This book is concerned with a trait that describes variations in the need for novel and intense stimulation and its expression in risky kinds of behaviour.

1. Theory through 1979; 2. Test development; 3. Sensation seeking in relation to other dimensions of personality; 4. Demographic data; 5. Risk taking; 6. Sports and vocations; 7. Social, sexual, and marital relationships; 8. Vicarious experience: art, media, music, fantasy, and humour; 9. Smoking, drinking, drugs, and eating; 10. Psychopathology and stress; 11. Biological bases; 12. Psychophysiology; 13. Information processing, cognitive styles, intelligence and creativity; 14. New theoretical models; References.