A Further Correlate of Sensation Seeking: Achieving Tendency

Abstract

Zuckerman's Sensation-seeking Scale and the Mehrabian Achieving-tendency Scale were administered to two independent samples of male ( ns = 40, 73) and female ( ns = 37, 71) college students. In the initial study correlations between sensation-seeking subscales and achievement motivation were, with one exception, positive, confirming the expectation that the individual who prefers more novel, intense, complex, and changing levels of stimulation tends also to be a high achiever. A significant negative relationship was found between a “swinger” type of sensation seeking and the achieving tendency measure for male subjects. A second study replicated the major finding of a moderate, positive relation between sensation seeking and achievement striving.