Part 2) Score the "Likes and Dislikes" Survey:

These are the type of items that are used to assess the trait of "sensation-seeking". Sensation seekers are people who tend to seek out new, complex, varied, exciting experiences. On the items above, we would expect sensation seekers to answer: 1A, 2A, 3A, 4B, 5A, 6B, 7A, 8A, 9B, 10B, 11A, and 12A. If you answered most of the items that way, you may be above average in sensation seeking. If you only answered a few items that way, you may be below average in sensation seeking. Scores on actual sensation seeking scales (which typically use 2-3 times as many items as were used in this homework exercise) correlate with engaging in more high-risk activities, having more sexual partners, using more drugs, and pursuing more unusual experiences (such as meditation and sensory deprivation). The fact that sensation seekers would want to try sensory deprivation is clear evidence that what they are seeking not just more sensations, but also new and different ones.

But why do sensation seekers seek sensations? Is it personal choice or is it biology? The leading researcher in this area, Marvin Zuckerman, believes sensation seeking has a strong biological basis (please see the book for details). Thus, when people answer item #7 by saying that "The most important goal of life is to…experience as much as possible" or "The most important goal…is to find peace", they may say that because that is the goal their brains are biologically predisposed to find most satisfying.