preventing wounds from healing. I thought that was really interesting and would like to know what in the body causes that to happen
What did you learn?
I learned a lot of information about smoking and some of the aversive affects. More information that I learned was the statistics about quitting and staying off cigarettes. I learned that 50 percent of smokers will relapse within the first year. 50 percent of smokers try to quit each year, but only 5 percent will successfully do so.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
I think having knowledge that chapter 3 gave was helpful in reading the article. Chapter three was more in depth about the specific part about the brain and what exactly it does. It also gave information about neurons that give and send messages to and from the brain to parts of the body. So when the article explained the part of the brain being activated, I understood what it was talking about.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
The article teaches me that it is extremely hard to quit smoking because there are so many factors that can contribute to relapse and the statistics are not in favor of staying smoke free. This teaches me that for someone to quit they must have a very strong motivation to quit and overcome the obstacles.
Summary:
This article talks about smoking and how lots of people view it as a bad habit. It talks about how seeing someone smoke on TV increases the chances someone will smoke. People have been trying to make it so smoking isn’t shown in movies but this has been ineffective. Smoking contributes to a huge amount of deaths which is why efforts should be taken to stop it.
Thoughts on the piece:
I think this article makes a good point in that smoking is so dangerous that efforts should be put forth to stop it. So many people try to stop smoking but it’s hard from them since it’s addictive. There should be more effort put out towards helping these people.
I think eliminating smoking from TV would be very hard to do. There are so many movies already made that include smoking. Smoking is often used in movies that are taking place in the past since smoking was common then.
What is most interesting to you?
I found it interesting that smoking deaths are so high. I knew smoking causes many deaths but I don’t think it’s as known just how much it can account for death.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn?
I wanted to learn more about smoking in movies. I learned that lots of tobacco companies know the effects of people seeing others smoking in movies and they use this by displaying their products in movies.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
Chapter 3 helps me understand that quitting smoking isn’t as easy as it might seem. It’s not just something you can convince yourself to have the motivation to do. Neurotransmitters like Dopamine are telling your body that something it is rewarding to do something. Addiction is something that is happening in their brain so people have little control to feel differently about it.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
This information teaches us that it’s hard to gain the motivation to stop smoking. This makes it even harder for people to try and stop since their brain makes it so they don’t see any reward in it.
Terms:
Neurotransmitters, Dopamine, Addiction
To summarize the article, they emphasized how smoking is bad and people know smoking is bad, yet they still do it because it is difficult to quit. They also pointed out how watching movies in which people smoke in them, activates brain areas that drive the body movements a smoker makes hundreds of times a day while puffing on a cigarette. My thought on this piece is that I think it’s good that they are doing research on how to help people stop smoking if they really want to quit. There were a few things I found interesting, the first is the physical habit smokers have of reaching for a cigarette and moving it to their mouth for a drag is learned so well that just watching people in movies smoke, makes the brain areas responsive for those movements more active, which can lead to relapse. The second thing I found interesting is that smoking has more deaths than AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle accidents, suicides and murders combined. That is quite a shock that smoking kills more than all of these other events, yet people still decide on their own to smoke. The last thing I found interesting was that 20% of adults in the U.S. are smokers. I’m not sure if I find that number high or low, but none the less it is interesting.
I wanted to learn more about why people start smoking; everyone knows how bad it is for you, so why do people do it? In an article I read that most people start smoking when they are teenagers. Most teens start smoking because it “looks cool”. Also those who have friends or parents that smoke are also more likely to start smoking themselves. In the article I read it also had talked about how movies make a difference and that in 2005, 2 out of 3 box office movies featured the use of cigarettes in it and more than 1/3 of those movies were youth rated films. Also in 2010, more than 30% of top-grossing movies rated G, PG, and PG-13 had tobacco scenes. Another common way youth are exposed to tobacco is thought the Internet, so there are a lot of different ways that teens and others start the habit of smoking.
My understanding of the concepts from chapter 3 help me understand this article because it makes me realize that because of all the neurotransmitters and all the different parts of the brain that play a big part in your motivation, that it can be extremely difficult to stop smoking. The brain gets used to the nicotine and the habit of movement you use to smoke, so for those of us who do not smoke, we should not look at these people and tell them to just stop, because it is not that easy.
Hypothalamus
Neurotransmitters
Receptor sites
Dopamine
Amygdala
Endorphins
This article written by Dr. Marina Picciotto talks about the research behind the use of tobacco on the silver screen. A new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience shows that people that said that smoking was a bad habit were somewhat right, adding that certain brain areas are linked to addiction. When we watch movies in which people smoke, these same areas of the brain are activated, the same areas that drive our addiction and bodily movements that a smoker makes when they go to take a puff of that cigarette. It was also shown that those people who had quit smoking prior to watching the movie, may be more likely to relapse. The CDCP and other organizations have wanted to put a stop to smoking in movies for a long time because they say that movies make smoking look cool and therefore increase the likelihood that kids will begin smoking, as well as, make it more likely that ex-smokers will light up again. She explains that “20 percent of U.S. adults are smokers…more than 50 percent try to quit smoking each year, but less than 5 percent of all smokers succeed.”
I found this article to be interesting and true. Sometimes when I watch a movie that has a lot of the actors smoking and/or drinking, I find myself wanting to go out for a drink and thinking that having a cigarette would be a good idea (but I am not as easily persuaded to go get a pack of cigs as I am to go get a case of beer or bottle of alcohol). The most interesting part of the article I thought was towards the end when it discussed the percent of Americans who smoke and those who relapse and those who are successful at quitting. I come from a household where both of my parents smoke. As a child I tried to make them quit by hiding their cigarettes, which resulted in me getting grounded a few times. I have seen both of my parents try to quit countless times, even seeing my mom use Chantix, which is the drug you see commercials for all the time on television. Unfortunately, the drug did not work very well and both of my parents continue to smoke today. I watched about an minute and a half long video on YouTube that I was taken to from the article showing what they called “The Seven Dwarves”, which were the seven CEO’s of the tobacco companies and the video of them all saying that nicotine is not addictive. This hearing before Congress occurred on April 14th of 1994. Towards the end of the video it was interesting to learn that the Surgeon General put out a report in 1988 saying that “cigarettes are highly efficient nicotine delivery devices and are as addictive as drugs such as heroin or cocaine”.
It was interesting to apply those concepts that I learned from Chapter 3 and effectively apply them to this article. While watching a movie where the actor(s) are doing the activity of smoking, smoker’s brains have neurotransmitters that are firing through their brain, motivating them to smoke. While doing the act of smoking, dopamine is released in the brain causing positive feelings to be felt and therefore associating smoking with a positive feeling and therefore creating an addiction along with the chemicals in the nicotine.
TERMS: neurotransmitters, dopamine, addiction,
This article explains the additive behavior of smoking. People know that smoking is a bad habit and bad for them but they smoke anyway. The article brings up smoking in movies and how watching that behavior can trigger parts of the brain that are linked to addiction. Smoking is leading cause of preventable deaths, and it is also a very difficult habit to stop.
Smoking is a difficult habit to break, and I see this in my work with smoking cessation courses. I understand that it is possible for people to know that smoking is bad and have intentions of quitting, but because they are addicted to the behavior they have a difficult time quitting. It is likely that people can participate in a smoking cessation class and still be a smoker at its completion. I think this topic is very interesting.
I am most interested in the the fact that 50% of smokers try to quit each year, but only about 5% succeed in doing so. This is interesting to me because I would like to more about why this is so and why some people succeed and others do not. Fresh Start is the program I work with to provide smoking cessation programs. Through this website I have been able to look at some of the resources I am provided with as an instructor. The 4 steps to Fresh Starts program are 1) Decide to Quit, 2) Plan to Quit, 3) Your Quit Day, and 4) Stay Quit. These steps walk through the process of quitting, and emphasize the importance of the Health Belief Model and the Stages of Change Model. Both of these emphasize the readiness and commitment to quit smoking.
After reading Chapter 3, I have a better understanding of why it is difficult to quit smoking. The brain has neurotransmitters that are activate the addictive tendencies of a behavior. The Dopamine that is released while smoking sends feelings that are good and rewarding. Because of these good feelings and the brain linking neurotransmitters to addiction, smoking is difficult to stop.
This teaches me that an individual must have motivation to quit smoking and must be committed to doing so. If they are not motivated they will likely not succeed in the task of quitting.
Terms: neurotransmitters, dopamine, addiction, brain
The article on smoking in summary is another attempt at pointing to the broad scope of the habit and its long-term effects. Specifically in this article it not only highlights it as the leading cause of death, amounting to more deaths each year than homicides, HIV/AIDS, suicides, and motor vehicle accidents combined, but also reaches further to point out the continual exposure to its habit as a key obstacle in why many 'quitters' relapse and why many claim it so hard to even begin to quit. Unlike other rehabilitation methods that have a higher success rate such as other drugs or mental disorders, smoking is something that has been accepted as a 'normal' habit in life as actors partake in the process in movies, industries allow millions of dollars in marketing, and countless other instances allow for the image of the habit to be seen as acceptable or even cool.
My thoughts on the piece made me think into the issue a bit further then i ever really have. I kind of drew annoyed with the constant health beat to rid of it, but know all to well that it is a billion dollar business and so long as people with power are making profit, there is not much a few health concerned groups can do about it. What i took to be the most astonishing is the the conferences in which the manufacturing companies have enough nerve to stand up and say that "nicotine is not addictive," which is beyond absurd for it is proven on many different platforms. I don't think the push to ban smoking in movies will ever succeed, but instead of allowing advertisement to portray it as attractive and only requiring a surgeon general in size 2 font is something that can be adjusted to make the industry raise more awareness and fear in the activity. For instance requiring: implementing a law to require the surgeon general to be atleast the same size of font as the brand name might cause more people to second think it, for making it more available to the perception has a bigger tole on the conscious.
Something I would like to learn more about would be the actual line between trying something once and one falling into the addiction category. Is it a biological fallacy in that one has more will to refrain from its desirable effects? For instance I can smoke a cigar every now and again and the thought or viewing of the behavior has no influence on my wanting to try it again, whereas another person may try it once and have all the outside influence only beg them to act again.
In relation to chapter 3 regarding the brain, I learned that the release of nuerotransmitters, such as dopamine a rewarding desire, can really effect how one has the motivation or psychological impression to partake in an action. Certain parts of our brain are triggered given certain stimuli and if an individuals experience of smoking is linked to a pleasure related experience then any scenario that recollects that memory will indeed spark the brain to crave that same experience, hence smoke again. Previous to reading the chapter on the brain and this article i did not realize the actual process in how one's brain related to the actual output of action via certain brain firings. Given this, the information has taught me how dangerous pleasurable experiences linked with harmful substances can be on the psyche and our reformed idea of how harmful they can actually be. Therefore, although we may experience a reaction to favor the habit, we must remember how it is we came to that conclusion and realize the process of our conscious brain's transmission of desires and try and reverse or subdue its effects so that whenever we are faced with the same scenario it will be less likely to be as tempting.
