The Latest Research (& my experience of being both an HSP and HSS on vacation in Europe)

My plan for at least a while is to report on some of the latest research—a few studies that are well done and might be interesting to you—and then in the same blog write something more helpful and personal.  In this case, it is probably more personal than helpful!  And long. So I start with the research.

I am providing the formal citation for each article so that you can look it up on Google Scholar, for example, if you want. In most cases the pdf is available if you want to read or download it. You see that link to the right of the Google Scholar citation. So here they are, four studies.

Sperati, A., Acevedo, B. P., Dellagiulia, A., Fasolo, M., Spinelli, M., D’Urso, G., & Lionetti, F. (2024). The contribution of Sensory Processing Sensitivity and internalized attachment representations on emotion regulation competencies in school-age children.  Frontiers in Psychology ,  15 , 1357808.

In this study the researchers wanted to know, once again, how highly sensitive children, compared to other children, are affected by parenting—specifically, how feeling securely attached and loved affected their emotional regulation. Roughly speaking, emotional regulation means the ability to have the right emotion, in the right amount and at the right time. If you have ever been around children, you know they differ widely in how well they do this, and how old they need to be to be good at it, and of course how tired and hungry they are.          

The study, done in Italy, involved 118 children, 6-8 years old, and their mothers. The quality of the mother-child attachment was measured in individual videotaped playtimes at school, where the researcher had the children play with a doll, responding to four story stems that relate to specific attachment stressors (i.e., nightmare, hurt knee, illness, lost in a shopping center). The child describes the mother’s or caregiver’s response (e.g. warm, sensitive, cold, unresponsive). The quality of the attachment itself was not statistically different according to scores on the HS measure. Nor was emotional regulation. That is, compared to other children in the study, HSCs were not more or less positively attached to their mothers, and they were not more or less emotionally regulated. But exactly as differential susceptibility would predict, HSCs with better attachments to their mothers showed better than average emotional regulation. Those with poor attachments showed worse than average emotional regulation. I speak to this a bit more in my May blog, Highly Sensitive High Sensation Seekers – Giving Equal Love to Both Parts.  

Bottom Line: Our sensitivity to everything, especially to our parents in childhood, determines so much about us that it really defines who we are—varied, malleable, unique even among HSPs. Happily, remember that we also respond well to helpful interventions. These HSCS with poor emotional regulation will hopefully—probably–learn it elsewhere, maybe from a doting relative, teacher, or therapist.  

 

Dong, Q., Ma, Q., Wang, W., Wang, J., Pluess, M., & Ma, X. (2024). Environmental sensitivity moderates the longitudinal effect of fathers’ positive parenting on mental disorders in Chinese adolescents.  Journal of Affective Disorders ,  366 , 153-161.

This study, in China, looked at whether better relationships with one’s mother, father, or both reduced depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) symptoms, suicidal ideation and increased well-being in Chinese adolescents, and whether being an HSC affected this.  They found that the effect of fathers’ positive parenting more than mother’s was tended alleviate mental problems in adolescents, and this was especially true for HS teens.

Bottom Line:  This should be no surprise—all teenagers, but especially the highly sensitive ones, benefit from the special effect of a father’s attention, warmth, and acceptance.

 

Williams, J. M., & Blagrove, M. (2024). An investigation testing the perceptual advantage of Sensory Processing Sensitivity and its associations with the Big Five personality traits.  Journal of Research in Personality , 104539.

For this study 222 participants in Wales were tested on detection and identification of visually degraded words at three levels of difficulty and completed the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS). The positive aspects of the HSP Scale in particular were associated with better detection. None of the Big Five personality traits showed a relation to this agility. (This replicates an earlier study by Williams and Blagrove: Williams, J. M., Carr, M., & Blagrove, M., 2021, Sensory processing sensitivity: Associations with the detection of real degraded stimuli, and reporting of illusory stimuli and paranormal experiences. Personality and Individual Differences, 177.)  You can download both of these studies as pdfs by finding them on Google Scholar, entering just the title of the article.

Bottom Line:  The authors hope that by describing the perceptual advantages of the trait, this will help the general public and those HSPs in psychotherapy, realize that there are clear advantages to the trait.  HSPs can outperform others perceptually.

 

Tabak, B. A., Gupta, D., Sunahara, C. S., Alvi, T., Wallmark, Z., Lee, J., … & Chmielewski, M. (2022). Environmental sensitivity predicts interpersonal sensitivity above and beyond Big Five personality traits.  Journal of Research in Personality ,  98 , 104210.

The researchers reported two studies, finding roughly the same results. In the first study, with 1377 participants, the researchers first reduced the HSP Scale to just two factors, positive and negative. (I think this is a good move.) They found both factors were associated with better performance in three areas of interpersonal sensitivity–empathy (correlated with the positive factor), social anxiety (correlated with the negative factor), and theory of mind, a social cognitive ability, associated with both.  In Study 2 (N = 1240), they replicated most of these findings after statistically controlling for all Big Five personality traits (with its factors of neuroticism, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness).  That is, the HSP Scale “explained unique variance” above and beyond the Big Five, meaning high sensitivity is not just one or even just a combination of them. 

