A comparison of impulsivity and sensation seeking in pathological gamblers and skydivers

The aim of this study was to compare pathological gamblers and skydivers in relation to measures of impulsivity and sensation seeking. The Eysenck Impulsivity Scale - Narrow Impulsiveness Subscale and the Arnett Inventory of Sensation Seeking were administered to pathological gamblers (n = 29), skydivers (n = 93), and a control group (n = 43). A two-way multivariate analysis of variance was conducted to explore differences in impulsivity and sensation seeking between the groups and possible group by gender and group by age interaction effects. The significant effects were further investigated using follow-up univariate analysis of variance. The results showed significant main effects of Group, Gender and Age, and a significant Group by Gender interaction effect. The results showed no statistically significant differences in impulsivity between pathological gamblers and skydivers; however, both groups scored higher than the controls. The skydivers scored higher compared to the pathological gamblers and controls on both sensation seeking subscales. Pathological gamblers scored higher than the controls on the subscale Need for Stimulus Intensity, although lower than the controls on the subscale Need for Novelty. We conclude that skydivers and pathological gamblers do not seem to differ in terms of impulsivity, but that the two groups differ in terms of sensation seeking. Skydivers are hence characterized by more sensation seeking compared to pathological gamblers. Skydiving, as opposed to pathological gambling, is not considered a psychiatric disorder, and skydiving may represent a more non-pathological way to fulfill the need for stimulus intensity.     

Comparing personality constructs of risk-taking behavior

Canadian subjects (N = 120) completed four psychological scales. Three of the scales were directly related to risk-taking behavior. These were the Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS V; Zuckerman, 1979), the Tension Risk Adventure Inventory (TRAI; Keinan et al., 1984) and the Telic Dominance Scale (TDS; Murgatroyd et al., 1978). In addition, subjects completed the Desire for Control Scale (DCS; Burger and Cooper, 1979) to investigate the role of desire for control in risk-taking. The results indicated (1) significant differences between age and sensation seeking (2) a four-factor structure for the TRAI following factor analysis with this Canadian sample (3) numerous intra- and inter-scale relationships obtained from correlation analyses of and (4) four major dimensions arising from PCA of the four inventory scales.     

Sex differences in impulsivity: a meta-analysis

Men are overrepresented in socially problematic behaviors, such as aggression and criminal behavior, which have been linked to impulsivity. Our review of impulsivity is organized around the tripartite theoretical distinction between reward hypersensitivity, punishment hyposensitivity, and inadequate effortful control. Drawing on evolutionary, criminological, developmental, and personality theories, we predicted that sex differences would be most pronounced in risky activities with men demonstrating greater sensation seeking, greater reward sensitivity, and lower punishment sensitivity. We predicted a small female advantage in effortful control. We analyzed 741 effect sizes from 277 studies, including psychometric and behavioral measures. Women were consistently more punishment sensitive (d = -0.33), but men did not show greater reward sensitivity (d = 0.01). Men showed significantly higher sensation seeking on questionnaire measures (d = 0.41) and on a behavioral risk-taking task (d = 0.36). Questionnaire measures of deficits in effortful control showed a very modest effect size in the male direction (d = 0.08). Sex differences were not found on delay discounting or executive function tasks. The results indicate a stronger sex difference in motivational rather than effortful or executive forms of behavior control. Specifically, they support evolutionary and biological theories of risk taking predicated on sex differences in punishment sensitivity. A clearer understanding of sex differences in impulsivity depends upon recognizing important distinctions between sensation seeking and impulsivity, between executive and effortful forms of control, and between impulsivity as a deficit and as a trait.     

Convergent and discriminant validity of the Marital Disillusionment Scale

The Marital Disillusionment Scale, together with measures of divorce proneness, marital disaffection, work addiction, sensation seeking, intimacy, and marital satisfaction (using the subscales Marital Disharmony and Disaffection), was administered to 116 married people (42 men, 74 women) in a university town in the western USA. Scores on the Marital Disillusionment Scale had significant positive correlations with scores on the Marital Instability Scale (r = .54), the Marital Disaffection Scale (r = .72), and the two subscales Disharmony (r = .53) and Disaffection (r = .75) of the eMarital Satisfaction Inventory. Scores for the Marital Disillusionment Scale were negatively correlated with those for the Personal Assessment of Intimacy in Relationships Inventory (r = -.65) but were not significantly associated with scores for the Work Addiction Risk Test and the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale. The results support the convergent and discriminant validity of the Marital Disillusionment Scale.     

