The application of 1980s psychology to 1990s smoking research

The 1988 Surgeon General's report (US DHHS, 1988) argued that smoking should be considered an addiction because it displays the features common to all addictive disorders, which were, most importantly, highly controlled or compulsive use of a psychoactive substance. Furthermore, urges to smoke were identified as directly responsible for this pattern of drug use. Although it is commonly asserted that urges are central to the addictive process, relatively little research has been devoted to this issue and the evidence that is available provides little support for the assumption. This paper argues that the role of urges in addictive smoking should receive greater attention from smoking researchers and offers several suggestions for overcoming the methodological and theoretical limitations of previous research on smoking urges.