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Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences pp 1–3Cite as

Sensation Seeking

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Synonyms

Excitement seeking; Novelty seeking

Definition

Sensation seeking is defined as “the need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such experiences” (Zuckerman 1979, p. 10).

Introduction

Research on sensation seeking has historically been based on the hypothesis that individuals have different optimal levels of stimulation (Zuckerman 1979). Individuals high in sensation seeking are posited to be chronically underaroused, as such they seek additional stimulation to maintain or attain optimal levels of arousal through pursuit of varied and novel sensations. Individuals high on this trait may find a wide variety of different activities to fulfill their need for excitement and novelty; therefore, this trait is related to a wide array of adaptive, neutral, and maladaptive outcomes which will be reviewed in this section.

The bulk of the research regarding this trait has used the Sensation Seeking...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Jessica L. Maples-Keller & Danielle S. Berke

Authors
  1. Jessica L. Maples-Keller
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  2. Danielle S. Berke
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jessica L. Maples-Keller .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Virgil Zeigler-Hill

  2. Oakland University, Rochester, USA

    Todd K. Shackelford

Section Editor information

  1. Lakehead University, Orillia, Canada

    Beth A. Visser

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Maples-Keller, J.L., Berke, D.S. (2016). Sensation Seeking. In: Zeigler-Hill, V., Shackelford, T. (eds) Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1108-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-28099-8_1108-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-28099-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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