Women’s perception of men’s sensation seeking propensity from their dance movements

Risk-taking behaviour in men, an expression of the more general personality trait sensation seeking, has been hypothesized to be an evolved aspect of male psychology that arose through sexual selection. Sensation seeking could be seen as a costly behavioural trait that signals a man’s health and vigour and is preferred by women. This study extends knowledge about risk-taking as a cue in human mate choice by examining whether women can perceive men’s sensation seeking propensity (assessed with the Sensation Seeking Scale Form V; SSS-V) by viewing their dance movements. We videotaped 50 men’s dancing and had 60 women judge each dancer on perceived attractiveness and risk-taking. A positive and significant correlation was found between women’s attractiveness judgements and male’s SSS-V total score, thrill and adventure seeking, disinhibition and boredom susceptibility. Further, women’s risk-taking judgements were related to men’s boredom susceptibility. We conclude that (i) male sensation seeking propensity is signalled via their dance movements, and (ii) women are sensitive to these cues as they consider men who score high on sensation seeking as attractive. We discuss our results with reference to the evolutionary psychology concept of sexual selection and mate preferences.     

The Relationships Between Sensation Seeking and Gender Role Orientations Among Turkish University Students

The relationships between sensation seeking and gender role orientation were examined among 325 Turkish university students. The Sensation Seeking Scale Form V (SSS-V; Zuckerman, Behavioral expressions and biosocial bases of sensation seeking. Cambridge University Press, New York, 1994) and the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI; Bem, Journal of Counseling and Clinical Psychology, 42:155–162, 1974) were used for data collection. The dimensions of the SSS-V were Thrill and Adventure Seeking, Disinhibition, Experience Seeking, and Boredom Susceptibility. The ANOVA and MANOVA revealed main effects for gender and gender role orientation. As predicted, men reported higher levels of overall sensation seeking and Disinhibition than women did. Androgynous and masculine groups reported higher levels of overall sensation seeking, Disinhibition and Experience Seeking than the feminine group did. The effect of gender role orientation on Thrill and Adventure Seeking and Boredom Susceptibility was insignificant.     

Construct Validity of the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART): Relationship with MDMA Use by Inner-City Drug Users in Residential Treatment

In a program of research assessing the validity of the balloon analogue risk task (BART; C. W. Lejuez et al., 2002) as a measure of risk taking, the BART was administered to a sample of inner-city drug users in residential treatment (n = 76). Construct validity of the BART was evaluated by measuring risk-taking behavior and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) use while controlling for self-reported impulsivity, sensation seeking, polysubstance use, and demographic variables. Supporting the construct validity of the BART, while controlling for interrelated variables in the context of logistic regression analyses, (BART) risk-taking propensity accounted for significant incremental variance in differentiating MDMA users from non-users. BART scores, polysubstance use, and younger age were most associated with MDMA use, and together these variables were associated with 91% classification accuracy in predicting MDMA use.     

When cooler heads prevail: peacemakers in a sports riot.

Male sports fans (N = 74) were asked to estimate the likelihood that they would intervene in a crowd disturbance in an attempt to stop the fighting. They also completed a battery of measures that included their attitude toward law and order, fight history, the false consensus effect, impulsivity, psychopathy, sensation seeking, anger, physical aggression and identification with their favorite team. Law and order, body mass, anger and the false consensus effect were positively related to peacemaking whereas sensation seeking was negatively related. A multiple regression analysis yielded a solution that accounted for 32.3% of the variance with anger and attitude toward law and order emerging as the best predictors.     

Early adolescent sexual debut: The mediating role of working memory ability, sensation seeking, and impulsivity

Although deficits in working memory ability have been implicated in suboptimal decision making and risk taking among adolescents, its influence on early sexual initiation has so far not been examined. Analyzing 2 waves of panel data from a community sample of adolescents (N = 347; Mean age[baseline] = 13.4 years), assessed 1 year apart, the present study tested the hypothesis that weak working memory ability predicts early sexual initiation and explored whether this relationship is mediated by sensation seeking and 2 forms of impulsivity, namely acting-without-thinking and temporal discounting. The 2 forms of impulsivity were expected to be positively associated with early sexual initiation, whereas sensation seeking was hypothesized to be unrelated or to have a protective influence, due to its positive association with working memory. Results obtained from structural equation modeling procedures supported these predictions and in addition showed that the effects of 3 prominent risk factors (Black racial identity, low socioeconomic background, and early pubertal maturation) on early sexual initiation were entirely mediated by working memory and impulsivity. The findings are discussed in regard to their implications for preventing early sexual onset among adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved).     

