There appears to be an inverse relationship between MAO
and sensation-seeking.^20 When MAO levels are high, the neuro-
transmitters responsible for approach, such as dopamine, are elimi-
nated quickly and our systems are less sensitive. This inverse
relationship between MAO and neurotransmitters might be the
reason that high sensation-seekers tend to have low MAO. This is
consistent with other personality traits correlated with MAO. Low
MAO is related to activity, sociability, and mania whereas the
reverse is true for high MAO.
A few research studies have backed up this claim. One study
looked at college students with very high and very low MAO
levels.^21 The difference between low and high MAO subjects equa-
ted to time spent in social activities. People with low MAO smoked
more, had higher rates of criminal offenses, more drug use, more
alcohol use, and a higher rate of bipolar disorders.
A second study examined MAO levels in a group of
people known for thrill- and adventure-seeking: bullfighters.^22
Bullfighting is an iconic tradition in several countries and traces
its origin to at least 711ce. If you don’t know much about bullfight-
ing except what you’ve seen in cartoons, you might think that it
mostly involves waving a red cape in front of a bull. That’s just one
part of this much more complicated and rigorous sport. After an
opening parade, there are three stages. In cape stage the matador is
testing the strength of the bull with a series of taunts and passes
with a cape. Then comes the picador stage where the bull is stabbed
in the shoulders to anger it. And then finally the killing stage.
Typical bullfights feature six bulls, three matadors and a crew of
assistant bullfighters and can last a grueling four hours.
Jose Carraso and his colleagues randomly selected 16 pro-
fessional bullfighters from a list of volunteers provided by the
Society of Bullfighters of Madrid in Spain. They had the bullfighters
take Zuckerman’s Sensation-seeking Survey and took blood (the
easy way) and measured their MAO activity. Not surprisingly the
bullfighters scored higher in thrill- and adventure-seeking as com-
pared to non-bullfighters on the survey. As expected, compared to
other people of about the same age, bullfighters had lower levels of
MAO activity and, of course, higher levels of sensation-seeking.
It seems to make sense, but on the surface, it doesn’t
explain why Nick would crave jumping off a bridge – something
that’s obviously dangerous. Wouldn’t his inhibition system kick in
to warn him that jumping off bridges is unsafe? Somehow it40 / Buzz!Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. Access paid by the UCSF Library, on 11 Nov 2019 at 14:20:40, subject to the Cambridge