Terms: neurotransmitters, dopamine, brain firings, relapse, conscious, nicotine, structure.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
I thought this was an interesting piece to read. Unfortunately, there wasn’t really any new information in this piece to me. This article is just another source to support some already known facts on smoking and lung cancer (although some statistics may have changed a bit). Based on common sense, some of these results are actually surprising. One would not think that less than five percent of smokers would are trying to quit smoking will succeed. As a non-smoker, I would think it’s relatively easy to quit, but evidence suggests the opposite.
What is most interesting to you?
I would say that the previous fact is most interesting to me. I find it surprising and interesting that over fifty percent of smokers try to quit smoking, but less than five percent succeed in this task. It’s in the individuals’ best interest for the development of methods that are successful in getting smokers to quit if they so choose to quit.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn?
According to the article, when someone is addicted to something such as smoking, it activates certain areas of the brain. Upon clicking the provided link, I was shown a peer-reviewed article by researchers at Duke University. In this study, I learned that the mesolimbic system and the visuospatial neural circuits are two activated areas when under an addiction. These areas are responsible for our psychological experience attention and reward. This was done through viewing the fMRI signals when non-smokers and smokers were provided smoke-related images in comparison to neutral images.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
Because chapter three describes somewhat how dopamine can create an addiction with various psychostimulants, I believe I have a better understanding of what’s happening physiologically. From my understanding, the nicotine in cigarettes creates a neural hypersensitization, meaning the brain soon requires it to function properly. Withdrawl will result in symptoms such a problematic attention span, problematic level of focus, constant thought of smoking, and so forth.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
The information provided in the article highly suggests that the motivation to quit smoking is biologically based. Neural activity and the substance nicotine are the physical substances responsible for the addiction. It’s not a “will”, in the sense of our true and pure choice, which is the ultimate factor responsible for our addictions and our potential to break our addictions. Thus, it’s essential for addictions to be altered physiologically in some way.
Terms used:
Lung cancer; mesolimbic system; visuospatial neural circuits; fMRI; psychostimulants; hypersensitization; physiologically; dopamine; neural activity; biologically
The article discussed how the active process of grabbing for a pack of cigarettes, pulling one out and lighting it up is an addictive bad habit. Just watching an actor smoking makes the viewer’s brain crave for a puff or look cool to a child. The CEO’s of several tobacco companies claimed they didn’t believe nicotine is addictive, but in reality, it is. Smoking also slows the healing process of wounds. The deaths from smoking cigarettes are bigger than many common causes of death combined! The brain makes it close to impossible to quit smoking due to the addictive nicotine and the physical act of smoking that creates changes in the brain.
I find it interesting that the CEO’s still choose to believe that nicotine is not addictive! Many smokers I know try to believe what they want and say it doesn’t cause cancer. Some believe they can quit whenever they want they just choose not to. It’s funny how they think they really have a choice when their brain may rebel in opposition.
I would like to find more information on the aspect of wounds healing slower due to smoking.
I learned that just watching someone smoking sparks a craving in a smoker’s or even non-smoker’s brain.
My understanding of concepts from chapter 3 helps me understand this article in relation to the power of what the brain wants. Many times, biological/physiological needs and wants are more powerful than cognitive needs/wants. Biochemical reactions respond to the habit of smoking with pleasurable neurotransmitters such as dopamine and feel-good endorphins.
All this information teaches me how difficult it is to have the motivation to quit smoking. The brain is very overpowering. To have motivation to quit something that makes you think you are feeling good and are being rewarded is difficult to gain.
Terms: Neurotransmitters; dopamine; endorphins; motivation
Summary:
This article explains that not only are the chemicals in a cigarette addicting, but the behavior that goes along with it (like putting it up to your mouth) is also addictive. This article also goes on to explain that even watching movies with cigarette smokers activates brain areas linked to addiction. The physical habit of reaching for a cig and moving it up for a drag is learned behavior, and seeing this in movies makes the brain areas responsible for those movements more active, resulting in relapse!
What are your thoughts on this piece?
My thoughts on this piece are that it is so true! I have been a smoker for 5 years and have quit off and on. In my opinion, the hardest thing to give up about smoking, was the motion of putting it to my mouth to take a drag. This goes right along with what the author is saying. I also agree with what she says in about seeing smokers in movies. If I see someone driving by with a cigarette in their hand, all I can think about is having a cigarette. It is so insane that this little cigarette can have so much control over my life. What makes this more insane, is that I HATE everything about them!
What is most interesting to you? I find it most interesting that tobacco smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in most countries, with about 443,000 deaths per year happening in the U.S. Also, that’s more deaths each year than AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders COMBINED! In addition, tobacco smoking prevents wounds from healing and weakens your immune system.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more info. about that. What did you learn?
One aspect I wanted more info. about was tobacco smoking and wound healing. I learned that blood vessels become smaller due to smoking. These smaller blood vessels take longer time to carry the oxygen, essential nutrients, and healing factors to the injury. Hence, the wound healing process takes a much longer time. A smoker inhales carbon monoxide(poison) which lowers the oxygen levels in his or her blood. Oxygen is highly requires for healing wounds. Smoking also causes infection in the wound! Smoking causes formation of blood clots near the wound!
How does your understanding of concepts from chap. 3 help you understand this article? What does all this info. teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
Understanding of the concepts from chapter 3 helped me to understand this article. The chapter broke down the brain along with the neurotransmitters and hormones. It’s safe to say that tobacco smoking is not just addicting because of the nicotine. It’s also addicting because it is a learned habit that triggers the release of certain neurotransmitters (like dopamine). Even just watching someone smoke a cigarette makes brain areas responsible for smoking actions even more active, which contributes to relapse. The motivation to quit smoking is not just with patches or e-cigarettes; the person must re-learn how do everyday tasks without a cigarette.
This article addressed a lot of already known knowledge about the dangers of smoking. I think the main point of this article though was to present data from a new study which discovered that movies and videos of people smoking trigger certain responses in the brain. These responses are in the brain areas that drive the body movements a smoker makes while they smoke. These actions can also lead to relapse in ex-smokers.
I thought this piece restated a lot of already known data and it even began by saying that everyone already knows smoking is bad. However, I thought the information about the findings in the study was interesting and was new information.
I agreed with the author and was also most surprised to learn problems with wounds from healing and unfavorable results of surgery or fractures can be attributed to smoking.
I’d like to learn more about how different events trigger certain areas of the brain and how that affects a person’s actions.
By reading this article I learned that watching movies of people smoking triggers certain areas of people’s brains associated with the action of smoking. I also learned that smoking causes more deaths each year than AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides and murders combined
Chapter 3 talked briefly about addictions and a bit about smoking in particular. It stated that some prescription drugs can take the pleasure out of consuming nicotine by stopping the pleasure triggered by the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine release generates positive feelings in humans and is recognized as a reward for certain behavior. As people enjoy the feelings increased dopamine causes, the behaviors that cause it to be triggered lead to addiction. Although certain medications prevent the dopamine high from nicotine from occurring, there is still a desire for smokers to consume nicotine. This was associated with the battle between liking and wanting that occurs in humans, in this example of how there can be a wanting for nicotine but not a liking.
This article taught me the link between nicotine and its physiological effects on the brain.
Terms: Wanting, Liking, Neurotransmitter, Dopamine
In the article, “Smoking in Movies: Why Your Brain Thinks It's Cool,” it discusses the psychological and physical response that smokers and previous smokers have when they see people in movies smoke. A smoker repeats the same motion numerous times a day of bringing a cigarette to their mouth and taking a drag. When that behavior is emitted in a movie and a smoker sees it, it stimulates the same psychological sensation they get when smoking. Not only does it stimulate a psychological response, but also a physical one. Seeing that motion of bringing the cigarette up to their mouth activates the brain associated with the smoking habit. In almost every country, smoking is the leading preventable cause of death.
I think that this article makes a lot of sense and I can understand the reaction that smokers and previous smokers may get when watching someone smoke on TV or in a movie. What I found to be most interesting was that CEO’s of seven tobacco industries seriously believed (or so they said) that nicotine is not an addictive substance.
I wanted to learn more about why smokers relapse. After doing some research, in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, negative affect and stress in one of the major reasons why smokers relapse. Although not examined much, depression and anxiety disorders are more common along smokers and previous smokers, which may be responsible for the relapse.
A strong will isn’t necessarily all a person needs to kick the bad habit of smoking. After reading chapter 3, I better understand that psychological and physical responses are activated in a previous smokers brain and body when they see a person smoking in a movie by the neurotransmitters and hormones released. If a smoker gets that release of dopamine after smoking, then seeing that person smoke in a movie may make that craving for that dopamine release.
Motivation to quit smoking doesn’t just mean throw away the box of cigarettes and everything will be better. Quitting smoking requires strong willpower, social support, and other activities that will help a person get that same high they get when smoking, which may be a certain food or activity.
Terms: Emitted, Stimulates, Negative Affect, Dopamine, Motivation
Sources:
"Mediators of the association of major depressive syndrome and anxiety syndrome with postpartum smoking relapse." Correa-Fernández, Virmarie; Ji, Lingyun; Castro, Yessenia; Heppner, Whitney L.; Vidrine, Jennifer Irvin; Costello, Tracy J.; Mullen, Patricia Dolan; Cofta-Woerpel, Ludmila; Velasquez, Mary M.; Greisinger, Anthony; Cinciripini, Paul M.; Wetter, David W. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Vol 80(4), Aug 2012, 636-648. doi: 10.1037/a0027532
Summary:
The article is about smoking and how movies have had a positive effect on smoking by making it look cool. Yeah, we know that smoking is a bad habit but it’s not just a bad habit. The physical habit of reaching for a cigarette and moving it up for a drag is learned so well that watching people smoke in the movies makes brain areas responsible for those movements more active, which could contribute to relapse. The article displays distressing statistics. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in most countries, with about 443,000 deaths per year attributed to smoking in the United States alone. Smoking is bad and that the nicotine in cigarettes makes them addictive.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
I support the American Lung Association and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop smoking in movies. The argument is address to the media, why do make actors smoke in movies, they make smoking look cool. There is a lot of truth behind this statement, I recall a times back before I was born. Marlboro used to have commercial with their spokesman “the Marlboro man” he made smoking seems so cool. Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in most countries, with about 443,000 deaths per year in the United States. We need to take action and prevent our children from picking up this addicting habit.
What is most interesting to you?
The most interesting thing about this article is that people know smoking is bad for them and it can cause so many diseases or early decease, yet people still insist on smoking. I guess that goes to show people how addicting cigarettes are. I even seen people that have a hole through their neck because of lung cancer and they still smoke cigarettes. In my opinion cigarettes is the most addicting drug in the US.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that.
