Sensation seeking and novelty seeking. Are they the same?

Responses to Zuckerman's Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) and Cloninger's Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (which consists of novelty seeking, harm avoidance, and reward-dependence dimensions) have been linked to a variety of behavioral and psychiatric variables. The relationship of these two measures to one another has not been examined previously and, in the present study, is evaluated in a group of men briefly hospitalized for treatment of alcohol and chemical dependence. Total sensation seeking scale scores were significantly correlated (Pearson r) with total novelty seeking scale scores. Set correlation analysis revealed significant overall relationships between sensation seeking and both high novelty seeking and low harm avoidance. Most of these overall relationships were attributable to six subscales, although broad relationships were observed between the SSS disinhibition and novelty seeking subscales, and between a harm avoidance subscale and all SSS subscales. Neither statistical approach identified an association between reward dependence and sensation seeking.