Sensation Seeking and Antisocial Behavior: Some Laboratory Evidence

Abstract

Twenty-six male college students scoring either high or low on Zuckerman, et al.'s (1964) Sensation Seeking Scale participated in a free association task in which they were to respond as quickly as possible to a series of stimulus words by saying the first word that came to mind. The stimulus words varied in their sexual content. It was found that high sensation seekers gave significantly more socially unacceptable sexual responses to the highly sexual stimulus words than did low sensation seekers, while these groups did not differ in their responses to either the moderately sexual or neutral words. These results were discussed in terms of the additional evidence they provide for the existence of a sensation seeking motive underlying socially unacceptable and antisocial behavior.