CONCLUSION

Where does all of this leave us? Is high sensation-seeking

a superpower, as illustrated in thelast chapter, or is it a super peril,

as discussed earlier? What of the questions I set out to answer in

this book? Are high sensation-seekers different than the rest of us?

Is there something wrong with them? Is being a high sensation-

seeker dangerous? Should we try to change their behavior?

Obviously, it’s complicated

In retrospect, I think I may have been asking the wrong questions.

“Is there something wrong with them?” Well, no. “Are these people

different than the rest of us?” Again, no. And yes. They are also

different from each other. “Is being a high sensation-seeker danger-

ous?” It can be. Bungee jumping off a bridge is dangerous. Hanging

off the side of a building with one hand? Dangerous. Eating fugu?

You got it, dangerous. BASE jumping? Not as safe as sitting on the

beach, I’d guess. But all of us engage in dangerous activities all the

time. Cliche ́ as it sounds, every time you get in your car or on

a plane, or cross the street, you take your life in your own hands,

don’t you? Life is dangerous. Perhaps with the proper precautions

and perspective skydiving is not as life threatening as it looks to the

rest of us.

High sensation-seeking does have risks. We have seen that it

can lead to addictive behaviors that harm people and relationships.

It can also lead to a kind of impulsivity that would strike most of us

terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108557252.010

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Western Ontario, on 16 Nov 2019 at 09:27:31, subject to the Cambridge Core