I found out that smoking prevents wounds from healing and is a major reason for poor outcomes of surgery or fractures. That’s horrible, not only does smoking attribute to a lower life expectancy, but smoking also makes you heal slower or does not allow your wounds heal at all . Smoking has been identified as a significant risk factor for surgical site infection in orthopedic procedures performed in an ambulatory surgical center. Tobacco use has been identified as a significant predictor of postoperative infection in patients who have spinal surgery.
What did you learn?
I learned that in spite of widespread knowledge of the health and addictive effects of smoking, about 20 percent of U.S. adults are smokers. Of those, more than 50 percent try to quit smoking each year, but less than 5 percent of all smokers succeed. But even with multiple therapies, more than 50 percent of ex-smokers still relapse to smoking within a year.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
Chapter 3 is about the brain and all the motivational and emotional states involve brain participation. But the section about addiction in the book is correlated with the article. Nicotine causes dopamine-induced neural hyper sensitization, and once this occurs, it can last for years. Dopamine release generates good feelings, that it is so hard to quit smoking, how can you quit something if it makes you feel good?
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
The information teaches me that quitting smoking is very difficult. It not just about wanting to quit smoking, you need much more than strength and control. When a smoker goes through release, there are many reasons for this process. It is has nothing to do with trying hard, there are mental and biochemical changes a smoker’s brain and body goes through from quitting. Some pharmaceuticals help smokers quit the habit by taking the dopamine-related pleasure out of smoking and nicotine, but it does not always work. These prescription drugs are somewhat helpful in that they take away some of the “liking” out of nicotine, but much of the “wanting” remains.
This article discusses the affect movies and TV can have on individuals who regularly smoke or who are trying to quit smoking. The research study found that those who are trying to quit smoking can be triggered to want to smoke again simply by seeing an actor smoke in a movie or on a TV show. When they see someone else engage in the behavior of smoking it triggers areas in their brain that are responsible for the motivation and the physical movement of smoking. This can cause a person to relapse. Research has found the links to the physical behavior of smoking that watching a movie can have on a person, but research has yet to find effective ways to help individuals quit and not consistently relapse.
I found this article to be very interesting, but not necessarily surprising. I have heard many of the statistics before and have known of the high percentage of individuals who smoke and who also relapse back into smoking. I didn't know that seeing an actor in a movie smoke could cause a reaction in the brain, and potentially drive the person to go smoke. So often we think that movies and TV are harmless, and that they don't actually lead to behavior, but they do. Actors who smoke in movies, can make children and teens think that smoking is cool, and it can cause someone to physically go smoke after watching it. I thought it was cool that organizations are working to not allow smoking to be shown in movies. That would be a great way to assist in the public view of smoking and to allow those who are trying to quit smoking the freedom to watch a movie without being affected or tempted to re-engage in that behavior.
The most interesting thing I found from the article was that there is such a high percentage of people who relapse back into smoking within one year of trying to quit. In addition, I thought it was interesting how little is known about how to effectively help people quit and never return, or that a majority of help programs are only for the short-term success. I found an article that discusses the value of long-term treatment. It said that smoking could be considered as a chronic disease and should therefore be treated as one over a long amount of time, rather than just giving a one time prescription and hoping that the individual has enough will power on their own. The individuals who received long-term care were 75% more likely to quit smoking and to not relapse over those who received short-term care. It also stated that 3 out of 4 smokers would like to quit, but then later in the article it talked about how those who are not interested in quitting can be motivated. A study was done where a group of unmotivated smokers were given free nicotine-therapy sessions, and the other group did not. In those who received therapy, an increase in motivation and confidence was seen as 49% of them made at least one attempt to quit, while only 40% of the other group made such attempts.
http://www.webmd.com/smoking-cessation/news/20111130/long-term-treatment-may-be-best-way-to-help-smokers-quit?page=2
I found this interesting in that even those who are unmotivated can be changed and can experience an increase in motivation as they see improvement and gain confidence in the goals they are trying to reach. My understanding of chapter 3 helped me understand this article as certain brain structures that control motivation and action can be triggered by watching what is in a movie. And then how parts of the brain are connected and cause a chain reaction, the initial trigger can lead to a person actually engaging in the behavior they saw. This teaches me that the motivation to quit smoking is complex and takes way more than just will power. An individual can be motivated to quit, but their brain and behavior memory can cause reactions that fight against their motivation to reach their goals.
Terms: brain structures, behavior memory, triggers.
The piece was about how smoking in movies reminds past smokers and present about smoking, not just visually but in the brain, it actually triggers the brain to want to smoke. Said that smoking is a bigger killer than suicide, aids, murders and a few other things combined. The biggest was that it is a preventable cause as well.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
I personally am not a smoker, however I know people that are. One of the most interesting things is how it slows the healing. I agree that it is not good, but especially with all the new things available like nicotine patches and the E cigs, there are easy ways to stop or at least switch to a less destructive way.
What is most interesting to you?
How many other fatal acts combined that smoking was beating. As well as the neurological aspect of smoking in movies or just seeing someone smoke and how it affects a smoker.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that.
I would say the whole part on different ways to quit. I always hear about new products and methods. There is gum, patches, hypnotherapy, regular therapy, the E Cigs might not stop but healthier per say.
What did you learn?
Everything above. As well as one of the reasons behind less smoking commercials and how little people smoke in movies now a day.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
That even though a specific area of the brain that is affected by the nicotine may not be activated by the smell of a second hand smoke, it is still susceptable to other stimuli, thus creating another need for the addiction.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
That it is not just stress and the physical need of the nicotine but more so the neurological aspect of it as well.
Neurotransmitter. addiction, triggers, motivation.
This article is about the reasons psychologists are still studying smoking and smokers. The reason is that despite the fact that it is common knowledge that smoking increases the risk of major health problem and that nicotine is extremely addictive people are still smoking. Also, despite multiple techniques to help stop smoking most individuals relapse. So the purpose of research is to help smokers successfully stop smoking.
I found the statistics interesting in this article. The amount of people that die due to smoking related illnesses in the U.S. alone is astounding. Also the relapse rates surprised me. I didn't realize that it was that high.
I want to learn more about the fact that watching people in movies smoke can lead to ex-smokers relapsing. Also, the effect that watching a person smokes has on the brain is extremely interesting to me. It would be interesting to see the differences in brain reactions in smokers and non smokers when watching someone smoke.
I learned that despite numerous programs established to help smokers quit smoking most of them relapse. I also learned that smoking cessation is about more than will power and getting over a nicotine addiction. It also involves brain activity and that the brain can actually cause relapses.
This article put it in perspective exactly how much the brain effects behavior. I never thought of the brains role in changing behavior and motivation but this article mad me realize how big of a role it plays. The brain heavily influences a persons motivation to quit smoking as well as the emotions that accompany smoking as well as the emotions that a person experiences when watching someone else smoke, even in the absence of smell.
This information has taught me that smoking leads to a pattern of behaviors and emotions that are hard to break. I knew this to a certain degree having grown up around smokers but I didn't fully understand the emotions accompanying watching others smoke. This information also reminded me that there are different motivations behind why people start and continue smoking and this helps understand why most people don't succeed with the cookie cutter programs available.
Terms: emotion, cessation, behavior, motivation, brain activity, brain reactions
Summary
This article emphasized the interaction between the behavior of smoking and the biological/physiological underpinnings of smoking. Smoking is a difficult habit to quit and having to watch someone smoke is almost as painful as the act of quitting itself. I enjoyed reading this article, as smoking is a harmful addiction this article brought up some imperative points for the media. Movies which show someone smoking may be insinuating this to be a “cool thing to do”. More importantly, someone smoking triggers those who are addicted to have the desire to smoke.
Learning more
In my genetics course we learned exactly how smoking affect/destroys our DNA. This was very interesting and stuck with me and I wish this was discussed in the article we read. The toxins found in tobacco genetically mutate our DNA due to mislabeling the translation of mRNA to a codon (or letter). At the end of each strand of DNA there are nonsense codons (or letters) which allow for mutations and mistakes to occur. These codons protect the important coding material of DNA. When these nonsense codons are falsely encrypted during translation, they are easily removed from the DNA. The DNA’s protection system slowly deteriorates and the sense information is now exposed to the harsh environment of the cell. This is why cancer is so prevalent in smokers, it all begins at the cellular level. Long story short--smoking ruins the DNA. (Genetics Fall 2012, UNI, Dr. Seager)
Enlightenments and Relating to the Book
Many of the concepts from chapter three apply to this article. Not only the act of smoking is harmful, but it changes the chemistry of the brain. Neurotransmitters influx when in the ritual of smoking, changing the structure of the brain. When addicts “light up” they typically do so on a routine schedule. So if the addict is in the same room at the same time they normally smoke, they will still receive a high from their surroundings. This usually is when the “cravings” begin; a physiological response to their surroundings. The anticipation of the action is enough to release dopamine and increase pleasure. This is true in the article as well. Watching someone smoke in the movies creates a desire for addicts, or previous addicts, to smoke. Their brain is activated and a motivation to “light up” consumes them.
Quitting smoking is extremely difficult because the smoker is not only trying to change their habits and motives, but they are also going against their biological drive to smoke. Once a person begins smoking, their brain chemistry is changed and the drive to smoke increases to feed that drive.
Terms: Addiction, Desire, Neurotransmitters, Dopamine, Habits, Motives, Biological Drive
I thought this article was very interesting. I do think that movies and television shows influence young children, but that alone does not cause people to start smoking. With young childre, parents need talk to their kid and explain that smoking has a lot of negative consequences for themselves as well as others. Another thing that I found interesting in the article was that it is not just the nicotine that becomes addictive, but also the motion of putting the cigarette up to your mouth becomes addicting. I've seen smokers who fidget their hands a lot when they are not able to smoke at that time. My dad used smoke and when he was quitting, he always needed to have gum or sunflower seeds...something to chew on so he wouldn't resort to smoking again when the urge came.
One thing that I wanted to look into more was smoking hurting healing from a surgery. I found an article that stated people who do not smoke have a spinal surgery recovery rate of about 80-85%, while smokers having that surgery had a success rate under 70%. It is crazy that of the 20% of Americans that smoke, 50% try to quit, but less than 5% are successful. That really puts it into perspective how hard it is to quit smoking. You also have to take into account the smokers motivation to quit. If they are really motivated, that helps, but there are a lot of factors that go into someone's motivation.
This article is related to the chapter in the textbook on the brain because of addiction. Once your brain gets used to the increase in dopamine, it almost craves more of it. According to the book, pharmaceuticals are trying to make a drug that removes the dopamine, therefore taking away the urge. Smokers get a sense of a reward while they are smoking. It can be a stress reliever, a social event, or simply something they enjoy. If they view the event as rewarding, they are motivated to repeat the behavior. Many smokers are aware of the health risks, but they don't believe that it can happen to them.
