Research Survey on Creativity, Sensitivity & Sensation Seeking (15-20 min)
Can you believe it’s been 10 years since Thrill: The High Sensation Seeking Highly Sensitive Person was released? Times have changed and now it’s time to focus on conducting research from a different perspective for the second edition of Thrill!
About the survey:
This anonymous survey explores how creativity manifests across different life areas—including childhood experiences, career, relationships, self-care practices, risk-taking, and personal transformation.
If you’ve ever felt:
→ Deeply moved by beauty, art, or music
→ Driven to seek new and intense experiences
→ That your creative energy is central to who you are
→ The tension between needing novelty AND needing quiet processing time
…this survey is for you.
Time commitment: 15-20 minutes
Eligibility: Adults 18+ who are HSS/HSPs and engage with creativity in any form
Compensation: None, but you’ll be contributing to research designed to help people like us understand our unique wiring
Anonymity: Fully anonymous. No identifying information collected.
SURVEY LINK: https://forms.gle/1cZDxar3D9wwWNYWA
Closing date: Dec. 31st 2025
Thank you for participating. Please share with other HSS/HSPs!
Uncategorized
new survey for hss/hsps!
Are you the person who says yes to the road trip—then researches every stop along the way?
The one who craves new experiences but thinks them through first. Who gets genuinely excited by ideas, places, and possibilities—but processes them deeply.
Science calls this being an HSP/HSS: a highly sensitive high sensation seeker. It’s not a contradiction. It’s a calibrated approach to life.
We’re studying this trait combination, and we need your perspective.
🔗 Survey Link: https://forms.gle/1cZDxar3D9wwWNYWA
Curious? Good. That’s exactly why we need you.
Calling Creative HSS/HSP Souls: Research Participation Invitation
Calling Creative HSS/HSP Souls: Research Participation Invitation
Creative HSS/HSP adults: Your voice matters! Help shape the second edition of “Thrill: The High Sensation Seeking Highly Sensitive Person” by participating in an anonymous survey exploring creativity in everyday life.
Who Should Participate
Adults (18+) who identify as High Sensation Seeking and Highly Sensitive, and engage with creativity in any form. Professionals and non-professionals alike are welcome—if creativity in all its’ manifestations is meaningful in your life, your insights are invaluable.
Survey Details
Takes 15–20 minutes
Anonymous and online
Covers creativity across childhood, work, relationships, self-care, and meaning-making
Why Join?
Your responses will directly inform a book designed to support creative HSS/HSP individuals in understanding their unique temperaments and cultivating sustainable, fulfilling creative lives.
Ready to Contribute?
Take the survey: https://forms.gle/1cZDxar3D9wwWNYWA
Survey closes: Dec. 31, 2025.
Questions? Feel free to comment below or message me directly.
Thank you for helping bring this research to life!
Please share with other HSS/HSPs!!
The Sensation-Seeking Highly Sensitive Person: Thriving in the Chaos with dr. tracy cooper!
Millions of people navigate both high sensitivity and sensation seeking daily, but professional training resources remain scarce.
Half of all highly sensitive people also score high in sensation seeking. They need recovery time after social events while simultaneously craving novel experiences. They process deeply but get bored easily.
Standard personality assessments don’t account for this combination. Most assume sensitivity means preferring low-stimulation environments. The research shows otherwise.
The Sensation-Seeking HSP: Thriving in the Chaos course starts September 1st—one week from today.
This seven-week professional course equips therapists, counselors, coaches, and educators with tools to better serve HSS/HSP clients. You’ll master the Cooper HSS-HSP Conflict Matrix©, understand the neuroscience behind these dual traits, and develop practical strategies using both Western and Eastern approaches.
Weekly one-hour live sessions combine with self-paced learning modules. For helping professionals who are HSS/HSP themselves, this training offers both specialized skills and personal insights into sustainable practice.
Enrollment is limited to ensure quality interaction and peer learning.
Don’t wait, this combination of traits is present in millions of people, but this course is one of a kind and led by Dr. Tracy Cooper!
Please share with anyone in a helping profession or who is interested in learning deeply about HSS/HSPs!
Click this link to register!
The Sensation-Seeking Highly Sensitive Person: Thriving in the Chaos
Published research confirms what many of us suspected: up to 50% of highly sensitive people are also high sensation seekers!
Dr. Elaine Aron’s original HSP research identified both sensitivity and sensation seeking as potentially co-occurring but the majority of efforts since have focused on sensitivity alone. That gap left millions of people without adequate resources.
Current findings show HSS/HSPs face specific challenges:
• Higher rates of under stimulation despite needing recovery time
• More complex relationship patterns
• Increased difficulty with traditional stress management approaches
The Cooper HSS-HSP Conflict Matrix© emerged from ten+ years of data collection with this population. Participants report significant improvements in self-understanding after completing the assessment.
