This study explores the factors that moderate first-person perception of socially desirable messages and the behavioral consequences of the perceived self-other perceptual disparity. A total of 255 participants watched An Inconvenient Truth and completed a survey thereafter. The participants acknowledged themselves to be more receptive to the film than others and acted on this perceived difference by supporting the distribution of the film. The message desirability, perceived message quality and sensation value, sensation-seeking tendency, and issue knowledge not only affected assessments of the perceived effect on the self and others differently but also increased the willingness to take action and stop global warming.