Bottom Line: Once again we see that HSPs are better at something, this time social skills—empathy and understanding what others are thinking, plus being more anxious to please others.

 

The Battle of the Temperaments, the European Theater
(“theater” as in an area in which important military events occurred or are in progress)

As I wrote in my last blog, I was heading off for a five-week “vacation” in Europe. Some of my friends, especially the HSPs, shook their heads in amazement. I suppose partly because of my age, and just successfully completing some medical stuff. They saw five weeks as an awful lot at once. But they do not understand my ongoing Battle of the Temperaments.

“Battle” is probably too strong.  It is more like a family feud, this thing between my traits of high sensitivity and high sensation seeking, which we know now are statistically—and in reality—independent of each other. And I do mean independent, You can be both or neither. I am definitely both.  

It took me some time to realize how much I am a high sensation seeker(HSS) because, like most HSPs with the trait, I do not take risks, and I do not tolerate much discomfort. So there are always compromises going on. In this case, the HSS loves to travel.  See new things. But the HSP insists on only safe places, like Europe. And not cities. So the idea of traveling has been settled for a while. Too much for someone my age? The HSS loves to say, “Use it or lose it.” Even the HSP can relate to “lose it.” She does not want to do that.

Nine Hours Jet Lag, Four Foreign Countries?

The serious negotiations start around the nine-hour time change from California to Europe, so the HSP reluctantly agrees that we should go for long enough to make the 9 days of jet lag (one day for every hour) not dominate the trip. But let’s face it. Three weeks would have been enough. The five weeks was for the HSS. The longer, the better.

The real question was, why did I even want to go to Europe? I’ve gone to speak there to HSPs, but to go just for fun? I know many HSPs who have no motivation to go anywhere except maybe to a vacation spot they visit every year. Certainly no foreign countries. But I have finally come to appreciate that the HSS needs to have a trip every year, always to new places, and she has seen all of the U.S. The HSP won’t go anywhere that she feels is unsafe. No developing countries. But new parts of Europe, well, she’s willing. Things are clean, the food is safe, and she can usually figure out the language. The beds can be too hard for Goldilocks, so we bring along a rolled-up piece of foam that just fits in a carry-on suitcase and can be put under the mattress cover if the bed is too hard for me. Seriously. 

Walking Trips Are Another Compromise

But you might ask, why walking trips? Why not just stay in the same place a few nights, then maybe move on, going from city to city by train or car, like normal people? Well, the HSP does not like cities and the HSS is okay with anything as long as we are moving along, seeing new things. Walking allows you to get in there and see all the details, which makes them both happy. 

For years we took “self-guided” walking trips in Europe using the trails all over Europe, especially those in France, the Grand Randonees. In Paris we would head for the Au Vieux Campeur, something like REI, pick up a book describing a trail, then head for there. We took our chances on where we would spend the night, depending on where we reached. Sometimes we ended up in someone’s home. As you can imagine, after a while the HSP got really tired of that uncertainty. 

Now, when we plan a trip, the HSP emphasizes, we use a company called Inntravel, which is based in the UK. Among the different kinds of trips (cycling, driving tours, etc.), their primary offerings are self-guided walking trips in little known, uncrowded, beautiful areas (important to the HSP), maybe staying in small towns or villages. You go on your own (crucial for the introverted HSP), but they give you maps and directions and plan all your transportation, including a taxi ride on those days when the best spot to begin is not quite near your hotel. Meanwhile your luggage goes ahead by taxi to the next hotel, which they have reserved for you. It is always small and lovely with great food. (Or occasionally large, historical, scenic, and with great food.)  The HSP loves having it all settled and so nicely. And if there’s any problem, there’s always someone at the company to call.

The only problem is a full day of walking is tiring. Inntravel rates the walks according to difficulty—1, 2, or 3. Nowadays we stick to 1 or at most what they rate as a 1-2. But even a 1, with mostly flat terrain, involves walking all day, maybe 10 miles. I get pretty tired by the end of the day. You don’t walk between towns/hotels every day. There are days when you walk around the area you have arrived at, or rest. Of course the HSS has to walk on those days too, but sometimes I put my tired feet down and we just take a stroll.

Two, Really Three Walking Trips in one “Vacation”?

For this vacation, two of the four weeks were walking trips (five if you add in travel days, with “self-guided walking trips” within huge airports), and the third turned out to be walking plus canoeing and sailing!  The first week was in the Dordogne area of France, with our son, his wife, and their two teenage boys, our beloved grandsons. We had arranged in an earlier time to take them on a walking trip in France, but the last time that we tried they got Covid in Paris before we left. So this was making up for that, four years later/older. One was going straight to college afterwards, so this felt like our last chance with him. But we were all having to keep up with teenagers!

