a job that is arguably the lowest sensation career on the planet, or at
least I thought I did. This led me to ask, “What kinds of jobs demand
a high sensation-seeker and where are these people bound to
thrive? What happens to the high sensation-seeking personality
in a low sensation job like mine? And what would be an ideal
place of work for each of the HSS subtypes?”
The answers baffled me. Jobs I would have thought of as
a natural fit for high sensation-seekers actually turn out not to be. In
addition, while sensation-seeking can be a helpful piece of the
puzzle for extreme career paths like Jason’s, in some cases it can
be a hindrance, particularly if it is not tempered with a certain level
of maturity, logical decision-making, and even empathy.
It was surprising that professions we classically think of as
risky aren’t necessarily the best fit for HSSs. Intuitively you
wouldn’t think this to be the case. Moreover, even in the rare
cases where there is a fit between a risk-taking career and a high
sensation-seeking personality, the correlation is far more nuanced
than you’d think.Risky Careers and High Sensation-Seeking
In 1977, two researchers out of the Illinois Institute for Technology,
Robert Musolino and David Hershenson, wondered whether or not
people who were employed in professions where risk is necessary
also craved high sensation-seeking activities outside the
workplace.^1 Maybe the risky jobs lead to relaxing after work activ-
ities like chilling out with a soothing television show. Or maybe
those who love risk are drawn to risky professions. The implicit
question was: Do risky occupations attract high sensation-seeking
people and do HSSs tend to thrive in these jobs?
To find the answer, the scientists asked personnel training
specialists to rank order ten career choices from highest to lowest
risk. The researchers looked at work that involves placing them-
selves or others in jeopardy. The order from riskiest to least risky
was as follows:- Test pilot
- Air traffic controller
- Policeman
- Fireman
- Psychologist
117 / All in a Day’s WorkDownloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:18:48, subject to the Cambridge