Sensory processing sensitivity

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Sensory Processing Sensitivity (SPS, a personality trait, a high measure of which defines a Highly Sensitive Person or HSP),[1][2] is a trait characterized as hypersensitivity to external stimuli, a greater depth of cognitive processing, and high emotional reactivity.[1] The terms SPS and HSP were coined in the mid-1990s by psychologists Elaine Aron and husband Arthur Aron.[1] SPS is measured by Aron's Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS) questionnaire.[1]

According to Aron and colleagues, people with high SPS comprise about 15-20% of the population and are thought to process sensory data more deeply due to the nature of their central nervous system.[2] Although Aron and colleagues state high SPS is not a disorder and is a personality trait associated with both positive and negative outcomes,[3] other researchers have consistently related it to negative outcomes.[1][4]

Origin and development of the terms SPS and HSP[edit]

Elaine Aron's 1996 book The Highly Sensitive Person[5] defined a population of people having "increased sensitivity to stimulation" and who "are more aware of subtleties and process information in a deeper, more reflective way."[6] In 1997 Elaine and Arthur Aron formally identified[7] sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), the scientific term for highly sensitive or hypersensitivity,[2] as the defining trait of highly sensitive persons (HSPs).[1]

Aron's professional journal articles and self-help publications have focused on distinguishing high SPS from socially reticent behavior[8] and disorders[9] with which high SPS can be confused;[10] overcoming the social unacceptability that can cause low self-esteem;[10] and emphasizing the benefits and advantages of having high SPS[9][11][12] to balance the disadvantages emphasized by others.[4][10][13]

In 2015 Elizabeth Bernstein wrote in the The Wall Street Journal that HSPs were "having a moment," noting that several hundred research studies had been conducted on topics related to HSPs' high sensitivity, and that a First International Scientific Conference on High Sensitivity or Sensory Processing Sensitivity had been held at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.[14] By 2015, more than a million copies of The Highly Sensitive Person had been sold.[15]

Attributes, characteristics and prevalence[edit]

Boterberg et al. (2016) describe high SPS as a "temperamental or personality trait which is present in some individuals and reflects an increased sensitivity of the central nervous system and a deeper cognitive processing of physical, social and emotional stimuli".[2]

People with high SPS report having a heightened response to stimuli such as pain, caffeine consumption, hunger, violence in the media, and loud noises.[4] According to Boterberg et al., these individuals are "believed to be easily overstimulated by external stimuli because they have a lower perceptual threshold and process stimuli cognitively deeper than most other people."[2] This deeper processing may result in decreased reaction time as more time is spent responding to cues in the environment, and might also contribute to cautious behavior and low risk-taking.[2]

The HSP Scale, initially (1997) a questionnaire designed to measure SPS on a unidimensional scale, was subsequently decomposed into two,[16][17] three,[18] or four[19] factors or sub-scales.[2] Most components have been associated with negative outcomes[2][1] including high stress levels; being easily overwhelmed; increased rates of depression, anxiety, and symptoms of autism; sleep problems; and more physical health problems.[2] Models such as the diathesis-stress model focus on increased vulnerability to negative influences;[20] the differential susceptibility model suggests increased plasticity (responsiveness) to both positive and negative influences;[20] and the vantage sensitivity concept emphasizes increased responsiveness to positive experiences.[12] Smolewska et al. (2006) said that in their research, positive outcomes were more common in individuals with high aesthetic sensitivity, who tend to experience heightened positive emotions in response to rewarding stimuli and more likely to score high on "openness" on the Big Five factors model.[21]

Research in evolutionary biology provides evidence that the trait of SPS can be observed, under various terms, in over 100 nonhuman species,[2][22] Aron writing that the SPS trait is meant to encompass what personality psychologists have described under various other names.[23] Conversely, Aron has distinguished SPS from what she considers it is not, explicitly distinguishing[24] high SPS from possibly-similar-appearing traits or disorders (such as shyness,[25] sensation-seeking,[26] sensory processing disorder,[9] and autism[3]), and further, that SPS is not a disorder[3] but may be a basic variable that may underlie multiple other trait differences[7] (such as introversion versus extraversion[24]).