This article has taught me just how difficult it is to quit smoking. For ex-smokers, even watching a movie with someone smoking can cause them to relapse. Even if someone has the motivation to quit smoking, there are many chemicals in the brain that make it difficult to quit. Once the brain gets the increase in dopamine, it wants more of it.
Terms: motivation, dopamine, addiction
Summary of Article:
This article is mainly about smoking and why smoking can be considered a bad habit. Smoking is not just addicting because of the chemical component in the tobacco smoke, but it has also been found that simply the physical act of taking a cigarette and bringing it to the mouth is such a repetitive movement by smokers that watching this motion activates some certain brain areas and can make it difficult to continue not smoking.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
I found this article very interesting because I didn’t know something as simple as watching someone smoke in a movie would drive ex-smokers want to smoke again. It is good that people are researching more and more about smoking because I feel like the more information about the negative effects of smoking that become public, the less people continue to smoke.
What is most interesting to you?
I was surprised by the main point of this article, honestly. I didn’t know that the act of smoking could be so addicting and also make people want to smoke. I was also a little surprised that so few smokers who try and quit actually succeed. I knew it was hard to quit, but I was surprised that hardly any smokers are actually successful in quitting once they try to.
I was most interested in the part of the article that was listing the negative effects of smoking, particularly that smoking prevents wounds from healing. I read more about this at http://smoking.ygoy.com/does-smoking-delay-wound-healing/ and found that smoking causes your blood vessels to become smaller, which in turn means these blood vessels take much longer to carry the essential nutrients to heal the injury. Also, smoking lowers the oxygen level in the blood, which also causes the wound to take much longer to heal
Chapter 3 helped me understand better that a lot of things are difficult to do or not do because of the messages your brain is sending you. In this case, the brain is being sent signals when watching someone smoke on tv that activate certain areas of the brain. Understanding more about how the brain works makes me realize just how much of the brain is really involved in the process of smoking or quitting smoking.
This has taught me that the motivation to quit smoking has much more to do with the brain than anything else. It has a lot to do with the neurotransmitters sending messages in your brain. It’s harder than it looks for someone to stop smoking and it may make it even more difficult to watch the physical process of smoking.
Summarize the article.
This article talks about how something just as simple as seeing someone smoke a cigarette can trigger the feelings and thoughts of doing the action as if the person was the one doing it, themselves. This can lead to relapses, due to the constant triggering of those feelings.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
I thought this was an interesting piece of information. It made me wonder if it is repeatable with most behaviors, and not just bad habits like smoking. It makes sense that if you watch someone drink a cold refreshing coke, you, too, would want that coke. I think it is part of advertisement to key in on your psychological needs and use them to their advantage.
What is most interesting to you?
I think the most interesting part is about how observing a behavior can trigger the same parts of your brain into action as physically doing the behavior, yourself. It makes sense to me that it would work that way, because otherwise, advertisements would not work.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn?
I think that all of the studies on video games and violence in action, touch on this motivational factor from an outside force. I think that just like not everyone who watches someone smoke, will smoke; not everyone who witnesses violence will commit a violent act. But I will say that it definitely desensitizes the viewer to the behavior. When a child is in a violent situation, they are desensitized to the violence. However, it is not a direct correlation that the child MUST be violent. Just as someone who watches another smoke, does not ALWAYS smoke, too.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
There is definitely a physical part of motivation involving synapses and chemical interactions in the brain. If these are triggered by an extrinsic force (like watching the action) than I could see how relapses could occur. I could see how the brain could use those interactions to increase the motivation for the behavior, it is like a reinforcement. It is kind of nerve-racking to know how it all could work out.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
I think that the motivation to quit has to be very strong to counterbalance the amount of motivation to continue the habit. I have always been told that it takes a long time to break a habit but only a short period of time to make one. Our brains always look for short cuts, and a habit is just that; a mental motivational shortcut.
Summarize the article. What are your thoughts on this piece? What is most interesting to you? Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn? How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article? What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
Provide a list of proper M&E terms that you used in your blog post.
Summary: This article is about smoking and that smoking is a bad habit and it is hard for smokers to quit. Smokers tend to relapse within the first year after they try to quit. Those that smoke in movies give off the message to kids that “smoking is cool.” Also, those watching a movie where smoking occurs, their brain cells activate the smoking cessation and make those want to light up and smoke.
Thoughts on the piece: I think that this article makes a good point on smoking and its addiction. Tobacco smoking is addictive and there are many serious health risks to smoking and that it is very hard for those that want to quit to succeed in quitting and that over 50% of smokers who quit relapse within the first year.
Most Interesting: I think that the most interesting part of this piece is the ending on learning why smokers who quit relapse repeatedly. Why is it that smokes repeatedly relapse? What is the true reasoning behind the relapse?
Learn more about/extra info about it: Information I would like to learn more about would be the causes of tobacco addiction and how to motivationally overcome that addiction. I think that because it makes the brain feel good that it allows us not to see it as a bad behavior.
Concepts of chapt. 3: With the reading of chapter 3, smoking is an addiction that is received by the brain. The neurotransmitters of the brain signal that smoking is something that makes you feel good. Smoking makes many smokers feel good which leads to the motivation to continue to smoke and that it is very difficult to quit due to how your brain feels while smoking.
What does info teach about motivation to quit smoking: This info teaches me that you need the motivation to quit smoking. Many do not have true motivational drive to quit smoking so many of them relapse.
Terms: neurotransmitters, smoking, addiction, motivation
This article discusses new research findings that show there is more to quitting smoking than just kicking a nicotine addiction. The new study found that when an ex-smoker views the act of smoking it triggers the brain areas responsible for the body movements involved in smoking. When ex-smokers watch someone on TV smoke, it activates this area of the brain creating the desire for a cigarette. The article also discusses the widespread knowledge that smoking is unhealthy, and although many want and try to quit, few are successful. This new information involving brain activation may help create new tactics to help smokers quit.
I thought the topic of this article is a good one. In the article I would have liked more detail included about the physiological response from the findings and less about the negative health aspects of smoking, of which many of us are already aware. The part of the article that was most interesting to me was about the behavioral therapies that have seen success in smoking cessation, but then a 50% relapse. This is interesting because the new findings about how viewing the act of smoking affects the brain may assist in discovering ways to assist in preventing relapse.
I was interested in learning more about how common smoking actually is in movies now that it is not considered as “cool” as it used to be. I found a research study about the effects of smoking in movies on teenage smoking, (Heatherton & Sargent, 2009) in which the statistic was 20-25% of characters in movies smoke. Some of the TV shows mentioned in other information I read about media influence on smoking were Madmen and The Simpsons, specifically Krusty the Clown and Marge’s sisters. As a non-smoker it is something I rarely notice when watching TV but do realize there is a lot of smoking in these two shows now that I am thinking about it.
The concepts from Chapter 3 that helped me understand this article are that brain structures are associated with motivational states and are stimulated by neurotransmitters and hormones. Day-to-day events stir these neurotransmitters and hormones into action. The ex-smokers perceive smoking a cigarette as a pleasurable event, which for them signals reward and the anticipation of the event. Physiologically this means dopamine is released in the system and an approach-oriented behavior is initiated in regards to smoking the cigarette. This approach-oriented behavior continues and sometimes increases until the person gets a cigarette. This information teaches me that it is not just an addiction to nicotine a person is experiencing when craving a cigarette, it is also a physiological response from the body that makes it difficult to overcome. The physiological response is motivating the person to smoke the cigarette.
Brain structures, neurotransmitters, hormones, approach-oriented behavior, dopamine
Summary
The article outlines how smoking in movies can encourage a smoker to smoke. The article focus on how the simple action of an actor on screen bringing a cigarette to his or her mouth can motivate someone to smoke and how this can encourage young children to associate smoking with positive feelings of social status. Despite the common knowledge that smoking is bad for your health, it is one of the leading causes of preventable death in most countries around the world. Despite tobacco producers testifying that nicotine is not addictive, less than 5% of all smokers successfully quit smoking.
What I found interesting
In my advertising and promotion class today we talked about tobacco companies and the ethical considerations of a marketer. My professor asked how many of us would work on a project for a tobacco company if it was against our personal ethics, no one raised their hand. For me, I find smoking to be abhorrent and do not really understand why people choose to smoke but understanding motivation and how the brain responds to chemicals allows us to make sense of an irrational behavior. Before it was common knowledge that cigarettes are harmful to health, they were portrayed in very positive ways. The hottest Hollywood stars, politicians, doctors, fathers and mothers all smoked very publicly, it was much more common than it is today. I really thought it was interesting that there has been a call for movies and television to remove the visual of smoking from the airwaves and even looking back, there have been noticeable changes from when I was young to today.
More information
I wanted to learn more about recent research on why smokers relapse. In my search, I came across an article entitled “Smokers Would Rather Give Up For Their Pooch’s Health Rather Than Their Own” (Sharecare). The article talks about the fact that smokers are more likely to quit smoking for the sake of their pet’s health rather than any concern for their own. According to the article, of 3300 respondents 37% said knowing smoking would be harmful to the health of their pet would motivate them to quit. I found this to be very interesting because you would think that people, being the selfish creatures we are, would care more about ourselves and be motivated by our own health rather than the health of our pets. According to the research this is not the case. I personally am very interested in understanding the role having another affected by smoking would have on one’s motivation and desire to quit the habit.
Chapter 3 Understanding
Research suggests that there is more to smoking addiction than trying to “be cool”. Despite the claim from Tobacco execs that nicotine is not an addictive substance, we know this to be untrue. Science has shown that nicotine can change levels of brain chemicals, for example, dopamine. Since the nicotine cannot stay in your system forever, in order for your brain to maintain the chemical levels, it requires more nicotine. The brain demands more nicotine in order to maintain the levels of dopamine brought on by a nicotine rush. A craving for a cigarette is much like a craving that a junky has for drugs and the body goes through withdrawal due to the lack of nicotine (Sharecare). In chapter three we learned about how the motivation starts with brain structure, then goes to biochemicals, and finally reacts to an external event. The nicotine in cigarettes interferes with part two of that process, causing external events such as seeing someone smoking on TV to trigger that biochemical and be processed by the brain in the positive structures.
Motivation to quit smoking
I have never smoked before and after learning about how difficult it is to quit smoking, especially when it doesn’t carry the heavy penalties of drug use motivate me to never have a cigarette in the first place. It’s not a matter of will power like so many people claim, “just quit, just do it”, but as research has shown, it’s not that easy. The brain and biochemicals cause it to be much more difficult for the body to let go of that desire to smoke and no amount of will power can change your body’s biochemical reactions to a stimulus.
