TY  - JOUR
A1  - Brand, Ralf
A1  - Koch, Helen
T1  - Using Caffeine Pills for Performance Enhancement. An Experimental Study Neuroenhancements
JF  - Frontiers in psychology
N2  - Recent research has indicated that university students sometimes use caffeine pills for neuroenhancement (NE; non-medical use of psychoactive substances or technology to produce a subjective enhancement in psychological functioning and experience), especially during exam preparation. In our factorial survey experiment, we manipulated the evidence participants were given about the prevalence of NE amongst peers and measured the resulting effects on the psychological predictors included in the Prototype-Willingness Model of risk behavior. Two hundred and thirty-one university students were randomized to a high prevalence condition (read faked research results overstating usage of caffeine pills amongst peers by a factor of 5; 50%), low prevalence condition (half the estimated prevalence; 5%) or control condition (no information about peer prevalence). Structural equation modeling confirmed that our participants’ willingness and intention to use caffeine pills in the next exam period could be explained by their past use of neuroenhancers, attitude to NE and subjective norm about use of caffeine pills whilst image of the typical user was a much less important factor. Provision of inaccurate information about prevalence reduced the predictive power of attitude with respect to willingness by 40-45%. This may be because receiving information about peer prevalence which does not fit with their perception of the social norm causes people to question their attitude. Prevalence information might exert a deterrent effect on NE via the attitude-willingness association. We argue that research into NE and deterrence of associated risk behaviors should be informed by psychological theory.
KW  - attitude
KW  - prevalence information
KW  - prototype-willingness-model
KW  - social reactivity
KW  - doping
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00101
SN  - 1664-1078
VL  - 7
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  - 
TY  - JOUR
A1  - Brand, Ralf
A1  - Koch, Helen
T1  - Using Caffeine Pills for Performance Enhancement
BT  - An Experimental Study on University Students’ Willingness and Their Intention to Try Neuroenhancements
JF  - Frontiers in psychology
N2  - Recent research has indicated that university students sometimes use caffeine pills for neuroenhancement (NE; non-medical use of psychoactive substances or technology to produce a subjective enhancement in psychological functioning and experience), especially during exam preparation. In our factorial survey experiment, we manipulated the evidence participants were given about the prevalence of NE amongst peers and measured the resulting effects on the psychological predictors included in the Prototype-Willingness Model of risk behavior. Two hundred and thirty-one university students were randomized to a high prevalence condition (read faked research results overstating usage of caffeine pills amongst peers by a factor of 5; 50%), low prevalence condition (half the estimated prevalence; 5%) or control condition (no information about peer prevalence). Structural equation modeling confirmed that our participants’ willingness and intention to use caffeine pills in the next exam period could be explained by their past use of neuroenhancers, attitude to NE and subjective norm about use of caffeine pills whilst image of the typical user was a much less important factor. Provision of inaccurate information about prevalence reduced the predictive power of attitude with respect to willingness by 40-45%. This may be because receiving information about peer prevalence which does not fit with their perception of the social norm causes people to question their attitude. Prevalence information might exert a deterrent effect on NE via the attitude-willingness association. We argue that research into NE and deterrence of associated risk behaviors should be informed by psychological theory.
KW  - attitude
KW  - prevalence information
KW  - prototype-willingness-model
KW  - social reactivity
KW  - doping
Y1  - 2016
U6  - https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00101
SN  - 1664-1078
VL  - 7
SP  - 1
EP  - 11
PB  - Frontiers Research Foundation
CY  - Lausanne
ER  - 
TY  - GEN
A1  - Brand, Ralf
A1  - Koch, Helen
T1  - Using Caffeine Pills for Performance Enhancement
BT  - An Experimental Study on University Students’ Willingness and Their Intention to Try Neuroenhancements
N2  - Recent research has indicated that university students sometimes use caffeine pills for neuroenhancement (NE; non-medical use of psychoactive substances or technology to produce a subjective enhancement in psychological functioning and experience), especially during exam preparation. In our factorial survey experiment, we manipulated the evidence participants were given about the prevalence of NE amongst peers and measured the resulting effects on the psychological predictors included in the Prototype-Willingness Model of risk behavior. Two hundred and thirty-one university students were randomized to a high prevalence condition (read faked research results overstating usage of caffeine pills amongst peers by a factor of 5; 50%), low prevalence condition (half the estimated prevalence; 5%) or control condition (no information about peer prevalence). Structural equation modeling confirmed that our participants’ willingness and intention to use caffeine pills in the next exam period could be explained by their past use of neuroenhancers, attitude to NE and subjective norm about use of caffeine pills whilst image of the typical user was a much less important factor. Provision of inaccurate information about prevalence reduced the predictive power of attitude with respect to willingness by 40-45%. This may be because receiving information about peer prevalence which does not fit with their perception of the social norm causes people to question their attitude. Prevalence information might exert a deterrent effect on NE via the attitude-willingness association. We argue that research into NE and deterrence of associated risk behaviors should be informed by psychological theory.
T3  - Zweitveröffentlichungen der Universität Potsdam : Humanwissenschaftliche Reihe - 286 
KW  - attitude
KW  - doping
KW  - prevalence information
KW  - prototype-willingness-model
KW  - social reactivity
Y1  - 2016
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:kobv:517-opus4-90506
ER  -