HSP Scale score patterns in adults[27][28] were found to be distributed as a dichotomous categorical variable with a break point between 10% and 35%, with Aron choosing a cut-off of the highest-scoring 20% of individuals to define the HSP category.[2]

Background and underlying principles[edit]

Evolutionary foundations and innateness[edit]

The sensory processing sensitivity trait defining HSPs is explained in part by the evolutionary development in various species of two personality types that manifest distinct survival strategies, namely, '‘pausing before acting’' (allow neural processes to assess survival-related subtleties in the environment), and '‘acting first'’ (to respond quickly to opportunities and discover survival-relevant cues through motor exploration).[29] Humans are among more than 100 species found empirically to have subpopulations of individuals who both coexist and consistently display respectively different levels of responsiveness to environmental stimuli.[22] An evolutionary basis for this phenomenon has been explained through negative frequency dependence (explaining coexistence) and when costs of responsiveness are lower for individuals who have previously been more responsive (explaining consistency).[22]

In 1997, Drs. Elaine and Arthur Aron reported seven studies and formally proposed sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) as a "core variable" thought to underlie the two complementary evolutionary survival strategies ("quiet vigilance" versus "exploration") activated in the face of novel stimulation.[7] Aron and Aron posited that, like already-recognized gender-based and timid-versus-bold[30][31] survival strategies, these two HSP-based survival strategies constitute an end product of natural selection rather than its raw material.[7]

Neural foundations[edit]

Studies have shown that HSP brain scans show differences in neural activity compared with non-HSPs.[14][medical citation needed] To study the neural foundations of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology was used to determine whether stronger neural activity would be found in predicted brain regions in response to both positive and negative social stimuli.[11] Greater activity was found in HSPs' brain regions involved in attention, empathy, higher order cognitive processing, action planning in response to "close others" (non-strangers; particularly to their positive emotions), integration of sensory information, emotional meaning making, self-other processing, the mirror neuron system, and self-awareness.[11]

These positive findings for neural responses to social stimuli paralleled results of the first (2011) fMRI neural investigation of SPS, which found SPS to correlate with both increased response time and increased brain-region activation in response to subtle changes in non-social stimuli (specifically, a change-detection task involving landscape photographs).[29] Still other fMRI testing confirmed greater regional brain activation during culturally non-preferred tasks, with higher-SPS subjects showing little cultural difference, indicating HSPs' judgments are based on more thorough processing of actual stimuli and less by cultural context.[32]

Genetic foundations and innateness[edit]

Sensory processing sensitivity (SPS) has been indicated to be substantially innate (of genetic origin) as opposed to learned (of environmental origin).[11] For example, studies show SPS' association with polymorphisms of a variant of the 5-HTTLPR (serotonin-transporter-linked polymorphic region),[33] and relate contributions to SPS from polymorphisms in dopamine neurotransmitter genes (accounting for 15% of the variance in HSP measurement, compared to 2% for the tested environmental factor, stressful life events).[34] Separately, subjects with the norepinephrine-related deletion variant of the ADRA2b gene were found, both subjectively and in fMRI testing, to have greater sensitivity to emotionally salient images, with the more sensitive subjects perceiving the images more vividly.[35]

See also[edit]

