Influences of Sensation Seeking, Message Sensation Value, and Program Context on Effectiveness of Anticocaine Public Service Announcements

A sample of 120 participants (half high sensation seekers [HSSs] and half low sensation seekers [LSSs]) were randomly placed in one of four experimental viewing conditions: (a) high sensation value (HSV) televised anticocaine Public Service Announcements (PSAs) embedded in HSV television program context, (b) HSV PSAs embedded in low sensation value (LSV) context, (c) LSV PSAs embed- ded in HSV context, and (d) LSV PSAs embedded in LSV context. After partici- pants observed the PSAs embedded in the context, they completed items dealing with freelcued recall, attitude toward cocaine, behavioral intention to use cocaine, and perceived effectiveness of the PSAs. A message sensation value (MSV) scale, developed in prototype form for this study, was used to establish categories of HSV and LSV PSAs. Sensation seeking and MSV interacted to affect recall, attitude, behavioral intentions, and perceived recall. HSSs tended to recall more, have more negative attitudes toward cocaine, cite less likelihood to use cocaine, and perceive messages as more effective after viewing HSV PSAs. LSSs tended to recall more, have more negative attitudes toward cocaine, cite less likelihood to use cocaine, and perceive messages as more effective after viewing LSV PSAs.