Marvin Zuckerman’s theory of personality is known above all because he introduced the factor called “Sensation seeking”, which has had a great influence in the field of personality psychology.

Beyond the relevance of the Sensation Seeking dimension , the model itself is an interesting alternative to the Big Five, the predominant theory, because it is based on the biological personality factors described by Hans Eysenck.

Life and Works of Marvin Zuckerman

Marvin Zuckerman was born in Chicago in 1928. After receiving his doctorate in Clinical Psychology at New York University, he conducted research on anxiety through personality analysis, mainly by means of psychological tests.

During his studies on sensory deprivation at the University of Delaware, where he worked for over 20 years, Zuckerman detected that some subjects tolerated the experimental situation very well, while others showed very negative reactions to the lack of environmental stimulation.

From these results, Zuckerman began to hypothesize about the existence of a basic personality factor related to the search for sensations , which would depend on the optimal level of activation of each individual. Thus, people who need a lot of stimulation to feel comfortable will have a greater tendency to seek sensations.

Zuckerman retired in 2002. He is now 79 years old and still writing articles and book chapters. He also continues to constantly review and expand his personality theories.

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An alternative theory to the Big Five

Zuckerman’s personality theory emerged as an alternative to the Big Five Personality Factor model , also known as the “Big Five” and “Ocean”, which was originally developed by McCrae and Costa. This author’s main criticism of the Big Five is the presence of cultural factors, in particular the Openness to Experience dimension.

In contrast, Zuckerman’s theory focuses on the biological dimensions of personality . In this sense, the influence of Hans Eysenck’s PEN model, which defines three main personality factors with a clear biological basis, is very notable: Psychoticism, Extraversion and Neuroticism.

Zuckerman and his collaborators developed this theory by using several psychobiological tests, including the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) and Zuckerman’s own Sensation Search Scale, and by subjecting the results to a factorial analysis in order to identify the dimensions of higher order personality.

The 5 personality factors

The work of Zuckerman’s team concluded with the detection of a variable number of personality factors, between 3 and 7. They decided that the 5-dimensional grouping was the most balanced in terms of specificity and parsimony.

The Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personality Questionnaire is used to measure these traits.

1. Impulsivity-Sensation seeking

The search for sensation includes the need to experience new emotions and situations, as well as the tendency to take risks in different areas of life. Eysenck’s impulsivity and psychotic factor would also be included in this dimension, which has been related to alterations in the levels of testosterone, dopamine and serotonin.

2. Sociability

The Sociability factor is very similar to the Extraversion of the Eysenck model and the Big Five . The items in Zuckerman’s questionnaire that weigh in this dimension measure aspects such as the liking of interaction in large groups of people or the dislike of solitude.

3. Neuroticism-Anxiety

Zuckerman’s neuroticism is equivalent to that described by Eysenck, which relates to the activity of the sympathetic nervous system and the fight or flight reactions that are triggered by stress. Neurotic people commonly experience feelings of fear, obsessive rumination, indecision, or sensitivity to criticism.

4. Aggression-Hostility

This factor is associated with anger, aggressiveness, impatience, rudeness and antisocial behaviour . It correlates inversely with the Agreeability dimension of the model of the five major personality factors.

5. Activity

People with high Activity scores feel restless when they have nothing to do, have a lot of energy and tend to be persistent. In addition they often prefer to do activities that are challenging or require a high level of effort.

In Eysenck’s model this factor is included in the Extraversion, which depends on the level of brain (or arousal) alertness. According to Eysenck extroverted people have chronically low levels of activation , so they need a greater degree of environmental stimulation than introverted people to feel good.

Validity of the Zuckerman model

It is generally considered that personality models composed of five independent factors, which are common, are quite useful for exploring personality , since they encompass a good number of different facets without exceeding the amount of information.

However, Zuckerman’s model includes overlapping factors , according to some reviews. This fact is especially marked in the Activity and Extraversion dimensions; however, the authors defend the separation between the two factors in order to account for sociability and activity level separately.

In any case, the work of Zuckerman’s team has been replicated in different populations and has shown its ability to predict facets such as the search for novelty, psychopathy, dependence on reward, self-direction, avoidance of harm, or cooperation.

On the other hand, factor analyses have clearly revealed the existence of the Openness to Experience factor, the absence of which is the key difference in Zuckerman’s proposal compared to the Big Five. In this model it would be diluted in the rest of factors, especially Sensation Search.