A psychometric evaluation of the Highly Sensitive Person Scale: The components of sensory-processing sensitivity and their relation to the BIS/BAS and “Big Five”

Aron and Aron (1997) developed the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS) to measure individual differences in sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS). The purpose of the present study was to examine further the psychometric properties of the HSPS, and its association with the behavioural inhibition syst...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Personality and individual differences 2006-04, Vol.40 (6), p.1269-1279
Main Authors: Smolewska, Kathy A., McCabe, Scott B., Woody, Erik Z.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Big Five
Biological and medical sciences
BIS/BAS
Factor analysis
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Highly Sensitive Person Scale
Individual differences
Personality
Personality. Affectivity
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychometric properties
Psychometrics
Sensory processes
Sensory-processing sensitivity
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Aron and Aron (1997) developed the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS) to measure individual differences in sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS). The purpose of the present study was to examine further the psychometric properties of the HSPS, and its association with the behavioural inhibition system (BIS) and behavioural activation system (BAS) ( Carver & White, 1994), and the “Big Five” ( Costa & McCrae, 1992). Results demonstrate that the HSPS is a valid and reliable measure of the construct of SPS. However, in contrast to Aron and Aron’s finding that the scale is unidimensional, the current results support a three-component structure consisting of Aesthetic Sensitivity (AES), Low Sensory Threshold (LST), and Ease of Excitation (EOE). BIS activity was especially associated with the component of EOE. In addition, the components had different patterns of association with the “Big Five”. More specifically, AES showed the strongest relation with Openness to Experience, while LST and EOE were found to be most closely associated with Neuroticism.
ISSN:0191-8869
1873-3549
DOI:10.1016/j.paid.2005.09.022