Results and Comments
Form VI is not a substitute for Form V since it is missing the ES, BS and total scores from that form. It should
only be used where the interest is solely in TAS and Dis scales and where the queries about the specific types of
experience would be appropriate and acceptable to the population tested ( Zuckerman, 1994 ).
SSS (ACTIVITIES SCALE, FORM-VI) SAMPLE ITEMS
This questionnaire has two parts: part I (Experience;
the first 64 items) and Part II (Intentions for the future;
65 to 128 items). Next it is listed as example an item of
each one of the four scales:
Directions: Part I: Below you will find a list of many
different kinds of activities. Please indicate whether you
have actually engaged in this activity or not in the past
(Part II: ...engaged in this activity in the future). Answer
all items using one of the following options: Part I: A. I
have done this; B. One response for each of the items: A, B
or C. Part II: I have no desire to do this. B. I have thought
of doing third, but probably will not do it. C. I have
thought of doing this and will do it if I have the chance.
Examples :
13. Parachute jumping (E-TAS)2. Reading books about explicit sex (E-Dis)
65. Climbing steep mountains. (I-TAS)
66. Reading books about explicit sex (I-Dis)
Scoring keys :
In scoring either Experience or Intention scales each
response is weighted as follows: A: 1; B: 2; C: 3. All the
weighted responses for each of the four subscales are
summed and the total constitutes the raw score for that
scale.
Infrequency (7 items): 11; E-Dis. (42 items): 2; I-TAS:
(22 items). 65; I-Dis (42 items): 66.
Notes :
The Sensation Seeking Scale Form VI is published
and available in Zuckerman (1994) .
Reproduced with permission.
Impulsive Sensation Seeking Scale (ImpSS) /C0(from ZKPQ)
(Zuckerman et al., 1993).
Variable
The ZKPQ (alternative Big Five) measures the following variables: Impulsive Sensation Seeking,
Aggression /C0Hostility, Activity, Sociability, and Neuroticism /C0Anxiety.
Description
By the late 1980s the 4-factor form of the SSS had become a validated and useful measure of the sensation
seeking construct in many diverse areas. A larger question was posed: how did the SS construct fit into the wider
realm of personality? At that time the most popular factor models were Eysenck’s three-factor theory and
Cattell’s 16-factor theory. A reliable 5-factor model had emerged from analyses of general traits as derived from
ratings based on single adjectives. Costa and McCrae began with a three-factor model in a questionnaire form,
but later added two more factors resembling the ‘ Big Five ’ promulgated by Goldberg and others ( Costa &
McCrae, 1992 ). Their questionnaire has been the most popular one used in personality trait studies although its
claim to primacy among personality trait models has not gone unchallenged ( Block, 1995; Boyle, 2008; Eysenck,
1992; Zuckerman, 1992 ).
Sensation seeking was not represented as a major factor in the Big Five, partly because of the paucity of adjec-
tives describing the trait in the earlier lexical studies and the limited number of sensation seeking items in the
analyses of the Costa and McCrea exploratory forms. The belief that sensation seeking was a primary dimension
of personality was based on its high heritability, many biological and physiological correlates, found in animal
behavioral models as well as studies of humans, and the range of its behavioral correlates. Impulsivity was
another trait not well represented in the Big Five, except as a facet of Neuroticism.
Zuckerman, Kuhlman, and Camac (1988) and later, Zuckerman, Kuhlman, Thornquist, and Kiers (1991) ,
proposed an alternative 5-factor model formed by Impulsive Sensation Seeking (ImpSS), Aggression /C0Hostility
(Agg-Host), Activity (Act), Sociability (Sy), and Neuroticism /C0Anxiety (N-Anx). Unlike Costa and McCrae’s theo-
retical model, both Eysenck and Zuckerman’s models provide a causal explanation of personality. These three
models show similar factorial structures for the first three or four factors (Zuckerman et al., 1993).361 OVERVIEW OF THE MEASURES
III. EMOTION REGULATION