Terms
Motivate, positive, brain, relapse, dopamine, brain structure, biochemicals, event, trigger, stimulus
Sources
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090209205156.htm
http://www.sharecare.com/question/why-is-nicotine-so-addictive
Summary of the Article:
This brief article discussed a new study recently released that may give insight as to what it is that makes smokers continue to smoke, or former smokers relapse. This study found that by simply watching the act of smoking, like what is often seen in the movies, can activate certain areas in the brain that induce the urge to smoke even in those who have long since quit. The article further described past and continuous efforts to try to remove smoking in movies, as well as reiterate the harmful side effects that come with smoking cigarettes. Even with all these warnings, 20% of American adults smoke and only 5% succeed in quitting each year. Some therapies have shown to be somewhat useful, such as “quitlines” and cognitive behavioral therapies. Even so, 50% of former smokers relapse each year.
Thoughts on the Piece:
For as short as it was, I thought this article brought up some good points. I thought it did a great job in pointing out the many harmful results that come with smoking, including the increased risk of death. I also thought that mentioning multiple treatment methods was a good way to introduce new therapies that maybe those trying to quit have not yet tried. Finally, mentioning how certain areas of the brain are activated while engaging in the physical aspect of smoking was a good connection to our course. We learned this week that motivation is as largely physiological as it is psychological; so is trying to quit smoking cigarettes. The motivation to quit has to come from within the person, but also the physiological aspect of addiction is one of those barriers that get in the way of successfully reaching this desired behavior.
Most Interesting:
I thought the most interesting part of this article, besides the connection to physiological functioning of motivation, was the shocking statistics they shared in this piece. Although I knew that smoking was one of the leading preventable causes of death, I had no idea that its death totals alone were greater than those from AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol, car accidents, suicide and murder combined! That was incredibly surprising to me.
One Aspect You Would Like to Learn More About:
I thought the article could have elaborated more on the types of therapy being used to help people quit their smoking habits. I would be interested in learning more about how cognitive behavioral therapy works in this context. Also, what is a “quitline”? Finally, it would be interesting to see more research done regarding the use of medicine to help change brain activation in former smokers.
What did You Learn?
I felt I learned some things from this article. For starters, I learned that they are conducting studies that relate to brain functioning through the use of mass media products, like the movies. I also learned that one-fifth of Americans are smokers and that many have a difficult time in successfully quitting. Finally, because of the research cited in this article, I learned that the “body’s combined response to the content of cigarette smoke and the physical act of smoking leads to changes in brain activity that can drive the urge to smoke.”
Concepts from Chapter 3, Motivation to Quit Smoking:
Like I mentioned before, I thought this article related very closely to chapter three. It discussed how physiology, particularly brain functioning, is a large factor in motivating behavior. The activation of certain brain areas after watching someone smoke in a movie can lead a person to engage in that behavior. The same can be said for motivation. Once certain areas are activated in the brain elicit a positive response, that person is most likely going to engage in that behavior again. It also takes a lot of drive to quit smoking for most people, and those who do not find enough drive are likely going to relapse or even fail quitting. The way I see it, not only does there need to be an internal motive to quit smoking but there needs to be some sort of external event, such as social support, that acts as a source of motivation to help direct a person towards better behaviors.
List of Terms: Motivation, physiological, psychological, internal motive, external event, source of motivation
Summarize the article.
Most people have heard that if a person wanted to quit smoking that it they can if they have enough willpower. This is not necessarily the whole truth. Watching a person smoke in movies activates brain areas that are linked to addiction. It makes the sensation of wanting a cigarette so much more severe than it would without this visual stimulus. Some organizations are trying to eliminate smoking from movies, so it does not look appealing to children or to those whom were already addicted. There are different methods out there that people can try to quit. There is still research being done about addiction and relapse.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
I thought it was a very interesting argument and definitely a different way at looking at this issue. At the same time, I do not understand why they are not making the same initiative towards eliminating the presence of drugs and alcohol in films. If a person was a recovering addict from alcohol or drugs, would they not have the same wanting or urge to relapse if they saw a person in a movie or on television partaking in the act?
In the United States, smoking cigarettes is not illegal for individuals over the age of 18, but the age for alcohol is higher at 21. Most drugs are illegal regardless of age. Drinking and drug usage are considered to be victimless crimes, unless if it has the potential to cause injury to another person—neglecting or abusing children, receiving and OWI, etc. For some reason, smoking is not considered to be a crime. Maybe the author is trying to address this point. Smoking has the chance of hurting another person through second-hand smoke. It is important to consider the number of deaths, injuries, and cases of laws being broken related to each of these substances. If these numbers are added up, it could possibly show that the numbers are higher for drinking and drug use.
Although I am skeptical of this article (as a person with psychology major should be), I am open-minded to the possibility that this information could reflect the largest of the issues, that is smoking, as opposed to concerns of alcohol and drugs. This is mostly due to the fact that the authors have received their doctorate or are professors in related fields, which should mean that this information is valid and hopefully reliable as well.
What is most interesting to you?
The most interesting part to me was the statistics of the United States. I am curious why someone would begin smoking if they know that it is harmful to their body and health. I was surprised to see that the number of deaths from smoking is higher than those of alcohol or drug related abuse.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that.
I would like to learn which parts of the brain are active when a person is smoking or wants to smoke.
What did you learn?
From this article, I learned that the leading preventable cause of death in most countries is smoking and the approximate number of deaths in the United States per year. The individuals that were addicted to smoking have learned so feel the feeling of having a cigarette and the feeling it bring to them when they take a puff, that it makes the brain acknowledge this feeling when they see someone else smoking. I also learned that the approach of cognitive behavioral therapy is often used to help a person quit smoking.
I decided to find out more information about which parts of the brain are active when a person is smoking or wants to smoke. When a person smokes, the nicotine binds to nicotine receptors that are located in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of the brain. It is located in the midbrain, which is the reward pathway. The prefrontal cortex is another reward pathway in the brain. As the nicotine is increased, dopamine is released, causing an intense feeling of pleasure. The insula, which is located in the cerebral cortex between the temporal and frontal lobes may also be responsible for making a person aware of the sensation in reminding the smoker of the food feeling produced after smoking.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
This was a good article to follow the reading from chapter three, which briefly mentioned addiction, but did not go into a great amount of detail. For a person to want to smoke, the individual would have to have some sort of cognitive process that tells them they have this urge. This is done through neurotransmitter pathway known as dopamine. When the article refers to changes in brain activity, they are simply describing the dopamine release occurring in the brain.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
No matter what addiction a person may have, it is usually difficult to break. Dopamine that is released after a person engages in a wanted behavior generates positive feelings. It is often difficult to quit even though a person wants to. The wanting to smoke can overpower the wanting to quit. A person may also want to smoke, even if they do not like it. The person then has conflicting motives.
Provide a list of proper M&E terms that you used in your blog post.
Addiction, ventral tegmental area, prefrontal cortex, dopamine, cerebral cortex (frontal lobes), neurotransmitter, and motives
Summarization:
The article “Smoking in Movies: Why Your Brain Thinks It's Cool” states much about the difficulties of smoking before or after a person has begun not just from biological aspects but from environmental factors as well. Smoking in movies may play a major role in why kids start smoking or why ex-smokers relapse is because the sight of smoking triggers a part of the brain to learn or remember the movements of a smoker but in a simpler term reaching for a cigarette. Smoking is such a big problem all around the world that it is one of the top reasons why people die. This article continues with percentages of how many adults from the U.S. are smokers, how many try quitting, and how few actually succeed. The reason why so many relapse is because the brain remembers the actions of smoking, and how it makes the person feel while smoking.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
I really believe that much of this article really does make an interesting point. Many people I have known in life have been a smoker and I am only 21 years old. I also know to some degree the difficulties of trying to quit smoking because my dad smoked for over 30 years, and his doctor told him he needs to quit or he will die. My dad always said it was not that difficult quitting cold turkey, but from the day he quit on to this day he always chews on a pen or a lot of gum but usually pens they are much cheaper.
What is most interesting to you?
I knew that smoking was difficult but I did not know that only 5% of the 50% of people who try quitting actually accomplish this goal. Also another thing that was interesting that I did not know at all I have never even heard of it, but just the movements of seeing a smoker makes a person want to smoke.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn?
Since this article was focusing on why people have difficulties to stop smoking I wanted to learn more about why it’s so difficult. In a scholarly article “Neuroregulators and the reinforcement of smoking: Towards a biobehavioral explanation”, which is a very long title, I could only briefly look over it since it is not free, but just from what I could read this article states that smoking has neuroregulatory effects on the brain which makes a person calm after having a stressful day.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
Since smoking releases or makes release of chemicals in the body that increase pleasure and decrease stress through dopamine, acetylcholine, and so on I can understand why smoking has such a high motivation aspect to it
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
It taught me that not just the effects on the brain chemically are just the cause of the motivation to smoke but it is also the motion of taking a puff of a cigarette that causes brain activity in the areas that smoking normally affects to increase. The motivation to quit smoking most of the time is just not enough to fight off the motivation to actually smoke.
Terms: biological, environmental, relapse, cold turkey, neuroregulators, dopamine, acetylcholine, and motivation
Summarize the article.
This article talked on how smoking in movies influences children into thinking that smoking is the “cool” thing to do. It also covered the views in society on how cigarette smoking impacts health and the aspects about quitting.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
Frankly, I think the argument that smoking in movies influences children so greatly to smoke is a bit outrageous. I understand that someone who is quitting smoking might have trouble watching the same scenes without the urge to smoke.
What is most interesting to you?
I thought the statistics on quitting were the most interesting. I knew smoking was highly addictive and that very few people successfully quit. I did not know that only 5% of smokers quit the habit. I think it’s astounding that 50% of people relapse within a year of quitting.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn?
I wanted to know if a study had been done with children, smoking, and movies. I did find one (sited at bottom) and it was surprising.
The study was of about 1,500 children ages 10 to 14 and then revisited with 7 to 8 years older. Shown varying degrees of smoking images ranging from low to high smoking images.
When controlling for all alternative explanatory variables: Mild exposure increased the risk 36% Moderate exposure increased the risk 68% High exposure increased the risk 98% (http://www.child-psych.org/2009/04/teen-smoking-does-watching-movie-stars.html)
Though I still have my reservations. I think seeing these clips for a short time doesn’t really hold much weight. How can a few hours during childhood hold so much weight. I think that surely it has an effect seeing your favorite character smoke but I think other factors overwhelm this particular case.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
The chapter talked about how once you smoke you can have a dopamine-induced neural hyper sensitization that can last for years. As for quitting the article talked of medicine that can curb the “liking” of cigarettes by taking away the dopamine pleasure related to smoking.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
With everything read this last week, I think quitting smoking is near impossible. 20% of adults in the United States are smokers and only 5% of those who try successfully quite. Those are bad numbers. I am so glad my vice is chocolate and not nicotine. I think the best thing a person can do to stop smoking, is to never start smoking. For those who are smoking and want to quit, I think it is a wise move to speak with a doctor to get medical help to quit.
