Evoking this emotion in smokers could help them quit smoking

Public health campaigns aiming to reduce smoking might benefit from invoking feelings of gratitude, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Harvard University. Triggering this emotion in smokers helps decrease their craving for cigarettes and increases their chances of enrolling in a smoking cessation program.


Smoking remains the leading preventable cause of premature death. According to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS), gratitude could be an effective tool to help smokers reduce their tobacco consumption. This research challenges traditional approaches that rely on negative emotions, such as sadness or compassion, to encourage quitting smoking.

The researchers based their hypothesis on the Appraisal Tendency Framework and previous studies to test whether gratitude could reduce smoking. They conducted a series of multi-method studies, including nationally representative surveys in the United States and global samples. They found that high levels of gratitude were associated with a lower likelihood of smoking, even after accounting for other known risk factors.

Experimental studies also showed that evoking gratitude in smokers significantly reduced their craving for cigarettes. In contrast, compassion and sadness did not have these beneficial effects. In fact, evoking sadness increased the desire to smoke, as demonstrated by previous research from the team.

According to Ke Wang, a doctoral candidate at the Harvard Kennedy School, public health campaigns should consider inducing positive emotions, such as gratitude, instead of the usually employed negative emotions. “Our work suggests that such campaigns should consider inducing gratitude, a positive emotion that triggers cascading positive effects,” he stated.

The researchers highlight that gratitude uniquely makes individuals less inclined toward immediate gratification and more focused on long-term relationships and health. This unique quality might explain why gratitude is more effective in reducing smoking than other positive emotions like happiness or compassion.

Finally, Jennifer Lerner, a professor at Harvard, notes that public health campaign budgets are often limited compared to those of tobacco companies. She hopes that the results of this study will help public health officials design more effective campaigns and maximize the impact of every dollar spent.