Sources and notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Booth, Charlotte; Standage, Helen; Fox, Elaine (1 Dec 2015), "Sensory-processing sensitivity moderates the association between childhood experiences and adult life satisfaction" (PDF), Personality and Individual Differences 87: 24–29, doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.07.020, archived from the original on May 20, 2016 
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Boterberg, Sofie; Warreyn, Petra (2016), "Making sense of it all: The impact of sensory processing sensitivity on daily functioning of children", Personality and Individual Differences 92: 80–86, doi:10.1016/j.paid.2015.12.022, archived from the original on May 23, 2016 
  3. ^ a b c Aron, E.N. (2006). "The Clinical Implications of Jung's Concept of Sensitiveness". Journal of Jungian Theory and Practice 8: 11–43. Archived from the original (PDF) on January 17, 2016.  Discussion re nervous system is, inter alia, in "Prelude to Research" at p. 14.
  4. ^ a b c Liss, Miriam; Mailloux, Jennifer; Erchull, Mindy J. (2008), "The relationships between sensory processing sensitivity, alexithymia, autism, depression, and anxiety" (PDF), Personality and Individual Differences 45 (3): 255=259, doi:10.1016/j.paid.2008.04.009, archived (PDF) from the original on May 23, 2016 
  5. ^ Elaine N. Aron. The Highly Sensitive Person. Broadway Books. 1996. ISBN 9780553062182
  6. ^ Madrigal, Alix, "She Writes About a Touchy Subject / Book aims to help sensitive people (WebCite archive), San Francisco Chronicle, July 28, 1997.
  7. ^ a b c d Aron, Elaine; Aron, Arthur (1997). "Sensory-Processing Sensitivity and its Relation to Introversion and Emotionality" (PDF). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 73 (2): 345–368. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.73.2.345. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 13, 2015. 
  8. ^ Chen, Xinyin; Rubin, Kenneth H.; Sun, Yuerong (1992). "Social Reputation and Peer Relationships in Chinese and Canadian Children: A Cross-cultural Study" (PDF). Child Development 63: 1336–1343. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.1992.tb01698.x. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 4, 2016. 
  9. ^ a b c Aron, E.; Aron, A.; Jagiellowicz, J. (2012). "Sensory processing sensitivity: A review in the light of the evolution of biological responsivity" (PDF). Personality and Social Psychology Review 16 (3): 262–282. doi:10.1177/1088868311434213. Archived (PDF) from the original on May 13, 2015. 
  10. ^ a b c Aron, E. N.; Aron, A.; Davies, K. (2005). "Adult shyness: The interaction of temperamental sensitivity and an adverse childhood environment" (PDF). Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 31: 181–197. doi:10.1177/0146167204271419. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 15, 2014. 
  11. ^ a b c d Acevedo, Bianca P.; Aron, Elaine N.; Aron, Arthur; Sangster, Matthew-Donald; Collins, Nancy; Brown, Lucy L. (2014). "The highly sensitive brain: an fMRI study of sensory processing sensitivity and response to others’ emotions". Brain and Behavior 4 (4): 580–594. doi:10.1002/brb3.242. Archived from the original on June 23, 2014. 
  12. ^ a b Pluess, Michael; Belsky, Jay (2013). "Vantage Sensitivity: Individual Differences in Response to Positive Experiences" (PDF). Psychological Bulletin 139 (4): 901–916. doi:10.1037/a0030196. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 26, 2016. 
  13. ^ Belsky, J.; Jonassaint, C; Pluess, M; Stanton, M; Brummett, B; Williams, R (2009). "Vulnerability genes or plasticity genes?" (PDF). Molecular Psychiatry 14: 746–754. doi:10.1038/mp.2009.44. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 6, 2012. 
  14. ^ a b Bernstein, Elizabeth (May 18, 2015). "Do You Cry Easily? You May Be a ‘Highly Sensitive Person’". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on June 1, 2015. 
  15. ^ Lally, Maria (October 12, 2015). "Highly sensitive people: a condition rarely understood". The Telegraph (U.K.). Archived from the original on October 18, 2015. 
  16. ^ Evans, David E.; Rothbart, Mary K. (January 2008). "Temperamental sensitivity: Two constructs or one?" (PDF). Personality and Individual Differences 44 (1): 108–118. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2007.07.016. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 7, 2016.  Negative affectand orienting sensitivity.
  17. ^ Boterberg et al. (2016): overreaction to stimuli (OS) and depth of processing (DP).
  18. ^ Smolewska et al. (2006): Aesthetic Sensitivity (AES, having greater awareness of beauty), Low Sensory Threshold (LST, easily unpleasantly aroused by external stimuli), and Ease of Excitation (EOE, easily overwhelmed by stimuli); results showing the (unidimensional) HSP Scale was "a valid and reliable measure of the construct of SPS"). Liss et al. (2008).
  19. ^ Per Boterberg et al. (2016), a "theoretical redefinition" by E. Aron, Psychotherapy and the Highly Sensitive Person (2010): "DOES" acronym: Depth of processing, Overstimulation, Emotional intensity, Sensory sensitivity.
  20. ^ a b Belsky, Jay; Pluess, Michael (2009). "Beyond Diathesis Stress: Differential Susceptibility to Environmental Influences" (PDF). Psychological Bulletin 135 (6): 885–908. doi:10.1037/a0017376. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 7, 2010. 
  21. ^ Smolewska, Kathy A.; McCabe, Scott B.; Woody, Erik Z. (2006). "A psychometric evaluation of the Highly Sensitive Person Scale: The components of sensory-processing sensitivity and their relation to the BIS/BAS and "Big Five"". Personality and Individual Differences 40 (6): 1269–1279. doi:10.1016/j.paid.2005.09.022. 
