Book contents
- Buzz!
- Buzz!
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface: My Fascination with Thrill
- Acknowledgments
- 1 What is Sensation-Seeking
- 2 Born to Be Wild
- 3 Faster, Hotter, Louder: The Everyday Life of a High Sensation-Seeker
- 4 Lights, Camera, Action: Sports and Adventure in High Sensation-Seeking
- 5 What About Your Friends: The Relationships of High Sensation-Seekers
- 6 All in a Day’s Work
- 7 The Dark Side of High Sensation-Seeking
- 8 Super Power or Super Problem
- Conclusion
- Book part
- Inventory of Notes
- Index
8 - Super Power or Super Problem
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 October 2019
- Buzz!
- Buzz!
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface: My Fascination with Thrill
- Acknowledgments
- 1 What is Sensation-Seeking
- 2 Born to Be Wild
- 3 Faster, Hotter, Louder: The Everyday Life of a High Sensation-Seeker
- 4 Lights, Camera, Action: Sports and Adventure in High Sensation-Seeking
- 5 What About Your Friends: The Relationships of High Sensation-Seekers
- 6 All in a Day’s Work
- 7 The Dark Side of High Sensation-Seeking
- 8 Super Power or Super Problem
- Conclusion
- Book part
- Inventory of Notes
- Index
Summary
When I first began my journey to understand high sensation-seekers, I honestly wondered what was wrong with them. People who threw themselves off of buildings and out of airplanes, chose the most unusual thing on the menu, and would pick a topic of conversation that they knew would cause conflict? Who does that?
Could Freud be right? Maybe Thanatos was stronger in high sensation-seekers and created an unruly, pandemonium-loving personality. Was sensation-seeking some kind of death wish? Were high sensation-seekers simply lackadaisical about the beauty and fragility of life? Were they actually chaos junkies or adrenaline addicts? Or was high sensation-seeking a neurological impairment that makes people want to BASE jump or rollerblade downhill in city traffic or try ever more challenging, even poisonous exotic foods? I was baffled. It seemed, at the time, that what they really sought was chaos.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Buzz!Inside the Minds of Thrill-Seekers, Daredevils, and Adrenaline Junkies, pp. 157 - 175Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2019