Augmenting-reducing and sensation seeking: a test of Sales' hypothesis.
Physiologically, augmenters amplify incoming stimulation, while reducers attenuate such stimulation. Sales has theorized that this characteristic is a determinant of an individual's need for stimulation and that reducers require more actual stimulation to reach this perceived optimal level than do augmenters. The theory predicts that measures of these characteristics would be correlated. The absolute auditory threshold was used as a measure of augmenting-reducing and the Sensation-Seeking Scale as a measure of need for stimulation in a study that tested 42 college students. The theoretical prediction was not confirmed. The bearing of these negative findings upon Sales' theory and the possibility that the auditory threshold is not a valid measure of augmenting-reducing were discussed.
D000293:Adolescent; D001143:Arousal; D001309:Auditory Threshold; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011581:Psychological Tests; D011582:Psychological Theory; D012677:Sensation; D012737:Sex Factors