Collegiate heavy drinking prospectively predicts change in sensation seeking and impulsivity

Recent models of alcohol use in youth and young adulthood have incorporated personality change and maturation as causal factors underlying variability in developmental changes in heavy drinking. Whereas these models assume that personality affects alcohol use, the current prospective study tested the converse relation. That is, we tested whether, after accounting for the effect of traits on drinking, collegiate heavy drinking in turn predicted individual differences in change in alcohol-related aspects of personality. We also examined whether affiliation with heavy-drinking peers better accounted for this relation. Following a cohort of recent high school graduates (N=1,434) through the college years, we found evidence for transactional relations between heavy drinking and changes in impulsivity and sensation seeking. Both traits predicted increases in heavy drinking, but more important, heavy drinking predicted increases in sensation seeking and impulsivity. In final models, social influences did not underlie the effect of heavy drinking on increases in sensation seeking and impulsivity. The results of this investigation suggest that collegiate heavy drinking may negatively and pervasively impact a wide range of behaviors because of its effect on personality change.     

Personality and risk-taking: common biosocial factors

The first part of this article describes a study of the relationships between personality and risk-taking in six areas: smoking, drinking, drugs, sex, driving, and gambling. The participants, 260 college students, were given self-report measures of risky behaviors in each of the six areas and the Zuckerman-Kuhlman five-factor personality questionnaire. Generalized risk-taking (across all six areas) was related to scales for impulsive sensation seeking, aggression, and sociability, but not to scales for neuroticism or activity. Gender differences on risk-taking were mediated by differences on impulsive sensation seeking. The second part discusses biological traits associated with both risk-taking and personality, particularly sensation seeking, such as the D4 dopamine receptor gene. the enzyme monoamine oxidase, and augmenting or reducing of the cortical evoked potential. Comparative studies show relationships between biological markers shared with other species and correlated behaviors similar to sensation seeking in humans. A biosocial model of the traits underlying risk-taking is presented.     

Sex roles, gender, and fear

Male and female college students classified as masculine, feminine, androgynous, or undifferentiated on the Bem (1974) Sex Role Inventory (N = 199) were given the Wolpe (1969) Fear Inventory. Significant differences in average fear scores were seen between men and women and between the four sex-role categories, with sex role and gender contributing equally to the variability. The argument is raised here that excessive fearfulness or fearlessness might be as much a product of sex-role conditioning as a product of gender.     

Personality characteristics and state mood influence individual deck selections on the Iowa Gambling Task

The Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) is commonly used to assess risky decision making in clinical and non-clinical populations, and negative mood and various personality characteristics have been shown to affect the number of advantageous and disadvantageous selections on this task. Recent research has suggested that IGT data should be analyzed at the individual deck level due to differences in frequency and magnitude of losses, and the present study examined how personality characteristics and state mood may affect deck level selections on this task. Participants were 91 undergraduate students (38 male) who completed measures of impulsivity and sensation seeking, behavioral activation and inhibition, state mood, and the computerized IGT. Results indicated that negative mood, drive, impulsivity, and sensation seeking were all positively correlated with Deck B selections, but negatively correlated with Deck D selections. No differences emerged in correlations between Decks A and B or Decks A and D. Results indicate that mood and personality characteristics differentially relate to selections from the individual decks on the IGT. Results have implications for the assessment of decision making, as personality and fluctuations in state-dependent mood could mimic pathological risk-taking if analysis is conducted on the combined decks.     

Examining profiles of the big five and sensation seeking among competitive climbers

The present study sought to identify distinct personality profiles in competitive climbers (N = 331, Mean age = 29.85, SD = 10.92), and also sought to explore whether these climbers differed in their sensation seeking tendencies based on these personality profiles. Employing a cross-sectional design, participants completed measures of the big five personality dimensions (agreeableness; conscientiousness; extraversion; neuroticism; openness to experience) and sensation seeking (boredom susceptibility; experience seeking; disinhibition; thrill and adventure seeking). Latent profile analysis identified four distinct big five personality profiles (Curious and Impulsive; Emotionally Unstable; Healthy; and Measured and Compliant). MANCOVA and follow-up ANCOVAs demonstrated significant differences between the four personality profiles in relation to thrill and adventure seeking, experience seeking, and disinhibition. The findings suggest that the identification of distinct personality profiles using a person-centred approach is a useful way of distinguishing and optimizing typical behaviors and preferences in adventure sports in the future.     

