ABSTRACT
A sensation is a physical feeling or PERCEPTION that results from something that happens to, or comes into contact with the body. All functioning organisms have some capacity for sensations; from the Latin sensus, for ‘‘sense.’’ Sensation-seeking is a scale along which we can measure individuals’ propensities to search out and participate in activities or experiences that allow various levels of sensation. It has been described as a conceptual relative of the extraversion-introversion personality scale. Everyone seeks some level of sensory stimulation. High-sensation
seekers search for high levels. Manrin Zuckerman describes highsensation seekers as those with ‘‘the need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such experience.’’ The salient features of this group are: pursuit of thrills and new experiences, ‘‘disinhibition’’ (that is, lack of hesitance or reservation), and a susceptibility to boredom. Unsurprisingly, these characteristics were found among high RISK
sport enthusiasts in a study by S. J. Jack and K. R. Ronan; but were absent among aerobic exercisers in a study by T. Babbitt et al. The latter study suggested that the group-based, regimented, and structured approach of the exercise class suited low-sensation seekers. While such studies might give the impression that status seeking is
a trait or an individual property, P. Ekkekakis and S. J. Petruzzello point out that ‘‘sensation seeking can also manifest itself as a state,’’ suggesting that it can be triggered or perhaps shaped by the circumstances in which the individual finds him-or herself.
