Highly Sensitive and High Sensation Seeking Individuals

Source: Astarot/ Shutterstock

Do you often feel conflicted about wanting to do something new, yet stay in your routine? Take up a challenge, yet stay rested? Have some excitement, but nothing scary?

Many people have now heard about the trait of high sensitivity. But it’s not as well-known that some highly sensitive people (HSP) may also have another trait: high sensation seeking (HSS). We have just published an article on this subject: “Sensory processing sensitivity and its relation to sensation seeking” by Bianca Acevedo, Art Aron, myself, Tracy Cooper, and Robert Marhenke.

3 Degrees in Sensation Seeking

There are all degrees of sensation seeking—very high, high, moderate, moderately low, low, etc. People who are not highly sensitive can also have the HSS trait, but there are some important differences. HSP are less impulsive and don’t often act without thinking first.

If they want a new, exciting experience, HSP must first learn about it. High sensation seeking for HSP is more about being easily bored and liking variations in one’s routine, such as taking a trip or trying new foods. It is not about just trying whatever is new without knowing how it will turn out.

The test at my website is partly based on the standard measure, published by Marvin Zuckerman. But it also differs. On Zuckerman’s version, HSP tended to score a bit lower than others. The reason, we discovered, was because of the impulsivity and risk-taking questions, which HSP score lower on. My version is written to be more HSP-friendly.

On my website test, specifically designed for them, the HSP doesn’t score lower than others. Using it, we found in our research study that there was no association between high sensitivity and HSS. To put it another way, the two traits are independent.

About 50 percent of HSP are high sensation seekers and about 50 percent are not. Or put yet another way, there is a 50-50 chance that you, or any HSP you meet, have the HSS trait, too.

Another interesting result of our study was that when HSP were experiencing negative feelings, they tended to be a bit more impulsive than those without the trait. This is called “negative urgency.” It’s a good reason to stay within your comfort zone, with plenty of downtime and boundaries. You don’t want to get a bit crazy and do something impulsive just because you are overstimulated.

These Traits Can Create Serious Inner Turmoil

Having both traits can cause real inner conflict that can seem quite “neurotic” until you understand it. I have written before about this conflict, as has Tracy Cooper in his book, Thrill, the High Sensation Seeking Highly Sensitive Person.

Imagine there are two versions of you living inside your mind—the HSP and the HSS. Each wants its way. Frequently the conflict results in one part feeling regret. For example, your HSS part wants you to go to a party: It insists. You do and you have a terrible time: Regret.

But suppose you are invited to a party and the HSP part keeps you from going. Now you worry that you may have missed out on a great time: Regret also.

What do you do? First, face it that sometimes you cannot know if something will suit you until you try it. You must use your sensitivity to consider all the evidence, carefully weighing the odds about whether you should go ahead.

Maybe you finally decide by simply considering whose turn it is to choose. Maybe you have stayed home too much lately or gone out too much. Whatever you decide, you need to embrace it, as much as possible without all that regret. You did your best.

Being Fair to Your HSS Part

Frankly, it seems now that we have created endless advice for keeping the HSP in us happy—downtime, boundaries, the right sort of work, and lifestyle. But I have only recently accepted that I must keep the HSS part of me happy, too.

I had always seen it as frivolous, demanding, wanting to travel when that is not good for the environment, and overall, just a waste of time. Not getting work done. Or that part of me just not belonging in a peaceful, deep, reflective person. But I find that when I ignore the HSS part, it just causes trouble. I feel bored, flat. Really flat.

Highly Sensitive Person Essential Reads

Could You Have a Highly Sensitive Child?

Research Confirms Sensitivity Is About Depth of Processing

The way I resolve it: I make sure I have new things in my life. I make sure that I have at least one interesting thing coming up during the week, that I have one interesting book to read, and, yes, one TV show I like (there really are not many of those).

Doing that, I am so much happier. There also needs to be a bigger thing coming up later in the year, like a trip for a few days or weeks. The HSS part keeps it all in mind, savoring what is coming that is new. Too much going on, too much coming up—I am not happy. But with nothing coming up? I am just as unhappy.

More Suggestions

For me, the main solution is staying creative—making or writing something original is part of being high in HSS. When you are creative you are by definition doing something new. I also use my creativity to find new activities for the HSS. I keep searching for what I still have not done, seen, felt, and so on, that would neither be scary nor boring: that narrow line.

Sometimes I simply do the same thing in a different way. Hike the same trail by moonlight or in the rain. Or bring someone along, allowing me to see everything fresh through their eyes. I keep in touch with new offerings of the things I know I love. Plays, concerts, the ballet, and even the museum—all these have new seasons.

Finally, I try to think of these two parts as a team, each with its own strengths. Really, aren’t they better together? All that adventure and curiosity from the HSS part and from the HSP all of the D.O.E.S. (depth of processing, empathy, strong emotion, and sensitivity to the subtle). If I think about being one without the other, that would not be me, would it? All this is me.

We have to be the temperament we were born with and learn to love it. About this, we do not have to make a choice.