EXTREME SPORTS - Part III

Psychology of extreme sports
We now, more or less now what does it take for a sport to be an extreme one- what characteristics of a discipline classifies it to this group. But there is another question- who are the people who engage in this kind of activities? Are they only random people, who happened to take it up, as other mortals begin dance classes or tennis? Or do they posses some special traits that make them more prone to extreme sports?

The second is the correct. Most people think that sensation-seeking is connected to adrenaline rush and adrenaline addiction. However it is not adrenaline that addicts. A sudden release of dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin cause a feeling of pleasurable “rush” more than adrenaline, which is released as a effect of fear.

The fact is that psychological research, proves that this group of people is unique- psychologically and even biologically. Research done on twins show that they have extremely similar levels of sensation seeking needs. So, If your brother likes to parachute, you probably also wouldn’t mind a little jump during the weekend. It was also proved that men are more prone to risking than women and divorced people more than single or married.

Still not convinced? Most of all, sensation seeking is connected to our brain and neurotransmitters. Have a look here:



Extreme Sports: Why Do People Do It? - Click here for the most popular videos


Although the “biological” factor seems crucial, also our characteristics that stem from our upbringing and all the life experience also influence sensation- seeking, which according to Dr Zuckerman is "the need for varied, novel, and complex sensations and experiences and the willingness to take physical and social risks for the sake of such experiences". Therefore, such people are very goal- oriented, more open to novelty, quickly get bored by routine work assignments. Taking into consideration the fact that they are usually people around their 20’s, not having own families, they may be less responsible and planning , more unconcerned.

So two factors: nature and nurture- especially biological characteristics, but also personality. How about you? How do you rate yourself? Are you more or less adventure seeking? Do you think that people, who engage in such activities are biologically weaker, while the built- in hatred for risk , which enables species to survive, has failed for them?

A scientist that has devoted especially much attention to sensation seeking in his scientific work is Dr. Zuckerman, who created a Sensation Seeking Scale, which is included in Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire. Here you can test yourself:

http://www.rta.nsw.gov.au/licensing/tests/driverqualificationtest/sensationseekingscale/

So how did it go? Did you rank below or above your expectations? Or your score perfectly corresponds to your personal evaluations? Do you feel more prone to engage in something risky after having some examples of how others have fun? Leave comments guys!