| Abstract: | Smoking‐cessation messages usually emphasize the costs of continuing to smoke (loss‐framed). However, prospect theory suggests that messages that instead emphasize the benefits of quitting smoking (gain‐framed) could be more effective than loss‐framed messages because smoking cessation is likely viewed as a cancer‐prevention behavior with a certain rather than a risky outcome. In this study, smokers at public events read brochures containing brief gain‐ or loss‐framed smoking‐cessation messages. The influence of framing was moderated by participants' need for cognition (NFC). Individuals lower in NFC had greater intention to quit after reading a gain‐framed message than after reading a loss‐framed message a finding consistent with our predictions whereas framing did not affect the persuasiveness of messages among people higher in NFC. |
