One unanswered question in the literature is whether smokers in a state of craving experience it as an unpleasant or pleasant state. Craving can be considered a motivation state to use a substance that has been previously associated with a pleasant emotional state (Baker, Morse, & Sherman, 1987; Franken, 2003). Negative reinforcement models such as Baker’s (Baker et al., 2004) postulate that individuals experience abstinence-associated craving secondary to withdrawal, meaning that craving is part of the withdrawal syndrome and should co-occur with negative affect. This idea of craving as a withdrawal symptom is supported by studies that found significant inverse relationships between craving and blood nicotine level over time (Guthrie, Ni, Zubieta, Teter, & Domino, 2004; Jarvik et al., 2000). Additionally, in what is known as the cue reactivity paradigm, stimuli that have been paired with smoking can become conditioned stimuli that elicit conditioned withdrawal responses, including craving (Dols, Willems, van den Hout, & Bittoun, 2000; Mucha, Pauli, & Angrilli, 1998). Laboratory induction of negative affect has also been shown to increase craving in smokers (Conklin & Perkins, 2005; Maude-Griffin & Tiffany, 1996).
