{"id":4515,"date":"2026-07-03T07:08:18","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4515"},"modified":"2026-07-03T07:08:18","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T07:08:18","slug":"this-july-4th-are-you-a-thrill-or-chill-seeker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4515","title":{"rendered":"This July 4th, are you a thrill- or chill-seeker?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Independence Day is approaching!<\/p>\n

Imagine if someone has procured illegal fireworks from a couple of states over. Are you:<\/p>\n

Read more Ex-HK bookseller Lam Wing-kee, detained by China in 2015, dies in Taiwan at 70<\/a><\/p>\n

1. first in line to light them?<\/p>\n

2. content to watch while others set them off?<\/p>\n

3. going to find a fire extinguisher \u2014 just in case \u2014 while loudly condemning the activity?<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Read more Even fans who don\u2019t speak Spanish are watching the World Cup on Telemundo. Here\u2019s why<\/a><\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

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, <\/p>\n

Read more House Democrats accuse Trump of \u2018hijacking\u2019 America\u2019s 250th birthday for his own gain<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Independence Day is approaching!<\/p>\n

Imagine if someone has procured illegal fireworks from a couple of states over. Are you:<\/p>\n

1. first in line to light them?<\/p>\n

2. content to watch while others set them off?<\/p>\n

3. going to find a fire extinguisher \u2014 just in case \u2014 while loudly condemning the activity?<\/p>\n

Ken Carter<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.”<\/p>\n

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!<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Interested in more psychology episodes? Email us your question at <\/em>shortwave@npr.org<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Support 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 <\/em>plus.npr.org<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4514,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4515","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-short-wave"],"yoast_head":"\nThis July 4th, are you a thrill- or chill-seeker? - Best USA Movers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/bestusamoverss.com\/?p=4515\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This July 4th, are you a thrill- or chill-seeker? - Best USA Movers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"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 \u2014 just in case \u2014 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. 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