Is it possible for a person to trick themselves into believing a certain thing for their own sake, even if they normally believe something different?

 

For example, a student that smokes chooses to join a sports team for school.

To be on the team one of the rules is abstinence of tobacco use.

Although the student enjoys smoking and doesnt really mind the unhealthy aspects of it, he realizes that he needs to quit.

 

Is there a way that the student could trick, force or otherwise make himself believe that he doesn't like smoking or that it is something that he is totally against?

yep, i reckon you could do that.

 

i guess your example with smoking though would have a biological component as well as a psychological component.

 

it might be easier in relation to an area that is purely a psychological domain.

 

psycho-somatic issues are real. people can think themselves to be sick or have an ailment when there is no biological presence/evidence. what you're suggesting seems to me to be the flip side of that, so reasonable i reckon.