Terms used: dopamine-induced neural hyper sensitization, dopamine
http://www.child-psych.org/2009/04/teen-smoking-does-watching-movie-stars.html
This article referenced a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience which showed evidence that seeing someone smoking can induce activity in the same areas of the brain that activate when a smoker smokes. It is common knowledge that tobacco is bad and is related to many deaths each year. It is also well known that tobacco is addictive. The article addressed this problem, that although we know smoking is really unhealthy, a fifth of American adults identify as smokers. The article raised the question: “why?”
I did not think this was a terribly interesting article. As it said, we know that smoking is dangerous and addictive. It does make you wonder why anyone would start smoking at all, but this is a question I have had for a very long time. Also, it only makes sense that seeing someone smoke might make a former smoker crave a cigarette. When one is trying to stop a habit, seeing it or thinking about it is bound to increase thoughts about the habit. I did not think there was much new information addressed.
It was very interesting to think about which areas of the brain “light up” when performing the actions of smoking such as moving the hand toward the mouth. I would really like to learn more about the specific brain activity behind muscle memory in consistently done actions. It is really interesting to me that simply thinking about an action could activate those muscle memory areas in the brain. Is this the same process when a gymnast thinks about a well conquered skill?
In researching the subject, I learned that muscle memory is the formation of new neural pathways in the brain after repetition of an activity. In this, even after a long break from the action or activity, the muscles still know how to do it automatically.
I learned, also, that smoking for a number of years does, in fact, alter the brain. In using an addictive drug, a need or desire is met. This causes the nucleus accumbens to release dopamine, a neurotransmitter, or chemical message to other parts of the brain. This causes the feeling of pleasure. This is called the reward pathway. Naturally, this reward pathway is only activated after much effort has been put forth or after a long wait. Addictive drugs, however, cause an immediate effect. In high use, the natural production of dopamine, that is without the drug, can be reduced. This would mean, a formerly heavy smoker might not feel the same pleasure in normal, healthy activities that they might have had they never smoked.
In understanding the basic parts of the brain involved in the Limbic system and how they work, it is easier to understand where motivation to continue smoking comes from. Learning about neurotransmitters and how they affect emotion does give insight into the reasons behind human behavior, including smoking and quitting smoking.
Terms: neural pathways, nucleus accumbens, dopamine, neurotransmitter, reward pathway, limbic system
http://www.healthguidance.org/entry/14351/1/What-Is-Muscle-Memory.html
http://www.psychologicalscience.com/motivation_emotion/2013/01/smoking-1.html#comment-33899
This article discussed the different thought processes that occur in the brain's of smokers. The article also explained that the neurotransmitters in the brain are triggered by things we see in the movies and on TV, and actually relay that information to parts of the brain that are familiar with the physical motions associated with smoking a cigarette.
I thought the article was interesting, we all know smoking is bad for us but every time I see the statistics such as how many people die in the U.S. alone due to tobacco use, and that only 5% of people who try to quit, succeed.
The most interesting part of the article to me was that the motion of reaching in your pocket and bringing the cigarette to your mouth is causing continued tobacco use and relapse. I found it interesting that smokers can develop a habit to the point where this would trigger a craving.
After reading the article I wanted to know more about how in 1994 CEO's were denying the effects of nicotine. After doing some research and watching the actual video of the CEO's denying the effects, it's clear that they were going to say that regardless of any facts presented. Wealth can make people do some unthinkable things.
Reading chapter 3 gave me a better understanding of the different processes that occur in different parts of the brain in order to feel a certain way.I can also understand why people who smoke continue to do so even though they compain about various aspects of it, understanding the chemical release and the brains response helps me understand it better.
I feel that wanting to quit isn't enough for most people. I think people who feel motivated to quit smoking may not realize everything that is going on in our brains and our muscle memory. I empathize with smokers trying to quit, it would be a very frustrating process.
Terms used:neurotransmitters,chemical release, muscle memory.
Summarize the article.
This article demonstrated that there are other reasons that ex-smokers relapse back into smoking than solely craving a cigarette. When the body becomes used to an action, it becomes habit to complete that action. The enactment of bringing a cigarette to the mouth is an action that, for many, acts as a trigger to desire said cigarette.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
The article makes sense. Humans are creatures of habit, and it is quite believable that we have a hard time quitting an action that we see so often portrayed in the movies and on television. I appreciate the fact that the author included statistics that show just how many smokers are actually able to quit, as opposed to the percent that try. It highlights how difficult it really is for those of us who do not smoke.
What is most interesting to you?
I found it interesting that watching the act of one moving their arm to the mouth can trigger a desire for relapse. It activates areas of the brain that were activated while the person was a smoker, which makes sense as to why they crave a cigarette afterward.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn?
I wanted to learn more about how smokers form habits. In previous articles, it has been shown that smokers also develop a sense of oral fixation; they need to be able to keep their mouth busy. One way of treating nicotine addiction is to transform that behavior into something less harmful to the body, such as chewing gum. This way, the brain areas that formed the habit are still active, but the nicotine is no longer being ingested (or in the case of nicotine gum, less harmful chemicals).
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
Understanding the role that the brain plays in forming habits and addictions helps a great deal in understanding the article. With each cigarette, the brain dumps the neurotransmitter dopamine into the synapses, which causes a sense of euphoria. The brain becomes used to this feeling and begins to crave it, leading to addiction. While the brain requires this dopamine to maintain normal operation, an individual must build the motivation to fight the brain's own neurotransmitters to cure the addiction. Why would you quit something that feels so good, even though you know it is slowly killing you? This is the question the brain asks. Addiction arrives on a physiological basis, and according to the article, there are physical triggers to bring ex-smokers back under its hold.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
It must be incredibly difficult! A smoker's body has no motivation to quit smoking, as the release of neurotransmitters keeps it feeling well. When you take that away, the brain senses that something is wrong and attempts to fix it by craving more. Even with satisfying the brain in other ways (such as a patch), the outside world can bring a recovering smoker to their knees.
Terms: Motivation, addiction, dopamine, synapse, neurotransmitters, relapse
Motivation and Emotion post #5
Summarize the article.
The article entitled Smoking in Movies: Why your Brain Thinks it’s Cool could be summarized by stating that most people know that smoking is bad, and know that it is addictive. However for the 5 % of smokers who are able to actually quit smoking, 50% of them relapse. Although reasons may vary, researchers have found that when a smoker or ex-smoker watches a film with a smoking actor or actress it emits those same addictive areas in the brain to become more active. Researchers believe that this is what helps to cause ex-smoker relapse rates to sky rocket.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
This topic really hits home for me. The reason being is because I am allergic to tobacco that cigarettes are made from. I have even had friends that are or were smokers. They have told me about their addiction and told me that I am a lucky guy to not be able to be around it because it is so bad. Some friends have tried to quit and failed. For a long time I thought it was just a matter of will power and motivation to quit, and finding a reason to quit. However this article helped me realize that Smoking is highly related to brain activity. Do I think that we are powerless of addictive substances; no. I am now just more aware that addictive substances are quite powerful and do have a strong hold on our behavior, our health, emotions, and desires.
What is most interesting to you?
The most interesting thing I found is that those seven CEOs of major tobacco companies testified in open court that the “believe that nicotine is not addictive” even though one man said it “did not meet the classic definition of an addictive drug.” However there is overwhelming evidence on the contrary. Even the Surgeon general, the position in the US Government that is meant to look after the health and advise the American people of health benefits and hazards, found that in 1988, which as 20 sum years ago, that cigarettes “..are as addictive as drugs such as heroin or cocaine.”
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn?
I learned that smoking also leads to decreased ability, over time, to heal wounds. This is due to a lack of blood flow going to the wound which would allow for a slower healing process. That nicotine causes blood platelets to stick together more, this could cause a blockage in the vein or artery and lead to a blood clot in the blood passage way. This is called a thrombosis. This, once dislodged, can lead to serious health factors and even death as that blood clot could enter the heart and occlude the blood supply to have the heart pump oxygen rich blood to the rest of the body. I was also reminded that nicotine is a vasoconstrictor, which means that nicotine causes your arteries and veins to become smaller. This increases blood pressure as you have the same amount of substance being pumped through smaller piping, if you will, which makes the heart have to work faster. Although I am aware that the time of vasoconstriction per cigarette vary from person to person, that would put unneeded stress on the heart over a long period of time as some smokers smoke 3 or 4 cigarettes a day if they are limiting themselves.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
This helps me understand more of how brain chemistry and neuroscience is involved in out day to day lives, not only in addiction but also in how we behave, how we are motivated, and how we feel physically which can be directly linked to how we feel emotionally as human beings.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
The motivation to quit smoking has to be quite strong in order for the person to fight off a physiological response and pervious learned behavior in order to be successful in quitting. I have also been reminded that the body has associated addictive substances with positive stimuli such as: social interaction, deep breathing, and chemical responses in the brain such as dopamine release. A strong social support system is also needed to cut an addictive habit such as smoking. I am also seeing a rise of children talking to their parents and grandparents about quitting smoking. Within the past month working at Walgreens, I have noticed at least 5 counts of children or significant others offering some kind of reward for quitting smoking while purchasing their cigarettes.
-AJB
The article written by Dr. Picciotto is about just how dangerous it is to have scenes of smoking in movies. Kids watch and think that they need to pick up this habit if they want to be cool. She also explains how previous smokers could have a possible relapse just by seeing an actor smoking in a movie. I thought that this made sense in that most smokers are just addicted to the action of smoking and less addicted to the taste. However, I found it interesting that in the article she acknowledges that seven tobacco company CEO's stood before congress and all said that they didn't think nicotine was addictive.
In Dr. Picciotto's article she states that smoking can cause wounds to heal much slower than normal. I decided to look more into exactly why this takes place. I found out that it has to do with the rate, and flow of oxygen. When a person smokes, their blood vessels shrink which makes it harder for the oxygen to get to the wound. Tobacco smoking creates the poison carbon monoxide, and this reduces the amount of oxygen in the body. It typically takes about 3 days for all the carbon monoxide to leave the body.
Having read chapter 3 before this article really helped me understand the biological basis around motivation. Therapies like cognitive behavioral therapy, or a nicotine patch can be used to try a ween someone away from smoking, but it doesn't mean a relapse wont occur. When smokers repeatedly smoke over and over their pathways in the brain slowly change. They crave cigarettes so the neurotransmitter dopamine can be released and give them a feeling of pleasure. Chapter 3 helped me to grasp the concept of why we want certain things so badly and how we are motivated to obtain these different things.
Terms used: neurotransmitter, dopamine, addictive, relapse, biological, cognitive behavioral therapy.
What was the most interesting part of this article?