Evaluation of behavioral measures of risk taking propensity with inner city adolescents

The current study examined the utility of behavioral measures of risk-taking propensity in the assessment of self-reported real-world risk-taking behaviors using a sample of 51 high-school-aged inner-city adolescents. Results indicated that performance on one behavioral measure, the balloon analogue risk task, accounted for unique variance in self-reported delinquency/safety risk behaviors as well as substance use risk behaviors, above and beyond that provided with demographics and self-report measures of risk-related constructs (i.e., impulsivity and sensation seeking). These results are discussed in relation to the potential utility of using a multimethod assessment approach for better understanding risk-taking vulnerability among adolescents.     

Executive functions,impulsivity, and inhibitory control in adolescents: A structural equation model

Background. Adolescence represents a critical period for brain development, addressed by neurodevelopmental models to frontal, subcortical-limbic, and striatal activation, a pattern associated with rise of impulsivity and deficits in inhibitory control. The present study aimed at studying the association between self-report measures of impulsivity and inhibitory control with executive function in adolescents, employing structural equation modeling. Method. Tests were administered to 434 high school students. Acting without thinking was measured through the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale and the Dickman Impulsivity Inventory, reward sensitivity through the Behavioral Activation System, and sensation seeking through the Zuckerman–Kuhlman–Aluja Personali- ty Questionnaire. Inhibitory control was assessed through the Behavioral Inhibition System. The performance at the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task indicated executive function. Three models were specified using Sample Covariance Matrix, and the estimated parameters using Maximum Likelihood. Results. In the final model, impulsivity and inhibitory control predicted executive function, but sensation seeking did not. The fit of the model to data was excellent. Conclusions. The hypothesis that inhibitory control and impulsivity are predictors of executive function was supported. Our results appear informative of the validity of self-report measures to examine the relation between impulsivity traits rather than others to regulatory function of cognition and behavior.     

Impulsivity,sensation seeking and reproductive behaviour: A life history perspective

Impulsivity has often been invoked as a proximate driver of different life-history strategies. However, conceptualisations of “impulsivity” are inconsistent and ambiguities exist regarding which facets of impulsivity are actually involved in the canalisation of reproductive strategies. Two variables commonly used to represent impulsivity were examined in relation to reproductive behaviour. Results demonstrated that sensation seeking was significantly related to strategy-based behaviour, but impulsivity (defined as a failure to deliberate) was only weakly correlated. The effect of impulsivity disappeared when sensation seeking was controlled. Sex differences emerged for sensation seeking but not impulsivity. We conclude that “impulsivity” is not a unitary trait and that clearer distinctions should be made between facets of this construct.     

Risk taking and personality

Comparisons were made of the personality and social orientations of antisocial risk takers, defined as residents in a long-term drug-treatment facility (N = 24); adventurous risk takers, defined as rock climbers (N = 18); and prosocial risk takers, or heroes, defined as policemen and firemen decorated for bravery (N = 21). Measures included substance abuse proclivity, emotional arousability, conformity, moral reasoning, empathy, psychopathy, and sensation seeking. Discriminant analysis identified two functions that correctly classified 98.18% of the sample. Drug-unit residents had high scores on an Antisocial function, characterized by emotionality, depression, psychopathy, substance abuse proclivity, and lower scores on moral reasoning. Rock climbers had high scores on an Antistructural function, characterized by sensation seeking and moral reasoning, the latter reflecting the higher education level of the rock climbers. Neither discriminant function characterized the heroes. Thus, drug-unit residents, rock climbers, and heroes appear to represent both different psychological types and different forms of risk taking.     

Age differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity as indexed by behavior and self-report: evidence for a dual systems model

It has been hypothesized that sensation seeking and impulsivity, which are often conflated, in fact develop along different timetables and have different neural underpinnings, and that the difference in their timetables helps account for heightened risk taking during adolescence. In order to test these propositions, the authors examined age differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity in a socioeconomically and ethnically diverse sample of 935 individuals between the ages of 10 and 30, using self-report and behavioral measures of each construct. Consistent with the authors' predictions, age differences in sensation seeking, which are linked to pubertal maturation, follow a curvilinear pattern, with sensation seeking increasing between 10 and 15 and declining or remaining stable thereafter. In contrast, age differences in impulsivity, which are unrelated to puberty, follow a linear pattern, with impulsivity declining steadily from age 10 on. Heightened vulnerability to risk taking in middle adolescence may be due to the combination of relatively higher inclinations to seek excitement and relatively immature capacities for self-control that are typical of this period of development.     

The Association of Sensation Seeking and Impulsivity to Driving While Under the Influence of Alcohol

This study examined the association between sensation seeking, impulsivity, and drunk driving. Results showed significant differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity among 160 individuals convicted of impaired or intoxicated driving and individuals who had never been arrested for driving while under the influence/driving while intoxicated offenses.