ATTENTION, NEED FOR SENSATION, AND HEALTH COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS

Although attention to novelty is no longer as vital to survival as in our ancient past, the attention value of novelty has major implication s for contemporary human communication. It also is affected by individ ual differences in reactivity to intense and novel stimulation. The st udies reported in this article involve the roles of attention and sens ation seeking in responses to drug abuse prevention campaigns in the m ass media. Early studies have indicated that adolescent high-sensation seekers are two to seven times more likely to report using drugs-rang ing from alcohol to cocaine-than lower sensation seekers, identifying them as prime target audiences for prevention campaigns. This article describes a series of studies, ranging from laboratory studies on diff erential effects of messages on high- and low-sensation seekers, and o n effects of program context, to a field experiment in which high-sens ation seekers were targeted.