Short Wave - This July 4th, are you a thrill- or chill-seeker?

Episode Date: July 3, 2026

Independence Day is approaching!Imagine if someone has procured illegal fireworks from a couple of states over. Are you:1. first in line to light them?2. content to watch while others set them off?3. going to find a fire extinguisher — just in case — while loudly condemning the activity?Ken Carter, a psychologist at Oxford College of Emory University, says everyone has a different level of sensation-seeking. This episode, we get into the factors at play, like people's brain chemistry, when deciding whether or not to do an activity, like setting off fireworks.For low and average sensation-seekers, very thrilling activities like large, self-run fireworks displays can cause their bodies to produce a lot of cortisol, a stress hormone.On the other hand, high sensation-seekers, Carter says, "don't tend to produce that much cortisol when they're in those highly chaotic experiences. So when they're seeing those fireworks, they actually produce higher amounts of another chemical called dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter or a chemical messenger that's involved in pleasure."Carter has developed a 40-point self-assessment survey for people to figure out how much of a sensation-seeker they are. The survey can be found in his book, Buzz!Interested in more psychology episodes? Email us your question at [e-mail] public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. It includes perks like bonus episodes, early access, archive access, curated playlists and sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. As a kid on the 4th of July, Ken Carter's family would always get together, have a picnic, and light fireworks. His brother loved that part. Ken, not so much. I remember sort of thinking about, like, what I would do if something went wrong. Like, where the emergency room was going to be, hoping I wasn't going to blow my hand up, that kind of stuff. I was a very cautious kid. Ken is a clinical psychologist at Oxford College of Emory University,

where he studies sensation seekers, people who may enjoy risk, thrill, or a new sensation. The types who, on the 4th of July... Have probably driven across state lines to buy fireworks that might not be legal in your current state, looking for the largest explosions, the most beautiful colors, and have invited the neighborhood people over to their hands. house to witness that. Ken, by comparison, is a self-described chill-seeker, the types of people who are looking at the fireworks, wondering whether or not those are legal in this state and being prepared. The kind of people who might bring something to put out the fire.

Most people, Ken says, are probably in the middle. Who are going to enjoy it, but may be nervous every now and then. And this spectrum of personality on display as fireworks burst overhead, has always intrigued him. I've always been amazed how two people can have the same experience, but kind of have a different emotional reaction from it. As a psychologist, Ken uses a 40-point scale to measure someone's sensation-seeking behavior. And he has met people who score 38, even 40.

I'm actually at an 8 out of 40. Oh, that's quite low. That is quite low. So today on the show, the psychology and brain chemistry of why some people like to light illegal Roman candles on the 4th of July, while others watch from a distance with a fire extinguisher in hand. Plus, how I score on Ken's sensation-seeking survey. I'm Emily Kwong, and you're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR. All right, Ken, can let us dig deeper into the brain chemistry of what makes some people want to seek out bottle rockets and others keep a far distance from fireworks?

What decides this? Yeah, there are lots of things that really are part of this. And the thing I like to focus on a lot are two chemicals that we have in our body. One is called cortisol. It's a stress hormone. It really helps organize your body systems to handle that fight, flee, or freeze response. And so we know that when these highly chaotic things are happening, that for average and low sensation seekers, it produces a lot of cortisol in their body.

And they're trying to react to that cortisol. High sensation seekers, on the other hand, don't tend to produce that much cortisol when they're in those highly chaotic experiences. So when they're seeing those fireworks, they actually produce higher amounts of another chemical called dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter or chemical messenger that's involved in pleasure. So when these high sensation seekers are seeing these fireworks that are illegal from five states away and they're blowing up, their experience is going to love. lot of pleasure, but not that much stress. And that's why two people can have the same experience, but really their bodies are reacting in a very different way. What decides that, the difference among people? Yeah, there's some genetics involved in it, for sure. The environment plays a piece as well. There's some evidence that high sensation seekers had some sort of unpredictable

chaotic experiences in general when they were younger, but a lot of it tends to be. But a lot of it tends to be genetic is really what's what that's why you see a lot of thrill seekers that can sort of run in families. Oh, that's really interesting. What about experiences that happen in adulthood? I'm thinking about people for whom maybe they didn't have an issue with fireworks before, but then perhaps they were deployed or survived a war and fireworks for them are now a trauma reminder. Yeah. And so that's something a little bit different. So what I study is sensation seeking as a personality trait, which can change a little bit over time. But there are, are some things that might cause people to be, to sort of seek that chaos a little bit later,

which might include some trauma kinds of experiences. And so what I look at is whether or not this is the kind of thing that's sort of always been like this, or did something happen that sort of may have pivoted them towards sort of seeking chaotic experiences. We also know that a lot of those high sensation seekers are create, like they pick careers where there's going to be a lot of chaos and there's going to be a good amount of high sensation seeking involved in that, whether it's firefighters or first responders or military, a lot of high sensation seekers are drawn to those careers because of their superpower of being able to be calm in those chaotic experiences. Okay. So just to clarify, thrill seeking as a personality trait is not

you are or you aren't. It's more of a spectrum. Yeah. So the original researcher that really looked at this was someone named Zuckerman, and I've done some modifications to his brief sensation-seeking survey, and there's four different pieces to it. So you actually might be a sensation-seeker, but not realize it, because you may actually score high in one level, but a little bit lower in another level. What are the four categories you're looking at in the survey?

