Sensory profile of the highly sensitive personality

The Highly Sensitive Personality (HSP) captures sensitivity towards external and internal stimuli while the Adult Sensory Profile is a clinical tool that gauges sensory history on four quadrants: low registration, sensation seeking, sensory sensitivity, and sensation avoiding. The Sensory Profile could contribute a more nuanced understanding of the HSP’s threshold of sensitivity and behavioral patterns. Accordingly, this study’s objective was to examine the associations between the HSP and Sensory Profile. 565 United States adults (age 18-94) were recruited via Prolific using the representative sample option, stratifying based on Census sex, age, and ethnicity. Participants completed the HSP scale and the Adult Sensory Profile. Correlations, one-way ANOVAs, and descriptive statistics showed that participants who scored high on the HSP total scale scored higher on low registration, sensory sensitivity and sensation avoiding. Different sensory tendencies were identified across HSP facets (low sensory threshold, ease of excitation, aesthetic sensitivity), suggesting that highly sensitive people may display different processing patterns and coping mechanisms depending on their HSP subtype. Using the Adult Sensory Profile along with already recommended screenings for HSP could better inform support for highly sensitive individuals when their sensory processing type is not complimentary to a desired aspect in their life.