The influence of thermally induced optical nonlinearities on Z-scan measurements with a nanosecond pulse laser is investigated theoretically. The results demonstrate that thermal effect plays an important role in certain circumstance. As an example, the optical nonlinearities of CS2 with an adjustable linear absorption coefficient which is used to alter the magnitude of thermally induced optical nonlinearities are analysed, and the results show that thermal effect even makes the change of the sign of optical nonlinearities.