And even better than bribery? The threat of losing your own money, as an astonishing HALF of all smokers quit to avoid losing $150.
So you want to quit smoking? The key may be bribery, new research has found.
People try all sorts of methods to get themselves to put down the cigarette, whether it be going cold turkey or using nicotine patches or whatever. But it may be money that’s the key to getting smokers to quit for good, according to an Associated Press report.
A study lead by Dr. Scott Halpern of the University of Pennsylvania found that when smokers were forced to part with $150 if they failed to quit over a period of six months were more likely to quit than those who didn’t have cash on the line.
And it worked even better than those who were promised cash rewards if they were able to stop smoking, indicating that we are far more motivated not to lose money we already have than to get more money.
A senior author on the study, Dr. Kevin Volpp, said that researchers wanted to see if there was any difference between promising monetary rewards to people to get them to quit for six months — up to $800 — and losing a much smaller amount. Although participation was high in the rewards program — 90 percent of the 1,000 smokers surveyed signed up — the success rate was not.
But another group of 1,000 smokers were asked to put down $150 as a deposit, which they would lose if they failed to complete the course (although they would get $650 if they completed it). This wasn’t a very attractive option, and only 14 percent of people signed up.
And then there were 500 who weren’t offered any cash incentive but got counseling and nicotine replacement therapy.
When all was said and done, it was the unpopular option of plunking down one’s own money that got the best results, with half of them going the six full months without smoking. Just 17 percent of the rewards-only group were as successful. Meanwhile, a tiny 6 percent of those who didn’t get any cash incentives ended up quitting.