The boys were politely patient. Art and I always take a 5-minute break every half hour all day, which we think allows us to go longer before we are beat. Plus a half-hour lunch break. The boys needed no breaks. Instead they used the time to show off their nifty calisthenics and physical feats! We had planned to take taxis if we got too tired along the way, but that never worked out. We just walked it.

At the end of that week, Art and I rented a car and drove to Switzerland to see two friends in different areas there, the Jura and a small town near Basle. Driving in Europe is pretty exhausting, I have to say. Being with our friends we had more free time, but our friends had plenty of plans for us if we were willing, and you know what part of me wanted the walking tour of towns we were in (Yverdon-les-Bains, Wintersegen, and Basle), the ferry ride on Lac du Neuchatel, and so forth. What I did not realize yet was that my body was not catching up. I needed more rest.

At the end of that “rest” week, we flew from Zurich to Oslo, then Oslo to Bergen, to start a new walking trip, of course. This one rated 1-2 plus optional 2s. We did not notice the “2” and did some really hard hikes. (Actually I just checked and the Dordogne walk was also a 1-2). But we survived these hikes and loved them, at least until the last hour or so of the day. The hotels were wonderful and of course the scenery of the fiords was amazing. We were there at the peak of apple harvest. One area we were in grows a huge quantity of the world’s apples, and we were encouraged to pick as much as we could eat along the way.  Plus there were “cider trails” where you could stop at cideries and taste different kinds of apple cider. This was a sharp promotion of their area, just like the wine trails in the Wine Country near us, except the cider was much lower in alcohol content than wine is and the whole thing was quieter.

At Last, a “Relaxing” Barge Trip

At the end of that week, we flew from Bergen to Amsterdam and Amsterdam to Inverness, Scotland, where we met two friends to spend a week on a barge traveling the breadth of Scotland on the Caledonia Canal, which includes big lakes like Loch Ness. That sounds restful, yes? Well, there were eight other people on the barge (lots of chatting) along with five crew. The sole job for one of the crew was to keep everyone busy all day long at the various stops, walking, cycling, canoeing, or sailing. Some of those walks were very long too, up to water falls or along a lake to catch up with the boat. Of course it was all optional, but the HSS could not have people going off to see neat things without her. Rain or shine, party on!  

Art and I meditate an hour in the morning, meaning that since breakfast was at 8, no option, we had to be up at six.  And we had to fit in another hour of meditation before dinner, at 7. Sometimes those meditations were a bit short! The cabin was quite “cozy.” We slept in bunk beds, not helping our sleep, because we were always aware when the other got up in the night.  

From Inverness we flew to Heathrow airport in London (do not get me on the subject of Heathrow, an HSP nightmare), walked for an hour, with luggage, from Terminal 5, to check into an “airport” hotel at Terminal 2 and 3.  Next we had to figure out the London metro, to spend an evening with Michael Pluess, our treasured collaborator, and his new (to us) wife and baby. That was delightful, but tiring. The next day we flew to Washington DC, over 7 hours, because we could not get a nonstop to San Francisco. We spent a night there and saw friends and then flew home to San Francisco, another almost 7 hours.

After Five Weeks, Exhaustion and a Temporary Ceasefire

Yes, I was tired afterwards. But I did not expect to be tired for a month. I am still recovering. Take a long walk? Not interested. I was quite surprised  that the recovery had gone on this long until a friend reminded me that when she did the Yosemite High Country one-week trip with us, for which she had not prepared, she spent months recovering from that. I guess the body can shut down while major repairs are being made.

In short, the HSS had her way, but the HSP demonstrated that the cost was high when you do not listen to your body. My body. I was especially surprised, however, by my flat mood and foggy brain afterwards.  But I see now that it was not only physically demanding, but mentally. After all, the brain is part of the body.  And there were so many mentally demanding details to figure out: Tight schedules to make or we would miss a train, plane, bus, or meal; plus numerous directions to follow; mistakes to correct; and searches for items that seemed to be lost until we found them at the bottom of our luggage, usually after looking a long time, taking up precious time, or giving up and finding them later, long after we needed them. 

All of these daily urgent details meant the HSP was anxious most of the time–so much so that she actually did not enjoy large parts of the trip, except the collapsing in the hotel rooms and the marvelous dinners she did not have to plan or cook. The HSS of course liked that all of these were different, new.

Looking back on those five weeks, however, the HSP thinks the whole thing was fabulous. Now she is sad it is over. All that makes the HSS smirk, of course. And begin to work her way back to being in control by looking at more lovely trips offered by Inntravel. There are new ones every year.

I finally accept these dynamics. I offer you no answers, really. I am simply reporting one skirmish in the ongoing battle, in case you are also both a HSS and an HSP and can learn something from it. Maybe just knowing how it went for me will help you. Maybe knowing that the combo seems to contribute to being more creative. All the depth of processing of new information. I don’t know. I don’t fight it anymore.  I just observe it, smiling a little as I watch myself thinking about the next trip.