Yeah. So the four categories, number one, is called thrill and adventure-seeking, like driving fast or dangerous kinds of things, that are really involved sort of body sensations. Another category is called experience seeking. This is sort of sensations of the mind and of the senses. These are people who like adventure travel or eating strange foods, for example.

The first two tell me the kinds of things you might choose. The last two components tell me how much trouble you might get yourself into by trying to seek those things. One's called disinhibition. This is your ability to sort of look before you leap, Those that score low, always sort of look and sort of do things carefully. Those that score high, just do stuff and figure out the consequences later. The last one's called boredom susceptibility.

This has to do with how quickly you get bored and how irritated you get when you get bored. Yeah. So you wrote an entire book about thrill-seeking called Buzz Inside the Minds of Thrill Seekers, Daredevels, and Adrenaline Junkies. You have the survey in there. Yes. The whole team took it on Shorewave. You scored an eight. I did.

I'm very proud of those eight points too. I mean, I earned every one. Yeah. My score was 32. And I can tell you that I'm laid up in bed right now with a thrown out back because I decided to go sprinting in 90 degree heat on Wednesday. And when I was out there, I was like, this is fun. And then later I came inside and I was like, was that a good idea? And then my back hurt the following day.

And then I was like, that's probably fine. No stress response occurred. And my husband was like, you need to lie down. Like you have injured yourself. So that's why I am recording this from my bed because, yeah, I really wasn't stressed, even though other people would have been very stressed in that situation. Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. A lot of high sensation seekers will say that we'll actually bounce.

back quicker when they do have an injury and they're ready to do it again. Yeah. There's a guy that actually, there are many high sensation seekers are actually underrepresented in emergency room situations because they can actually avoid getting injured. But when they do get injured, they bounce back relatively quickly. And you said you've met people who are 40. Oh yes. I've met 38's 40s. 32 still pretty high. Yeah. But a lot of people will have what I call anchors in their life who are people who will pull them back from doing things that are too dangerous. They could be family, friends, kids, or even certain jobs where you think about whether or not you might get injured, you might get injured, and that sort of keeps them anchored a little bit more.

Yeah, yeah, very important. The balance seems very important of anchors and people who are, let's have a little adventure. Yeah, I think so too. To me, we need high sensation seekers. we need these thrill seekers out there. These are the people that keep us protected. These are the people who sort of push the boundaries. They eat foods that, you know, they were going to taste them for the very first time and took a big bite out of them.

And they end up having these really amazing experiences. And I think there are things we can all learn from these high sensations. Like even if you're not one, you can learn some really great things from them. Like how, you know, I used to be a person who wouldn't try new foods. But now I know, like, you know,

the worst thing that can happen is that you don't like it. Or if you have an allergic reaction, grab that epipen. Yes, yes, yes. Be careful. But being disgusted isn't the worst thing. Yeah. Going back to the science, aside from kind of self-reported survey results, how else do psychologists like yourself study such a personality trait?

There was a study done in the Netherlands where they looked at how high sensation-seeking might impact how a person drives. They actually had people who were following a pace card. in front of them. And they were hooked up to some physiological devices to measure their heart rate and their stress response. And also the distance they followed the car in front of them. And the low sensation seekers, as you can imagine, follow that car kind of far back and

were pretty stressed out when they were doing it. The high sensation seekers followed really closely behind, and their stress response was relatively low. So this is why, if you're in a car with a high sensation seeker, who's changing lanes and moving through traffic and you're wondering and you're really stressed out if you're a low sensation seeker, it's important to remember that they're not really stressed at all. And that if your friend that's in the driver is in the companionscy says they're stressed, they might be.

That's good advice. Listen to your friends while driving. Okay, well, Ken, since your book came out in 2019, have you learned anything new about sensation seeking? Yeah. I think what I've been focusing on a lot since the book is how those people who aren't high sensation seekers, what we can learn from this high sensation seekers. We think about these high sensation seekers really being adrenaline junkies, but they're kind of not. And one of the things they've told me is that adrenaline is a really bad drug. Will Gadd was the very first person to climb up Niagara Falls when it was frozen. And he's told me that adrenaline, adrenaline, is a terrible drug. If he was just after adrenaline, he would just run back and forth in traffic. But he told me the reason why he's doing it is for the experience, like what it's going to feel like to do it. And you need to be able to focus really well.

And so the fact that he has lower levels of cortisol, because he's a high sensation seeker, lets him to be able to focus and do that really well. And there's some evidence that that emotional regulation that you garner to be able to do those complicated things can last even after the event. A lot of high sensation seekers I talk to say they'll do things like, you know, wingsuit flying or bungee jumping, and it gives them clarity. And they'll do that before they make a big decision. And that clear sense of mind can last for weeks after those events.

So as you prepare for Fourth of July, what advice do you have for folks who perhaps are not so into fireworks? What do you think people should do? I always tell people to lean into your awe. Find the thing that feels awesome for you and do that unapologetically, as long as it's, you know, safe and it's not going to hurt anybody. That is Ken Carter, a clinical psychologist at Emory University. Thank you so much for coming on the show. Thanks for having me.

Have a safe, happy holiday, shorewavers, whatever you decide to do. This episode was produced by Burley McCoy. It was edited and fact-checked by our show. runner Rebecca Ramirez, the audio engineer was Robert Rodriguez. Beth Donovan is our senior director and Colin Campbell is our senior vice president of podcasting strategy. I'm Emily Kwong. Thank you for listening to Shortwave from NPR.