The most interesting part of this article is the explanation for relapse. Most people who have an addiction problem may have been influenced by something in the environment to make them want to take up that habit. In this case watching someone smoke on the big screen can motivate certain areas of the brain to influence smoking. I think it’s interesting that they found a relationship between relapse and influences on the brain from movies. It makes us realize that quitting for a lot of people is not as easy as we think.
What would you like to learn more about?
I would like to learn more about what else affects our brain while being influenced by the environment. Like for example, I am a bowler and every time I see someone bowling it makes me want to bowl. Is there something in my brain telling me to bowl? Or giving me motive to do it?
What did you learn?
I learned that smoking is just more than a bad habit and only partially right. There are outside influences that make people want to continue smoking and never wanting to quit.
Concepts from chapter three?
Chapter three sheds light into how the brain functions when it is being motivated by outside influences. It talks about how neurotransmitters in the brain pick up certain chemicals and transmits them throughout the blood stream to act as communicators. So when the brain is being influenced by the nicotine, it is being motivated to want more of it.
What does it teach you about the motivation to quit?
It teaches me that smoking isn’t an easy thing to quit because it is so addictive and there are a lot of influences in our society that make it hard to quit. It’s just like wanting to watch your favorite football team play but you can’t because you have to work that day. Every ounce of you wants to watch them, but you know you cannot skip work. Getting the right motivation to quit smoking must come from within first and be followed up with some kind of plan that influences you to quit and never start back up again.
Words used:
Neurotransmitters, motivation, brain, influence, blood stream, nicotine,
Summarize the article: The article discusses the use and effects of smoking and tobacco on a person. The beginning of the article talks about at how movies that show scenes of smoking can trigger an effect within a smoker's brain that would then make them want to pick up the pack and smoke. It also had this effect on non-smokers to want to try smoking. Another way movies do this is by making smoking look cool. The second half of the article discusses more facts and statistics on smoking.
What are you thoughts on this piece? I thought it was interesting to read about how scenes in movies with smoking trigger a part of the brain to make them want to smoke. I'm completely against smoking so I agree with those who want to remove smoking scenes from movies.
What is most interesting to you? I liked learning that smoking can prevent wounds from healing as well as being a major reason for poor outcomes of surgery. I knew it would effect surgery but learning about the wounds part was new to me.
Choose one aspect that you want to learn more about and find information on it.
I was really interested in the American Lung Association. I learned that it works with more than just smoking and tobacco in the lungs. It also works for lung cancer and other lung diseases. They want to prevent lung disease with education, advocacy, and research. They are also trying to fight for healthy air. (http://www.lung.org/about-us/)
What did you learn? I liked learning the statistics on smoking. The article said that 20% of adults are smokers with over half of them trying to quit each year. Sadly though, it said that less than five percent of them succeed.
How does chapter three help you understand this article? The article was easier to understand from reading chapter three because I was able to connect parts of the brain and what we learned about in chapter three to what the article said about movie scenes triggering smoking habits.
What does al this information teach you about motivation to quit smoking? In my view, I feel that the article gives good reasons on why its harder for people to quit smoking. It showed the statistics of people trying to quit. It also discussed how movies show smoking scenes to make smoking look cool. This then intrigues teenagers to try it but makes current smokers want to continue smoking. Seeing it makes it harder for them to quit.
Summary:
This article talks about smoking and how psychologists are trying to pin down exactly why smokers continue to smoke despite the deadly health implications. They have ideas that go beyond the nicotine offering interesting psychological insight.
Thoughts:
This article provides interesting insights into hard evidence that so many of those smoking try to quit, but just can't. The diseases and deaths are strikingly apparent, yet something in the human brain causes smokers to relapse for various reasons.
What is most interesting to you?
I found it interesting that one of the main causes of smokers relapsing is simply seeing another person on a movie or the street smoking. It becomes such a natural habit that when the brain sees someone else doing it, dopamine is released creating that incentive to smoke again.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that. What did you learn?
I wanted to learn more about how smoking in movies really affects individuals biologically. Also, if concerted efforts have been made to deter these actions in movies. I think it is perplexing that it becomes such a natural habit that it becomes an unconscious movement.
Chapter 3 helps me understand that there's more to it than just trying to quit smoking. It’s not just something you can convince yourself to have the motivation to do. Neurotransmitters like Dopamine set off chemical reactions within the brain that direct us towards certain unconscious actions. We have to take power over these reactions and realize that we can trick our brain into certain actions. I truly believe by understanding what is happening people have a better chance of quitting.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
Obtaining the motivation to quit smoking is not a simple, short task. It takes practice and persistence to train the mind to think differently. When dopamine is released by seeing someone else smoke, the incentive is exponentially high to reach for a cigarette. However, by channeling this 'high' towards other activities or means smokers stand a better chance of resisting the urge.
Terms:
Neurotransmitters, Dopamine, Addiction
This article talks about the many addictive qualities of smoking cigarettes. The first thing it focused on was the presence of smoking in many movies. The act of smoking in these movies can lead kids to think that smoking is okay or cool to do, which ultimately leads to children starting to smoke. It is not only leading kids to start smoking, it is also making ex-smokers relapse back into their old habits. When the brain sees a person smoking in the movies it automatically links it to those physical habits of smoking, which in turn, can make an ex-smoker want to smoke again. The article also talked about how tobacco smoking causes more deaths than AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined. That is a very powerful message.
The most interesting part of this article was finding out that less than 5 percent of smokers trying to quit actually succeed. And then on top of that 50 percent of ex-smokers relapse within the year. Those statistics blew my mind. I had no idea that that few of people trying to quit smoking would actually succeed. I can’t even imagine how hard it would be for someone to quit given that it’s not only the nicotine bringing them back in, it’s also the physical act of smoking that may bring them back to their old ways!
I wanted to learn more about the cigarette companies that actually testified before congress saying that they did not think that nicotine was addictive. That is just asinine. I read a couple articles all stating what these companies had to say that day. I am in complete disbelief. I don’t know what was driving them to say the things they did but it makes me sick. A couple of my friends smoke every once in awhile and I hope they never get addicted to the point where their health is more in danger than it already is.
This article definitely brings to light exactly how hard it is to quit smoking for good. Not only is it a psychological thing, but also a physical thing as well. One’s brain transmits many signals. Once the brain recognizes the act of smoking it triggers the brain to crave the act of smoking. The nicotine also reels the individual back in as well. With as many movies are out there with scenes of people smoking, I can’t even imagine the difficulty that is associated with quitting!
Terms: psychological, transmits, triggers, addictive,
Summary: This article describes the act of smoking and how it is portrayed socially and how it can negatively affect your life and your health. Smoking is a habitual process both chemically and physically. The nicotine contained in each cigarette physically addicts you to the act of smoking, and the habits and mannerisms associated with smoking form a psychological addiction. Neurotransmitters inside your brain make smoking a pleasurable activity.
Thoughts: I am a smoker so all the information I read was familiar to me anyway. I know that it is a bad habit that can cost you both financially and health wise, but I suppose as a 22 year old, I hold the mind state that I will one day give up the bad habit and be no worse for the wear.
Most Interesting: I found it most interesting that a person can overcome the physical addiction to nicotine more easily than the psychological addiction to smoking. When a person smokes, it is an act that becomes integrated within their everyday lives. They plan activities around it and adjust to their addiction. This forms a certain “smoker’s lifestyle” that can be incredibly difficult to break.
More info: Something more I would like to learn is about the physical contents of cigarette smoke. I feel that if I researched this a bit more, my eyes would be opened to a more realistic viewing of the act, and I will probably stop smoking after I do that. That will become my motivation.
Concepts of chapt. 3: With the reading of chapter 3, smoking is an addiction that takes place both within the body and the brain. The neurotransmitters of the brain ensure that smoking feels good to you. Smoking is a pleasurable activity which leads to the motivation to continue to smoke.
Terms: neurotransmitters, smoking, addiction, motivation
Summary
Watching movies where the actors smoke contributes to those who smoke because of the physical habit of reaching for a cigarette and taking a drag. Smoking in movies gives the character the cool factor and that tends to increase the chance of kids to start smoking. Watching actors on a screen can compel an ex-smoker to want to smoke again. Smoking is known as an addictive habit though tobacco companies disagree.
Thoughts on article
I thought this article was very insightful. I remember watching the Breakfast Club for the first time and wondering what smoking weed would be like because of the famous scene where they all smoke. I don’t think smoking has the same cool factor effect on people as much anymore because society is realizing just how harmful it is to not only the individual choosing to do so, but those around them. I would love to see a case where tobacco companies fight in court with the idea that nicotine isn’t addicting though.
What was most interesting
I knew smoking was bad for you (and those around it), but I didn’t know it is the leading preventable cause of death in most countries with more deaths per year than AIDS, illegal drug use, alcohol use motor vehicle injuries, suicides, and murders combined (THAT’S A LOT).
What would you like to learn more about?
I would like to learn more about how people go about quitting smoking.
What did you learn?
Some people try quitting on their own before they go to their doctor, but doctors can be very resourceful. They may suggest medicines (prescription or OTC) to help you get rid of the habit. There is no magic cure to help you quit smoking because it’s an everyday battle. Some types of OTC medicines are nicotine based medicines such as gum, lozenge, or the patch. Prescription medicines include nicotine nasal spray, nicotine inhalant, Bupropion, and Varenicline (Chantix).
Concepts from Chapter 3
Addictions cause hypersensitivity to dopamine stimulation due to their repeated usage. They sensitize the brain structures to a higher degree than other rewards such as food. Common drugs such cocaine, heroin, or even alcohol cause dopamine induced neural hypersensitization and it can last for years. Your body can have low dopamine levels when you are wanting another drag of a cigarette or hit of another drug. It’s biochemicals and hormones can become in control and result in a relapse.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
First, it teaches us that you have to be highly motivated to quit smoking. A person’s brain is very powerful and just because you physically stop buying cigarettes, doesn’t mean your brain quits wanting the urge to buy them. Smokers are challenging their biological urge to smoke and you have to have a lot of motivation to do so.
Terms: Motivation, Addiction, Dopamine, neural hypersensitization
Source:
http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/smoking_cessation/hic_pharmacological_treatments_to_help_quit_smoking.aspx
This article talks about smoking as "a bad habit." It lists the risks, not only is it addictive, it is "bad" for you in that people who smoke have more risks during surgery, take longer to heal after an injury, and is the leading cause of preventable deaths in the US. The article also talks about trying to quit smoking as a "bad" time. 50% of smokers attempt to quit each year: Less than 5% succeed. Of those 5%, 50% will relapse at some time. All though I had somewhat known this fact, looking at the actual numbers is astounding to me! I have always thought, ya know, "It can't be thaaaat hard." Of course, this is coming from someone on the outside looking in, who has never tried to quit anything anyway. Understanding the information from chapter 3, along with reading this article and seeing the numbers as well as the outside influences that can trigger the want to smoke really helps me to be a little more empathetic and understand the struggle people are going through when attempting to quit smoking.
