• Are You a Thrill Seeker or a Chill Seeker?

  • Oct 30 2024
  • Length: 32 mins
  • Podcast

Are You a Thrill Seeker or a Chill Seeker?

  • Summary

  • This episode starts off a little differently than others — with a short quiz, something called the Brief Sensation-Seeking Scale, which will tell you whether you're what psychologists call a high sensation-seeker or a low sensation-seeker. Read the following eight statements, and then pick a number from 1 to 5 that corresponds to your level of agreement, where 1 is "Not at all like me," 2 is "Not like me," 3 is "Unsure or both like and not like me," 4 is "Like me," and 5 is "Very much like me."

    1. I would like to explore strange places.
    2. I would like to take off on a trip with no pre-planned routes or timetables.
    3. I get restless when I spend too much time alone.
    4. I prefer friends who are excitingly unpredictable.
    5. I like wild parties.
    6. I would love to have new and exciting experiences, even if they are illegal.
    7. I would like to try bungee jumping.
    8. I would like to do frightening things.

    Now add up all the numbers together. If you scored between 8 and 16, you are a low sensation-seeker. If you scored between 16 and 28, you're about average for sensation-seeking. If you scored over 28, you're a high sensation-seeker.

    Today on the show, I unpack what these categories of personality mean with Dr. Kenneth Carter, a clinical psychologist, a professor, and the author of Buzz!: Inside the Minds of Thrill-Seekers, Daredevils, and Adrenaline Junkies. Ken explains how sensation-seeking exists on a spectrum between chill seekers, who like safety and calm routine, and thrill seekers, who enjoy chaos, risk, and novelty. He shares how there are actually four components to high sensation-seeking, and which two tend to get people in trouble. And we talk about whether being high or low sensation-seeking is a matter of nature or nurture, how high sensation-seekers fare in romantic relationships and what they should consider in choosing a career, and what the world's chill seekers can learn from its thrill seekers.

    Resources Related to the Podcast
    • 40-Question Sensation-Seeking Scale Test
    Connect with Ken Carter
    • Ken's website
    • Ken on IG
    • Ken on X
    • Ken's faculty page
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