1 WHAT IS

SENSATION-SEEKING

Cliff diving isn’t a typical activity for anyone, much less

a person who is afraid of heights. But Mike,^1 a 20-year-old intern

living in Atlanta, does it as often as he can, despite this fear. He’s

also gone skydiving at least four times. The first time, he was a little

disappointed. “I actually wasn’t scared at any point, which was

weird.” The second time Mike actually told his guide, “The last

guy failed to scare me, so I want you to scare me.” Even by his

own reckoning, this isn’t something you should say to a skydiving

coach. I couldn’t help but ask, “Well, did he scare you?” “Yeah,” he

said, “he went about it very cleverly. Beforehand he told me that

when they’ve got somebody who isn’t cooperating (apparently

some people will grab the guide’s arms or something when they

should be pulling the chute), they spin the person around really

fast. Because this increases G-force, the person passes out and the

instructor can get them safely to the ground. So we’re in the middle

of free fall and that is basically what he does to me. He takes my

hand and bends it down slightly, so I start spinning extraordinarily

fast in one direction. Then he stops me, and we spin in the other

direction extremely fast. Then the next direction extremely fast,

and the next. My eyes were pretty much popping out of my head...

eventually he pulls the chute, and before I knew it we were just

coasting again.”

My heart started racing and I felt dizzy just hearing about

this, but Mike explained all of it in a voice that seemed a little too

calm for someone who insists he doesn’t like heights. And his

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