are often okay with their decision to act aggressively, at least until
the consequences sink in.
Remember Devin from earlier? He told me that aggressive
behavior used to be a big part of his life. “I used to get into fights. No
reason really, it was a natural high for me. It’s a big thing that thrill-
seekers get involved in.”
Sensation-seeking is not only linked with aggression but
also in some cases other kinds of disruptive behaviors. There are
links to high levels of sensation-seeking in children and disruptive
behaviors such as stealing, destroying property or being suspended
from school.^39 For some, these disruptive behaviors might be moti-
vated by boredom or anger. Betty Pfefferbaum and Peter Wood
interviewed individuals who had been involved in property destruc-
tion. Some 38 percent said they did it for fun, and 11 percent
reported that the motivation was anger or revenge.^40
The bottom line is this: Sensation-seekingcanlead to dark
places if it goes too far. When their behaviors become too extreme
or their sensation-seeking becomes the whole focus of their life,
HSSs can put themselves and the people around them in danger. In
my experience these are edge cases. The vast majority of high
sensation-seekers I spoke to were not only extremely friendly, but
also very respectful of others and generally had a logic around the
risks they took for themselves.
Is there a way to know which high sensation-seekers lean
toward the dangerous end of the spectrum? Is it possible to tell in
advance who will take their quest for the buzz too far? There may
be, and the best test may be a marshmallow.The Most Famous Marshmallow in the World
Back in the 1960s, psychologist Walter Michelle and his team
presented children with a wondrous and terrible challenge.^41
They offered the kids a marshmallow, a gooey, sticky, sweet
marshmallow. It’s important to remember that to a little kid,
a marshmallow is like a miniature cotton candy party and
nearly irresistible. Michelle’s team offered each of the kids
a single marshmallow and a deal. They could eat the marshmal-
low immediately (sounds good), or if they waited until the
experimenter returned, they could have two (doubly good). So,
either eat it now and have immediate gratification, or wait,
delay gratification, and double your pleasure.154 / Buzz!Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:20:10, subject to the Cambridge