Brief Sensation-Seeking Scale

What’s the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale?
The Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS) is a quick personality quiz that gives you a snapshot of how much you enjoy excitement, adventure, and new experiences. Psychologists often use it in research to understand why some people chase thrills while others prefer to keep things steady.

Curious about your own thrill-seeking score? Take the brief sensation-seeking scale online below or download a self scoring version here.

Making Sense of Your Score
Your total score is a way of showing how much of a “thrill seeker” you are. Higher scores usually mean you’re more drawn to new and stimulating experiences, while lower scores suggest you feel more comfortable with familiar routines.

The four subscales break things down even more:

Thrill and Adventure Seeking: Do you like fast, bold, or risky activities?
Experience Seeking: How curious are you about exploring new places, ideas, or people?
Disinhibition: Do you enjoy lively, social, sometimes unpredictable settings?
Boredom Susceptibility: How restless do you get when life feels repetitive?

This is not a clinical test. It is simply a fun way to get some insight into your personality and the kinds of experiences that keep you energized.

Brief Sensation-Seeking Scale

Making Sense of Your Score Your total score is a way of showing how much of a “thrill seeker” you are. Higher scores usually mean you’re more drawn to new and stimulating experiences, while lower scores suggest you feel more comfortable with familiar routines.

Making Sense of Your Score
Your total score is a way of showing how much of a “thrill seeker” you are. Higher scores usually mean you’re more drawn to new and stimulating experiences, while lower scores suggest you feel more comfortable with familiar routines.