Reactions to life-style warnings: coffee and cancer

A well-publicized report linking coffee to cancer of the pancreas provided an opportunity to examine how people react to life-style warnings. According to the concepts of cognitive dissonance and defensive avoidance, coffee drinkers might be expected to avoid this report or dispute its validity. Within the sample of 89 secretarial and clerical workers, coffee drinkers were found to be somewhat more likely than nondrinkers to be aware of and to recall the contents of the report. The more they drank, the more likely they were to have changed their coffee consumption in response to the new information. Coffee drinking had no effect on interest in receiving a copy of the original report nor were coffee drinkers more likely than nondrinkers to doubt the future confirmation of the reported coffee-cancer link. It was suggested that life-style warnings, particularly warnings about risks that are newly recognized, do not produce strong avoidance motivations. Several reasons for this lack of avoidance are discussed.