Excellent post Mercy - best I've read for a while! Mr Ed :) [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 2/13/2006 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 445 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 13,358 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] �3337.5 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 72 [B]Hrs:[/B] 13 [B]Mins:[/B] 27 [B]Seconds:[/B] 39

Well done Mercy. The fact of the matter is that we are conditioned right from the womb.As one man said we are nothing but a preconditioned responce and we are incapable of an original thought on our own.Just as you see it by the tobacco companys so it is by every other company that manufactures a product for public consumption.The tobacco companys just lack morals when it comes to selling their products.. [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/21/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 44 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 796 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $440 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 10 [B]Hrs:[/B] 10 [B]Mins:[/B] 57 [B]Seconds:[/B] 22

Mercy thanks for this, I am struggling and I need to read this stuff, so I know that I have been brainwashed and all I am doing is fighting back against it. msiha [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 4/28/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 5 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 147 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $58.75 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 0 [B]Hrs:[/B] 14 [B]Mins:[/B] 59 [B]Seconds:[/B] 42

This is so interesting to me. I think we all need to know these facts to undo the brainwashing from nicotine addiction. Thanks Mercy! [B]My Milage:[/B] [B]My Quit Date: [/B] 3/29/2007 [B]Smoke-Free Days:[/B] 35 [B]Cigarettes Not Smoked:[/B] 431 [B]Amount Saved:[/B] $142.8 [B]Life Gained:[/B] [B]Days:[/B] 3 [B]Hrs:[/B] 7 [B]Mins:[/B] 42 [B]Seconds:[/B] 38

Mercy, They've definitely done everything in their power to hook us and make sure we stay that away. Unfortunately for them, we do research too and our quit program is based on principles of behavior modification. Thanks for sharing! Danielle ______________________ The SSC Support Team

Do you find this interesting?.....Mercy Pay attention now, crash course in behaviorism. Nicotine is extremely reinforcing because of its effects on your neurotransmitters. It's the unconditioned stimulus. The pleasant smells and flavors of tobacco and all the stuff they soak it in are not reinforcing, or not very much compared to nicotine. They're a conditioned stimulus. So are the appearance of the pack, and the size, shape, color and texture of the cigarette itself. If you didn't have these conditioned stimuli paired with the nicotine hit, your brain wouldn't know what to do when it craved nicotine. But you do. So you know to go to the store, buy a pack of cigarettes, take them out, light them. Observe a smoker some time. They will take the pack out, remove a cigarette, pass it under their nose, tap it on the table, and light it with a repetitiveness approaching ritual. Every individual smoker tends to repeat these actions the same way every time; that is because the presence of the nicotine has classically conditioned him to do so. Cigarette companies like this, because of the part where you trade your money for a carton full of the conditioned stimuli. They know that the more elaborate and multifarious the conditioned stimuli, the stronger the entire behavioral chain of actions will become. Also, but secondarily: it's important to remember that noxious unconditioned stimuli can extinguish behaviors. Go take a handful of straw or leaves. Set them on fire. Inhale the smoke deeply. Unpleasant, isn't it? There's a reason that you don't see people walking around inhaling the smoke from burning things that don't contain nicotine. That reason is that inhaling smoke is an unconditioned extinguishing stimulus - in other words it's noxious to inhale smoke. Many of the modifications that the drug cigarette companies make: such as acidification of the tobacco; addition of anesthetics such as menthol; and the presence of a particulate filter; serve the purpose of reducing the perceived noxiousness of the smoke inhalation, while facilitating (or at least not impairing) the nicotine delivery. If you think for a second that these manufacturers do not have this down to an exact science, with legions of Ph.D.'s in chemistry, biology, and behavior