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This past summer, the Food and Drug Administration unveiled graphic warning labels that it wants to appear on every cigarette package. The labels show images like rotten teeth and cancerous lesions. One depicts a corpse. Pierrette Virkler is one of an estimated 46 million Americans who smokes. She knows cigarettes can cause bad teeth, cancer and death. She knows she's addicted.

She also knows this: "A label won't stop me," the 43-year-old said.

So what would?

How do you get people to stop doing things that are bad for them?

Be scary.

That's the tactic being employed by the FDA, which is in a legal battle to force cigarette manufacturers to begin carrying the labels.

The fear factor also is often used in public-service announcements, such as drunken-driving awareness campaigns that show wrecked vehicles.

But the problem is: It's easier to scare someone into avoiding something than it is to scare the person into stopping something they already are doing, said Mark Muraven, an associate professor of psychology at the University at Albany.

"Scaring works," he said, "but it works better for prevention."

Hit 'em in the wallet.

Muraven favors higher taxes on cigarettes as a better incentive to quit.

"At the societal level, cigarette taxes are one of the key ways to get people to stop," Mudraven said. "There are studies that show when people have to pay more for something, they quit."

Exercise self-control muscles.

Just like you can strengthen your biceps with dumbbell curls, you can improve your self-control through practice.

"You can do little things to build up your self control," Muraven said

Here's an example: Muraven said in one of his studies, smokers were able to build up their self-control by first cutting down on sweets.

"That practice improves brain efficiency in its ability to assert self-control," he said.

Or do all of the above.

Sheila Cooperman, the vice chairman of psychiatry at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Westport, Conn., said research supports a more nuanced, step-by-step approach. This involves a health care provider educating a patient about the consequences of his or behavior, then building a support structure and plan for making changes.

"It's not a matter of just saying no," Cooperman said. "It's that you have to go through different changes, and these things evolve in a number of ways."

Most important: Have hope.

"Just because someone is doing something for 20, 25 years doesn't mean they can't change," Cooperman said.There's always an opportunity to change."

(c)2011 Times Union (Albany, N.Y.)

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