THE CONCEPTUAL VALIDITY OF EMPIRICAL SCALE-CONSTRUCTION - THE CASE OFTHE SENSATION SEEKING SCALE

An assessment of the present state of sensation seeking (SS) research suggests that the concepts of physical risk taking and sensation seeki ng have become synonymous with version five of Zuckerman's Sensation S eeking Scale (SSS). Given this, it would appear that the validity of S S research rests on the extent to which the SSS actually measures risk taking and sensation seeking tendencies. The present paper suggests t hat a series of logical and conceptual errors in the development of th e SSS have resulted in a scale that does not measure sensation seeking . This raises concerns about both the value and meaning of investigati ons in which it is employed. It is concluded that risk taking and SS r esearch has learned more about the SSS than sensation seeking itself. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.