  22. ^ a b c Wolf, Max; Van Doorn, G. Sander; Weissing, Franz J. (2008). "Evolutionary emergence of responsive and unresponsive personalities" (PDF). PNAS 105 (41): 15825–15830. doi:10.1073/pnas.0805473105. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 7, 2016. 
  23. ^ Paraphrasing Aron and citing Wolf:
    • From "Adult shyness: ..." (2005): weak nervous system (Pavlov), low screening (Mehrabian), augmenting (of stimulation; Petrie), reducing (of evoked potential; Buchsbaum, Haier, & Johnson), reactivity (Strelau), avoidance temperament (Elliot & Thrash), and nondisinhibition or reflectivity (Patterson & Newman), and what child temperament researchers have described as inhibitedness (Kagan), infant (or innate) shyness (Cheek & Buss; Daniels & Plomin), reactivity (Rothbart; Strelau), and threshold of responsiveness (Thomas & Chess).
    • From "The Clinical Implications of Jung's Concept of Sensitiveness" (2006): innate sensitiveness (Jung),
    • From "Adult shyness: ..." (2005): arousal focus (Feldman), and the physiological differences underlying introversion and extroversion (Eysenck; Stelmack; Stelmack & Geen).
    • From Wolf et al. (2008): coping style, reactivity, flexibility, plasticity, and differential susceptibility.
  24. ^ a b Paraphrasing Aron:
    • From "'The Power of (Shyness)' and High Sensitivity..." (2012): (re introversion) 30% of HSPs are social extroverts.
    • From "Adult shyness: ..." (2005): SPS doesn't inherently possess shyness' fear of negative social evaluations.
    • From p. 2 of "The HSP in love" (<=2007): an HSP who is also a High Sensation Seeker will find ways to have novel experiences without taking ill-considered risks.
    • From "... A Review... " (2012): SPS is "unrelated to Sensory Processing Disorder"
    • From "The Clinical Implications of Jung's Concept of Sensitiveness" (2006): (re autism) HSPs are very aware of social and emotional cues and relate well socially once familiarity is achieved.
  25. ^ Aron, Elaine N. (February 2, 2012). "Time Magazine: 'The Power of (Shyness)' and High Sensitivity". Psychology Today. Archived from the original on March 13, 2016. 
  26. ^ On or before September 27, 2007. "The Highly Sensitive Person In Love with Elaine Aron". WebMD Live Events Transcript. p. 2. Archived from the original on October 7, 2012. 
  27. ^ Aron, Elaine N. (2012), "Author’s Note, 2012, for The Highly Sensitive Person" (PDF), hsperson.com, archived (PDF) from the original on August 17, 2014  (N>2000)
  28. ^ Borries, Franziska; Ostendorf, Fritz (2012). "Sensory-Processing Sensitivity – Dimensional or Categorical Variable? A Taxometric Investigation" (PDF). University of Bielefeld (Germany).  (Archive of January 24, 2016.) (N=898)
  29. ^ a b Jagiellowicz, J.; Xu, X.; Aron, A.; Aron, E.; Cao, G.; Feng, T.; Weng, X. (2011). "Sensory processing sensitivity and neural responses to changes in visual scenes" (PDF). Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) 6: 38–47. doi:10.1093/scan/nsq001. Archived (PDF) from the original on July 12, 2013. 
  30. ^ Wilson, DS; Clark, AB; Coleman, K; Dearstyne, T (1994). "Shyness and boldness in humans and other animals". Trends in Ecology & Evolution 9 (11): 442–446. doi:10.1016/0169-5347(94)90134-1. Archived from the original on February 7, 2016. 
  31. ^ See especially "Discussion" re shy-bold continuum in Hedrick AV (2000). "Crickets with extravagant mating songs compensate for predation risk with extra caution" (PDF). Proc. Biol. Sci. 267 (1444): 671–675. doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1054. PMC 1690585. PMID 10821611. 
  32. ^ Aron, A.; Ketay, S.; Hedden, T.; Aron, E.; Markus, H. R.; Gabrieli, J. D. E. (2010). "Temperament trait of sensory processing sensitivity moderates cultural differences in neural response, Special Issue on Cultural Neuroscience" (PDF). Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (SCAN) 5 (2-3): 219–226. doi:10.1093/scan/nsq028. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 23, 2013. 
  33. ^ Licht, Cecile L.; Mortensen, Erik L.; Knudsen, Gitte M. (2011). "Association between Sensory Processing Sensitivity and the 5-HTTLPR Short/Short Genotype" (PDF). Center for integrated molecular brain imaging. Archived (PDF) from the original on June 6, 2012.  ● Licht, C., Mortensen, E. L., & Knudsen, G. M. (2011). "Association between sensory processing sensitivity and the serotonin transporter polymorphism 5-HTTLPR short/short genotype." Biological Psychiatry, 69, supplement for Society of Biological Psychiatry Convention and Annual Meeting, abstract 510.
  34. ^ Chen, C.; Chen, C.; Moyzis, R.; Stern, H.; He, Q.; Li, H.; Dong, Q. (2011). "Contributions of dopamine-related genes and environmental factors to Highly Sensitive Personality: A multi-step neuronal system-level approach". PLoS ONE 6: e21636. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0021636. Archived from the original on February 4, 2016. 
  35. ^ Todd, R. M.; Ehlers, M. R.; Muller, D. J.; Robertson, A.; Palombo, D. J.; Freeman, N.; Levine, B.; Anderson, A. K. (2015). "Neurogenetic Variations in Norepinephrine Availability Enhance Perceptual Vividness" (PDF). The Journal of Neuroscience 35 (16): 6506–6516. doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.4489-14.2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 15, 2016.  ● Explained in layman's terms by Castillo, Stephanie (May 8, 2015). "The Highly Sensitive Person: Emotional Sensitivity May Stem From A Person's Genes, Enhancing The Way They See The World". Medical Daily (IBT Media). Archived from the original on May 11, 2015. 

External links[edit]

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