Sensation Seeking, Augmenting-Reducing, and the Perceived and Preferred Effects of Drugs

The following measures were administered to 78 undergraduates: the General and Disinhibition subscales of Zuckerman's (1971) Sensation-Seeking Scale; the Reducer-Augmenter Scale (RAS; Vando, 1970 , 1974 ); self-reported use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis; the degree of attribution of stimula...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Journal of personality and social psychology Vol. 48; no. 1; pp. 99 - 106
Main Authors:	Kohn, Paul M, Coulas, Jerome T
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC American Psychological Association 01-01-1985
Subjects:	Alcohol Drinking Alcohol Use Biological and medical sciences Cannabinoids - pharmacology Cannabis Depression, Chemical Drug Usage Ethanol - pharmacology Exploratory Behavior Female Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology Human Humans Male Nicotiana Personality Personality Correlates Personality traits Personality. Affectivity Plants, Toxic Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry Psychology. Psychophysiology Sensation Seeking Smoking Stimulation, Chemical Tobacco Smoking Human Sensation Seeking Scale Zuckerman Alcoholic beverage Consumer behavior Tobacco Attitude scale Marihuana Psychometrics Sensation seeking
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Summary:	The following measures were administered to 78 undergraduates: the General and Disinhibition subscales of Zuckerman's (1971) Sensation-Seeking Scale; the Reducer-Augmenter Scale (RAS; Vando, 1970 , 1974 ); self-reported use of alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis; the degree of attribution of stimulant, depressant, and neutral effects to these drugs; and desirability ratings of stimulant and depressant effects ascribed to various drugs. Major findings were as follows: (a) On the RAS, reducing correlated positively with both sensation-seeking measures. (b) Seven of the nine personality-versus-drug-use correlations were positive and significant. (c) Generally, the effects attributed to drugs did not differ by sex, personality, or use. (d) However, frequent drinkers attributed stimulant effects to alcohol more strongly than depressant effects, whereas infrequent drinkers did the opposite. (e) The mean desirability ratings of stimulant and depressant drug effects correlated positively. (f) High disinhibitors rated drug effects of both kinds more favorably than did lows. (g) A similar, more favorable evaluation by high than by low general sensation seekers was significant for male subjects only. (h) Score on the Reducer-Augmenter Scale was not significantly predictive of subjects' desirability ratings.
ISSN:	0022-3514 1939-1315
DOI:	10.1037/0022-3514.48.1.99