Traditional approaches recommend either stimulation reduction OR engagement increases. For HSS/HSPs, effective strategies require addressing both systems concurrently.
The ‘Thriving in the Chaos’ course applies these research findings to practical scenarios participants encounter weekly.
Early data shows promising outcomes for those who complete the full program versus those using generic HSP resources.
Join the first cohort of this new course focusing entirely on HSS/HSPs! Especially good for helping professionals but suitable for anyone interested in learning more about this dynamic population.
Course begins Sept. 1st!
Please share!
The Sensation-Seeking HSP: Thriving in the Chaos – 7 week online course!
Ten+ years into my HSS/HSP research, I still get messages from people saying ‘Finally, someone gets it.’
Half of all highly sensitive people also score high in sensation seeking. They need recovery time after social events while simultaneously craving novel experiences. They process deeply but get bored easily.
Standard personality assessments don’t account for this combination. Most assume sensitivity means preferring low-stimulation environments. The research shows otherwise.
The Sensation-Seeking HSP: Thriving in the Chaos addresses this gap through a seven-week professional course for therapists, counselors, coaches, educators, or anyone in a helping profession.
You’ll learn to identify HSS/HSP clients in your practice, use the Cooper HSS-HSP Conflict Matrix© for more accurate assessments, and apply both Western and Eastern approaches to support clients navigating these dual traits.
The format includes weekly one-hour live sessions plus self-paced modules covering neuroscience, developmental work, practical strategies, and reflection-based interactions with Dr. Cooper and fellow participants.
For helping professionals who are HSS/HSP themselves, this professional education provides both core development in an underserved area and personal insight into sustainable practice methods.
Course begins Sept. 1st 2026!!
Click here to register!
Sensitive Men Rising is HERE! 🌟
Our labor of love – Sensitive Men Rising – is finally available for all to view for free!! Donations are highly encouraged to support the work of the Foundation for the Study of Highly Sensitive Persons and recoup the costs of creating this timeless film for the world.
Will Harper, myself, and all of the production team would like to express our thanks for all of your kind support since we started this project in 2019!! We know that SMR will now be out in the world communicating a very different message about what men can be and what the world needs from us – to be whole human beings FREE to live in our fullness, to love from our hearts, and to realize our potential to lead, inspire, and lift each other up!!
Sensitive Men Rising is our gift to you!
Message from SMR director Will Harper:
For too long, sensitive men have been told to toughen up, to stay quiet, to disappear into the background. But in Sensitive Men Rising, they rise—with science, with soul, and with unapologetic truth.
Three compelling episodes
Grounded in research, story, and heart
Offered freely to the global community
Are we finally ready to hear what sensitive men have to say?
Episode 1: The Call to Rise
How does sensitivity redefine strength in men—and why does it matter now more than ever?
Hosted by acclaimed narrator and HSP advocate Peter Coyote, this powerful opening episode sets the stage for a new conversation about masculinity, sensitivity, and transformation. With deeply personal insights from Alanis Morissette, a mother raising two highly sensitive sons, we witness how this often-misunderstood trait touches every part of life—from parenting to purpose.
Through science-backed commentary, poetic storytelling, and raw reflections from everyday men, scholars, therapists, and teachers, Sensitive Men Rising begins its journey. Together, they ask the questions that matter:
Can sensitive men lead? Can they thrive?
And more importantly—can we finally hear them?
This is the moment sensitivity rises from the shadows.
It’s not weakness. It’s awareness. It’s compassion.
And it may just be the antidote our chaotic world is searching for.
Episode 2: The Science of Sensitivity
What if sensitivity in boys and men wasn’t a weakness… but a hardwired gift?
In this revelatory second episode, we step into the heart of the science. Dr. Elaine Aron, pioneer of the Sensory Processing Sensitivity trait, joins fellow researchers to explore what makes sensitive boys and men biologically distinct—and emotionally powerful.
The episode features Dr. Scott Barry Kaufman, the world’s most celebrated psychology podcaster and a return guest on The Oprah Winfrey Show. A leading voice on self-actualization, Scott shares how his own sensitivity made him a deep processor of thought, feeling, and meaning—a trait he now champions as essential to growth, creativity, and human connection.
We also meet the young highly sensitive prodigy, Soborno Isaac Bari who expounds on empathy and social responsibility, along with mothers, teachers, therapist, and sensitive men whose short, moving stories reveal what it’s really like to grow up with a highly attuned nervous system in a noisy, demanding world.
And in a closing moment that’s both vulnerable and powerful, Alanis Morissette opens up about the challenges of raising sensitive boys—and the resilience it takes to protect their emotional truth.
