By: Aditya Shukla
LABEL
Sensation seekers seek high-intensity experiences + novelty. They typically want bold, complex, varied, and dramatic experiences instead of mild, simple, familiar, and calm ones. They are more inclined to watch dramatic or intense TV shows, prefer adventure sports and heavier/stimulating music, but they also show risky behavior.
Also called Highly sensitive people or HSPs. Those with high sensory processing sensitivity have high emotional depth and are sensitive to stimuli. Mild stimulation is enough to have rich experiences. Too much stimulation can overwhelm them so they seek solitude.
They are generally intrinsically motivated and driven to do a task regardless of what extrinsic rewards they get. Autotelic means having a purpose in and not apart from itself. The action itself is rewarding. The purpose of doing something is itself. They are more likely to experience flow.
It is a general tendency to be ok with uncertain scenarios. People vary in how they handle uncertainty and how much they are ok with uncertainty. For example, exploring a new cuisine without knowing anything about it is a sign of high tolerance for uncertainty. Not trying out new foods is a sign of low tolerance for uncertainty.
Need for cognition is an individual difference across people that describes the tendency to do mentally effortful activities. Those with high NFC love to engage in complex tasks and keep the brain engaged, they love to seek deeper explanations and learn more. Those with low NFC are ok with few details and low mental activity.