Nicotine and smoking: Effects upon subjective changes in mood

A Mood Adjective Check List and an activation scale were used to measure subjective reports on mood changes in 24 male habitual smokers before and after smoking cigarettes with known content of nicotine, at different times of day and rates of puffing. Ratings on pleasantness were dose related. Aggression and anxiety showed effects attributable to circadian influence and slight decreases in both factors occurred after smoking the highest nicotine cigarette. The MACL scores were greatly affected by the experimental procedure. Levels of inner tension were found related to the nicotine inhaled. The heuristic value of the concept of activation in these studies is suggested.This work was supported by the Tobacco Research Council, and carried out at the Institute of Psychiatry, London.