Episode 3: The Future of Sensitivity
What happens when sensitive men are no longer silenced—but step forward to lead?
The final episode of Sensitive Men Rising weaves everything together—science, soul, and social responsibility—to reveal a new model of leadership grounded in emotional intelligence, perceptiveness, and care.
From boardrooms to classrooms, the film explores how sensitivity may be the most overlooked asset in business, education, and global culture. With insights from Dr. Tracy Cooper, Ph.D., experts in psychology and leadership discuss why highly sensitive men may be especially suited to guide the next generation—not in spite of their deep awareness, but because of it.
As the world searches for more mindful leaders, better fathers, and emotionally present men, this episode asks a final, urgent question:
What kind of world could we build… if we finally made space for the sensitive ones?
Let love Rule,
Will
Links to view each episode!!
Episode #1 https://vimeo.com/973949385
Episode #2 https://vimeo.com/974093290
Episode #3 https://vimeo.com/1033358744
Please share to all of the highly sensitive men and women in your life!!
the 2025 High Sensation Seeking Highly Sensitive Person’s Workshop!
Growing Forward: Resilience as a Pathway to Growth and Flourishing
Join me Nov. 1st for Growing Forward for High Sensation Seeking Highly Sensitive People! What does it mean to “grow forward” and what can we learn about developing resilience as a necessary capacity that helps us navigate our dual traits?
Why Attend?
Learn how to embrace your unique blend of high sensation seeking and high sensitivity—and thrive in a world that doesn’t always understand you. This year, our focus is on resilience: not just as a trait, but as a skill you can cultivate to navigate adversity and unlock your full potential.
Discover how your adventurous spirit can be a source of strength and growth. Explore questions like:
What do our adventures teach us about ourselves?
Is it just about the thrill, or do we gain deeper self-understanding by pushing our limits?
Where does your next zone of growth lie?
With special co-hosts this year Annet van Duinen and Randy Grasser of The Living Adventurers this online Zoom workshop is a must-attend for all HSS/HSPs (Wild Sensitives) looking for community, skill-building, and expert advice and guidance.
Please share!!
The Sensation-Seeking Highly Sensitive Person: Thriving in the Chaos
A 7-Week Online Professional course designed to increase awareness of the 50% of HSPs who are also high in sensation seeking.
| Are you, or someone you work with, a Highly Sensitive Person and a Sensation Seeker? If so, you’re not alone – and you’re not a contradiction. In fact, 50% of Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) are also high in Sensation Seeking (HSS) – a unique combination that can be as challenging as it is exhilarating. Join Dr. Tracy Cooper, international consultant, author, and professor, for a 7-week online professional course beginning September 1st, 2025 and explore how to thrive, not just survive, with these dynamic traits. The Sensation-Seeking Highly Sensitive Person: Thriving in the Chaos Starts: September 1, 2025 with Live webinars every Thursday | 2-3 pm CST / 8-9pm BST A one-of-a-kind course tailored for personal and professional development. Whether you support HSP/HSS individuals or are one yourself, this course blends science, lived experience, and practical application to help you thrive in an often overwhelming world. What You’ll Learn: Understand the conflict between deep sensitivity and thrill-seeking Explore cutting-edge neuroscience behind HSP/HSS traits Learn practical strategies to manage overstimulation and understimulation Navigate relationships, career choices, and identity challenges Build sustainable self-care routines and a long-term thriving mindset Apply the Cooper HSS-HSP Conflict Matrix© to real-life scenarios Meet Your Instructor: Dr. Tracy Cooper Dr. Tracy Cooper is a leading voice for high sensation seeking highly sensitive people (HSS-HSPs), highly sensitive people (HSPs), highly sensitive men, and with a mission to educate, mentor, and facilitate transformations in the lives of those seeking a conscious path to self-actualization and a creative realization of what it means to be human and alive at this moment. Dr. Cooper is the co-producer of the documentary film Sensitive Men Rising, the first film for highly sensitive men that seeks to open doorways to understanding and acceptance of this beautiful temperament trait in 30% of the world’s population. |
| An author of three publications, including Thrive: The Highly Sensitive Person and Career; Thrill: The High Sensation Seeking Highly Sensitive Person; and Empowering the Sensitive Male Soul, Dr. Cooper advocates for self-authorship, a conscious and creative leadership forging transformational reVisioning of self where we become creators of culture rather than mere consumers, curators of diverse narratives from across the globe, and mentors for those so desperately in need of guidance, encouragement, and healing. Dr. Cooper has had work published in the journal Current Research in the Behavioral Sciences, The New York Times, Psychology Today, and numerous podcasts and articles. Enroll before June 30th and receive 20% off the full course fee using code EARLYBIRD20 Link to register (click here) Please share!! |
Dr. Tracy Cooper 