I would like to learn more about the actual effects or social pressures that people who have quit smoking feel from seeing smoking in the movies. This is an environmental event, and I would like to see what bio agents are actually stirred, and what specific brain structures it affects.
This shows that the attempt to quit smoking isn't just controlled by saying no. They are other factors inside and outside of your body that could help or hinder your ability to quit. Not only are you fighting the urge that your brain is sending from simply being addicted, but you are also fighting the urge that your brain is sending from being exposed to certain sights or smells. It is hard to control all factors of our life. No wonder it is so hard to quit smoking! (After thinking about all of this, I'm extra glad I have never started.)
Terms: environmental events, bio agents, brain structures, motivation, addiction
This article was pretty interesting to read. As a former smoker, I can relate to a lot of the behaviors they talked about. This article talks about how smoking should not be allowed in movies because it triggers addictive behaviors of ex-smokers and current smokers. The action of smoking is a learned behavior, so by eliminating the persuasive behavior that movies show, then the theory is that less ex-smokers will relapse. When celebrities are smoking in movies it appears very cool and positive. This image is also causing kids to start smoking because they think it is "cool." I completely agree that watching other people smoke causes the addiction to return because while I was quitting, anytime I saw someone smoking I had the urge to smoke. It has been one year since I have smoked but it is still very hard to watch others smoke. I believe that if we eliminate smoking from TV shows and movies then we will reduce the number of relapses. The most interesting thing I learned from this article was that of the 50% of people that try to quit smoking, only 5% successfully quit.
I was very interested in learning how cognitive behavioral therapy helps people quit smoking, so I looked up more information on that. CBT focuses on an individual's current problems and teaches them different coping strategies for how to deal with their feelings. This type of therapy is very goal-directed. The therapist helps the client gain confidence in their ability to quit smoking. The therapist also teaches responses to negative thinking. The purpose of this is too change a person's pattern of thinking from negatively to positively. I believe this is a great way to help smokers quit because I believe negative and self-defeating thoughts are the primary reasons why people have problems quitting.
Chapter 3 helped me understand this article better because of the concepts of liking versus wanting and the different dopamine levels on addiction. For people that are trying to quit smoking, they may not necessarily like smoking but they want it causing a partial reward without sensory pleasure. The body only receives a full reward when wanting and liking occurs at the same time. Dopamine induced neural hypersensitization also creates a harder time to quit smoking. The hypersensitization created by the nicotine is created at a much higher degree than normal and can last for many years.
Words I used: positive, neural hypersensitization, dopamine, liking vs. wanting, and sensory pleasure
This article discusses the never ending battle of quitting smoking. The Journal of Neuroscience published a study explaining that the addiction is rooted not just in the addictive chemicals, but by the parts of the brain that are active by physically smoking. Watching this being portrayed in the media is enough to get ex-smokers to want to smoke again. Only 5% of smokers succeed in quitting each year, so for something to get smokers to want to smoke again that easily means that it's a highly dangerous thing to portray.
The thing that interested me the most about this chapter was the very idea that watching someone smoke would be enough to spark the centers in their brain responsible for the addiction. Though the article never mentioned it, I'm sure that this is caused by mirror neurons in the brain. Mirror neurons are responsible for empathy, which is typically a great thing-- however, in this case, it means that it can trigger a desire to submit to unhealthy behavior.
I did some research to see if there was anything out there regarding mirror neurons and smoking. Lo and behold, the first site I come across references the very same study published in The Journal of Neuroscience, this time mentioning the mirror neurons responsible for the behavior. The article elaborated a little more on the issue: the smoker not only feels the desire to smoke, but also feels somewhat like he himself is smoking. There's a HUGE interaction between what is happening chemically inside the brain and what kinds of stimuli we surround ourselves with.
Chapter three helped me understand the article we were instructed to read (and also the article I later researched) by talking about dopamine and addictions. Dopamine is the reason addictions continue-- when we are hypersensitive to the "feel good" neurochemical, we feel even better, which, in this case, leads to a nasty chain. The book specifies that this process can last for years, and if something as simple as movie watching is making it more difficult for individuals to quit unhealthy behaviors, it can feel like a hopeless thing to aspire to.
Another thing I thought about that related to the book is the fact that seeing someone smoking in a movie or on television is somewhat unexpected. If you go out to take a smoking break, you anticipate having a cigarette. And, if you're a smoker, that is reward in itself. However, the book says that dopamine levels are even higher when it is an unpredicted and unexpected reward. Since smoking movie-goers are getting the effects of the cigarette, this may mean that watching movies with cigarettes is even *more* unhealthy than we already tend to think. This shows that the motivation to quit smoking is going to be really low. Although a person may rationally know that smoking is unhealthy, without that kick of dopamine, their neurochemical incentive to quit is basically nonexistent.
http://thephilosopherseye.com/2011/02/02/mirror-neurons-keep-us-smoking/
Neuroscience, addiction, chemicals, dopamine hypersensitivity, mirror neurons, neurochemical, unexpected reward
Summarize the article.
This article discusses how hard it is to stop smoking and explains why it is easy to relapse after you have stopped. The chapter also discusses how hard it is to stop smoking and how easy it is to relapse when watching movies due to your brain being used to smoking. This article illustrates how motivated someone has to be to stop smoking and stay committed to his or her goal.
What are your thoughts on this piece?
I agree with this topic because my mother has been a smoker for quiet some time and has tried to stop but hasn’t been successful! I think it is a bad hobbit and also a stress reliever for some and I feel as if they didn’t mention anything about stress in the article and I think stress has a lot to do with how hard it is for people to stop smoking.
What is most interesting to you?
That more than 50% of smokers try and quit each year and only 5% actually succeed.
It’s also interesting to read this article due to the fact my mom has tried to quit many times before and this time she is trying the nicotine gum and I am anxious to see how this article affects her quitting because I emailed it to her to see if reading about her situation will make her understand the difficulty and persistence that this could take to stop.
Choose one aspect of the article that you want to learn more about and find out some more information about that.
In the article it said that things such as nicotine gum work and or different therapies, which I understand would help but I want to know what chemicals in nicotine gum make you want to stop?
What did you learn?
That it’s easier to relapse after watching movies that shows someone smoking because your brain has become used to the bad habit and automatically wants to start smoking again.
How does your understanding of concepts from chapter 3 help you understand this article?
Chapter 3 made me understand that there' its not just about quitting but your motivation to quit and stay committed to your choice. Neurotransmitters in the brain send out chemical signals such as dopamine that make you subconsciously create different actions. Quitting smoking wont be as easy to do because your brain is naturally used to smoking, therefore when seeing someone smoke, or being around others that smoke might make it difficult to handle due to the subconscious state that you can have due to being “addicted” to smoking.
What does all this information teach you about the motivation to quit smoking?
That you have to be strongly motivated and have to stay motivated because quitting is hard but continuing to not smoke it the hardest test due to the things you may encounter such as other smokers, movies and etc.
Terms?
Neurotransmitters, dopamine
Smoking Article:
This article was all about smoking and why it's addictive to people, especially when they see other's smoking. Nicotine is proven to be addictive, but there is another reason why it's so addictive. Cigarette smoking is a hard habit to kick, simply because it's a habit. The act of smoking is the part that some smokers cannot let go of. If a smoker sees someone else smoking, their brain is triggered to want a cigarette as well. When they see someone else performing the habit, they are automatically reminded of that habit.
Most interesting to you:
I think this article is all around interesting. I am a smoker myself and this explains a lot. I have always been aware of the reaction I have when others smoke around me. I can be content and not want a cigarette, but when I see someone smoking, or when someone smokes who I am with, I feel the need to have one. I have always called it a "bad habit", but I never realized that it was actually something in my brain that made it a habit for me. I do the actions several times a day, so when I see someone else performing those habits, it makes me want to as well.
1 thing you want to learn more about:
I would like to learn more about the chemicals in the brain that are released when smoking. Some people think that smoking is a stress reducer, so that has to mean that something is going on biologically when smoking. If that is the case, is that why some people find it so hard to quit? Do they strive for that feeling? I think it would be interesting to learn about how the brain changes after a smoker has quit smoking.
What did you learn?:
I learned that the habit of smoking has a lot to do with functions and biochemical releases in the brain. I have always known that it is a mental thing, and it is a habit. But I never realized how much it depended on the biology and physiology of the brain.
What aspects of ch. 3 helped you understand this?:
There were several things from chapter 3 that helped me understand this and like this into our reading. If someone enjoys smoking cigarettes and it brings them pleasure, their brain will release dopamine. Dopamine teaches us what we enjoy and what we find rewarding. A smoker might find cigarettes to be rewarding, which will cause them to be more addicted. Nicotine is considered an addictive drug. When someone becomes addicted to nicotine, they become hypersensative to dopamine, which means they need more of it to get that "high" feeling. This causes them to smoke more. I can also relate smoking to liking and wanted in chapter 3. Liking and wanting both occur when someone is a smoker. Chapter 3 covered in depth the main topic in this article.
What does this teach you about motivation to quit smoking?:
Motivation to quit smoking is tough. There are a couple different factors that make it difficult for someone to quit smoking. There are biological and physiological factors that keep one connected to this horrible habit. There are also mental and emotional factors. Someone who wants to quit smoking will need great amounts of motivation in order to succeed. Most people who quit eventually relapse as well. So the motivation to stick with it forever will also be much needed.
Terms:
Biochemical, Brain, Physiology, Biology, Dopamine, Addictive drug, Hypersensativity, Liking and Wanting
This article on smoking was about how watching people smoking on movies, was stimulating the part of the brain that controls drive and body movement. Just as the book describes how there are multiple models to explain the effect hunger has on an individual. I believe that quitting to smoke cigarettes is more than just a simple choice to make. There are other factors that work against the individuak trying to quit. Such as physiological aspect such as moving the cigarette to your mouth and blowing out smoke, biological aspect as the nicotine acts as a acetylcholine receptor agonist making it an addictive substance. Aspects such as these are motives that are hard for the individual to control. For example when the body has become used to the access acetylcholine stimulation, the individual feels the drive to seek nicotine.
This article also talks about all the different types of ways that are there to help individuals overcome this addiction. For example, behavioral therapy, telephone help lines, cognitive behavioral therapy, nicotine replacement therapies such as nicotine patch and medicines that can decrease brain responses to images that remind ex smokers of their cigarettes.
After taking behavior modification, and learning a few ways to change my own behavior I decided to quit smoking this semester. Before the intervention I was smoking about two to three packs a day. I slowly decreased my intake overtime, and I am now only smoking one cigarette when i drink with friends (social smoker) even at that I don’t drink often.
Terms- brain, models, physiological need, psychological aspect,