Excitement-seeking
A facet of extraversion. Four items in the IPIP-NEO-120.
The fifth facet of extraversion is appetite for thrills and risk: loving excitement, seeking adventure, and enjoying the feeling of being a little reckless. It overlaps with what other models call sensation seeking, and it is the facet of extraversion least related to liking people.
What it does not mean
A high score is not irresponsibility. Many high scorers are careful in the things that matter to them and take their risks on purpose, in sport, travel or work; the facet measures the appetite, and cautiousness, a facet of conscientiousness, measures the brakes.
A low score is not timidity. Low scorers may be brave when it counts; they do not seek the feeling of danger for its own sake.
Four items make a short scale. A facet score moves more between attempts than the 24-item domain score, and it describes a tendency in ordinary life as the person reports it, not a diagnosis of anything.
High and low in daily life
High. People high on this facet say they love excitement, seek adventure, enjoy being reckless and act wild and crazy. In daily life that shows as fast driving, loud music, last-minute travel, a taste for the edge in sport and nightlife, and boredom with routine that others find restful.
Low. People low on this facet say they do not seek adventure or excitement and have no wish to be reckless. In daily life that shows as a preference for the familiar, holidays that are restful rather than thrilling, and a quiet satisfaction that others sometimes mistake for dullness.
Parent domain
- Extraversion: the broad trait this facet belongs to, with five sibling facets.
What the research says it predicts
In the model of impulsivity built on the Big Five, this facet is the marker of sensation seeking, which is distinct from acting rashly under strong feeling and from failing to plan. (Whiteside and Lynam, 2001)
Sensation seeking relates to both extraversion and openness to experience, which is why this facet sits near adventurousness in openness without being the same thing. (Aluja, García and García, 2003)
Excitement-seeking falls with age, more clearly than most facets, in a longitudinal study of adults. (Terracciano and others, 2005)
Where people fall
The spread of scores
Curve height shows how common each score is; the darker middle holds half of all people. If you have taken a test on this device, your marker is drawn on.
IPIP-NEO-120, excitement-seeking, 4 items
410,376 people
The other facets of extraversion
Sources and licence
Whiteside, S. P., & Lynam, D. R. (2001). The Five Factor Model and impulsivity: Using a structural model of personality to understand impulsivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 30(4), 669-689. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(00)00064-7
Aluja, A., García, Ó., & García, L. F. (2003). Relationships among extraversion, openness to experience, and sensation seeking. Personality and Individual Differences, 35(3), 671-680. doi:10.1016/S0191-8869(02)00244-1
Terracciano, A., McCrae, R. R., Brant, L. J., & Costa, P. T. (2005). Hierarchical linear modeling analyses of the NEO-PI-R scales in the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Psychology and Aging, 20(3), 493-506. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.20.3.493
Instrument: IPIP-NEO-120. Johnson, J. A. (2014). Measuring thirty facets of the Five Factor Model with a 120-item public domain inventory: Development of the IPIP-NEO-120. Journal of Research in Personality, 51, 78-89. doi:10.1016/j.jrp.2014.05.003 Key: https://ipip.ori.org/30FacetNEO-PI-RItems.htm.
Norms: Johnson, J. A. IPIP-NEO-120 public dataset (IPIP120.dat), OSF component wxvth of osf.io/tbmh5, https://osf.io/wxvth/.
Licence: Public domain (IPIP). Permission is granted automatically for any person to use IPIP items for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm
Instrument: IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers. Goldberg, L. R. (1992). The development of markers for the Big-Five factor structure. Psychological Assessment, 4(1), 26-42. doi:10.1037/1040-3590.4.1.26 Key: https://ipip.ori.org/newBigFive5broadKey.htm.
Norms: Open-Source Psychometrics Project, IPIP Big-Five Factor Markers responses (IPIP-FFM-data-8Nov2018.zip), 1,015,342 responses collected 2016 to 2018, https://openpsychometrics.org/_rawdata/.
Licence: Public domain (IPIP). Permission is granted automatically for any person to use IPIP items for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial. https://ipip.ori.org/newPermission.htm