Male smokers are being asked to help research to pinpoint whether personality dictates craving for cigarettes.

Angeliki Kehagia, a psychology student at Balliol College, Oxford, wants to discover whether addictive behaviour is predominant in certain people.

Ms Kehagia wants to find out whether smokers share the same personality traits, making them more likely to become addicted to nicotine.

She needs 40 men to take part in the study.

Ms Kehagia said: "I'm looking at addictive behaviour and smoking in particular.

"I'm not sure what I will find, but there's a hypothesis that people smoke because of the anti-depressant qualities of the nicotine."

Ms Kehagia, who is from Greece, wants to compare male smokers from Britain with Greek men, who she believes do not take up the habit to stem their low spirits.

She said: "In Greece, everyone smokes so much, about 30 to 40 cigarettes a day, because they can smoke in the workplace.

"In Britain, people don't seem to smoke so much, which is maybe the first difference between the two cultural groups."

Male smokers taking part in the study must be aged between 20 and 50 and be prepared to complete a questionnaire in their smoking habits and attitudes.

For more information, call 07949 785290 or e-mail angeliki.kehagia@balliol.ox.ac.uk