Ali Pakizeh

Abstract Background and purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the modification of cognitive bias towards the symptoms of smoking on cognitive bias and susceptibility to drug addiction in smoking employees. Methods: The research method was a semi-experimental type with a pre-test post-test design and experimental and control groups. The statistical population of the research included the smoking male employees of Bushehr city in 2022. Inorder to sampling, first using a random method eight offices from the government offices in Bushehr selected, then through a call smoking employees were asked to declare their readiness to participate in a psychological research project. Finally, 37 men out of 83 smokers who were ready to participate in the research were selected using a simple random method and randomly assigned to the experimental group (19 individuals) and the control group (18 individuals). The members of the experimental group participated in an eight cognitive bias modification towards smoking symptoms sessions. The data was collected by the Sinai Cognitive Behavioral Science Institute Dot Probe Task and the Ahvaz Addiction Preparation Scale. in two stages before and after the intervention, and covariance analysis was used to analyze the data. Findings: The results of the research showed that the intervention aimed at modifying the cognitive bias towards the symptoms of smoking lead to a significant reduction in the cognitive bias as well as the susceptibility to addiction of the experimental group (P<0.01). Conclusion: Considering the effectiveness of interventions aimed at modifying cognitive bias on reducing cognitive bias and reducing the tendency to use drugs, the implementation of such interventions in populations susceptible to addiction will have an effective and low- cost role in preventing addiction.