Processing Substance Abuse Messages: Production Pacing, Arousing Content, and Age

Abstract

Abstract This paper reports 2 experiments which investigate the effects of production pacing and arousing content in substance abuse public service announcements (PSAs) on adolescent and college-age viewers' physiological, cognitive, and emotional responses. Results generally support pre- dictions made on the basis of past research using the limited capacity theory of mediated message processing. One exception is a reversal in the pacing effect on emotional arousal for arousing messages. Adolescents and college-age viewers appear to process messages similarly, with a few exceptions. In particular, adolescent viewers may be more stimulus bound, be more easily aroused, and may process fast-paced messages better than college-age viewers.