Risky behavior can be an expression of a normal, genetically influenced personality trait--sensation seeking. In this fascinating and accessible book, the author offers a comprehensive view of the role of sensation seeking in a wide range of behaviors, from risky driving sports through substance use, sex, crime, or other antisocial behaviors.

This book is about a trait describing variations in the universal need for novel and intense stimulation and its expressions in various risky kinds of behaviour (including driving habits, health, gambling, financial risk, alcohol and drug use and abuse, sexual behaviour, and sports). Sensation seeking is also important in preferences for various vocations, media forms and content, food, humour and social attitudes. Compatibility in the trait influences premarital and marital relationship satisfaction. Its modes of assessment, behavioural expressions, and genetic and psychobiological bases are described by one of the leading researchers in this field. This book presents the only available study of this fascinating topic and it will be sure to interest researchers and their students active in personality research.

Adolescence is a time when youth make decisions, both good and bad, that have consequences for the rest of their lives. Some of these decisions put them at risk of lifelong health problems, injury, or death. The Institute of Medicine held three public workshops between 2008 and 2009 to provide a venue for researchers, health care providers, and community leaders to discuss strategies to improve adolescent health.

Do you love roller coasters, have a passion for traveling to new places, or crave novelty and new experiences?Are you deeply empathic, highly creative, and experience a deep, rich inner life? If so you may be one of the 30% of highly sensitive people who are also high sensation seekers.In this ground-breaking new book Dr. Tracy Cooper, the author of Thrive: The Highly Sensitive Person and Career, presents original, new research findings that will help you better understand how to:* maximize the potentiality inherent in both traits while balancing the challenges each trait presents* re-vision the way you think about career as a sensitive sensation seeker * attach value to your deep, rich inner life* engage in fulfilling, meaningful relationships* move beyond limiting societal constraints to greater personal authenticity.This book is a must read for all sensitive sensation seekers and the people who love them!

Originally published in 1979, this title represents a summary of 17 years of research centring around the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) and the theory from which the test was derived. Now an integral part of personality testing, including adaptations for use with children, this reissue is a chance to see where it all began.

Significant developments within the past few years have made possible the publication of this rather large volume focusing on specific emotions of human experience, such as interest, joy, anger, distress, fear, shame, shyness, and guilt. The relevant events include new evidence on the relationship of emotions to cognitive processes and to personality traits and defense mechanisms. They also include discoveries relating to the biological foundations of emotions and theory regarding their significance in human evolution. Finally, there have been important findings on the role of emotions and emotion expressions in social relations, pain, grief, and psychopathology. These developments are elaborated in the pages of this volume. The contributors represent the disciplines of clinical, social, and experi mental psychology, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis. The contributions show important common themes that cut across disciplines, but they also reflect some differences that invite further thought and research. Above all, they add to our knowledge of human emotions and to our ability to understand and resolve human problems. The Department of Psychology of the University of Delaware has pro vided an excellent intellectual climate for work on a volume that ranges across several specialities and disciplines. Conversations with colleagues in the offices and hallways of Wolf Hall have provided answers to many questions. They also yielded some questions that compelled me to seek greater clarification of an issue.

The Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences (EPID) beschäftigt sich in vier Bänden mit Gemeinsamkeiten und Unterschieden bei Individuen. Jeder Band konzentriert sich auf einen wichtigen Themenbereich bei der Untersuchung der Persönlichkeitspsychologie und den Unterschieden von Individuen. Der erste Band mit dem Titel Models and Theories betrachtet die wichtigsten klassischen und modernen Standpunkte, Perspektiven, Modelle und theoretischen Ansätze im Studium der Persönlichkeit und Unterschiede von Individuen. Der zweite Band, Measurement and Assessment, untersucht die wesentlichen klassischen und modernen Beurteilungsmethoden und -techniken. Der dritte Band mit dem Titel Personality Processes and Individual Differences erläutert die traditionellen und aktuellen Dimensionen, Konstrukte und Merkmale der Studienrichtung. Im vierten Band werden drei Hauptkategorien behandelt: klinische Zuarbeit, angewandte Forschung und interkulturelle Betrachtungen. Darüber hinaus werden Themen wie Kultur und Identität, multikulturelle Identitäten, interkulturelle Untersuchungen von Merkmalsstrukturen und Personalitätsprozesses u. v. m. behandelt. - Jeder Band enthält rund 100 Einträge zu Personalität und individuellen Unterschieden. Die Beiträge stammen von international führenden Psychologen. - Beschäftigt sich mit wichtigen klassischen und zeitgenössischen Modellen und Theorien der Persönlichkeitspsychologie, mit Mess- und Beurteilungsverfahren, Personalitätsprozessen und Unterschieden bei Individuen sowie mit Forschungsansätzen. - Bietet einen umfassenden und ausführlichen Überblick über die Persönlichkeitspsychologie. - The Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences ist ein wichtiges Referenzwerk für Studenten der Psychologie und Fachexperten, die sich mit der Untersuchung und Erforschung von Persönlichkeit beschäftigen.

This authoritative collection goes beyond economic statistics and probability data to offer a robust psychological understanding of risk perception and risk taking behavior. Expert contributors examine various risk domains in life, and pinpoint cognitive, emotional, and personality factors contributing to individual differences in risk taking as well as the many nuances social demographics (e.g., culture, gender) bring to risk decisions. Coverage takes competing theories and studies into account to identify mechanisms involved in processing and acting on uncertainty. And implications and applications are demonstrated in varied fields, from updated risk models for the insurance sector to improved risk communication in health services to considering risk perception in policy decisions. A sampling of the topics: Personality and risk: beyond daredevils—risk taking from a temperament perspective. Cognitive, developmental, and neurobiological aspects of risk judgments. The group effect: social influences on risk identification, analysis, and decision-making. Cognitive architectures as a scaffolding for risky choice models. Improving understanding of health-relevant numerical information. Risk culture as a framework for improving competence in risk management. Psychological Perspectives on Risk and Risk Analysis will be of great interest to researchers in and outside of psychology, including decision-making experts and behavioral economists. Additionally, this volume will appeal to practitioners who often have to make risky decisions, such as managers and physicians.

6. The Relationships Between the SSS and Other Trait Measures; Introduction; Convergent Validity Correlations With Similar Test Constructs; Multivariate Personality Tests; Multivariate Tests of Psychopathology; Other Traits; Discriminant Validity-Social Desirability; Summary; 7. Risk-Taking Activities; Volunteering for Experiments and Activities; Sensory Deprivation; Hypnosis and Meditation; Physical Risk Taking; Phobic Risk; Gambling; Mobility and Traveling; Life Stress; Summary; 8. Sensation, Perception, and Cognition; Sensory and Perceptual; Cognitive Abilities and Styles; Summary.