{"id":24333,"date":"2021-01-16T23:36:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-17T03:36:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=24333"},"modified":"2021-01-29T16:43:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T20:43:38","slug":"elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/","title":{"rendered":"Elaine Aron: Highly Sensitive Person Research Findings"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What did Elaine Aron find in her highly sensitive person research? How do these findings relate to introverts?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Elaine Aron, a highly sensitive person (HSP) has 27 characteristics based on research. Of HSPs, 70% are introverts so introverts are often associated with these traits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep reading for more about Elaine Aron, highly sensitive person research, and introverts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Elaine Aron: Highly Sensitive Person or Introvert?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Since 1997, Dr. Elaine Aron, a research psychologist, has further explored the trait of high reactivity, which she has recharacterized as sensitivity. She found that <strong>highly sensitive people, 70% of whom are introverts, share a set of distinct attributes <\/strong>that, when recognized, can benefit society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Aron\u2019s list of twenty-seven characteristics, based on interviews and questionnaires with people who described themselves as being introverted or easily overwhelmed by stimulation, dovetailed with Kagan\u2019s findings as well as with other research. The research found that highly sensitive people:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Are astute observers who look before they leap<\/li><li>Dislike surprises<\/li><li>Are sensitive to smells, sounds, sights, pain, and caffeine<\/li><li>Don\u2019t like being observed (for instance, at work or performing music) or judged (for instance, in job interviews)<\/li><li>Are philosophical or spiritual rather than materialistic<\/li><li>Are creative and intuitive<\/li><li>Dislike small talk<\/li><li>Dream vividly and often recall details of their dreams<\/li><li>Love music, nature, art, and beauty<\/li><li>Are empathic<\/li><li>Have a strong conscience<\/li><li>Dislike violent movies and TV shows<\/li><li>Feel emotions intensely, especially joy, fear, and sadness<\/li><li>Thoroughly process information about their environments and notice subtleties<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>These attributes suggest that <strong>sensitive people are deep thinkers<\/strong>, which might be a reason they dislike superficial small talk. Another study found that sensitive people reacted particularly strongly to photos of accidents, pollution, and people who were injured, scarred, or experiencing strong emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Survival Traits<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>For Elaine Aron, a highly sensitive person may have survived the evolutionary process because of other survival enhancing attributes associated with it, such as astute observation, the tendency to look before leaping, and the tendency to thoroughly process information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the animal kingdom, those who \u201cwatch and wait\u201d and those who like to \u201cjust do it\u201d have complementary value. The watchers notice danger, while the doers seize opportunities. The two strategies pay off at different times in different situations, which is known as the trade-off theory of evolution. Scientists have found that about 20% of many species are \u201cslow to warm up,\u201d while the other 80% are \u201cfast\u201d or bold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The trade-off idea also applies to humans. In the same way that antelope herds depend on their most watchful and sensitive members for survival, so might human society depend on the compassion and empathy of people like Eleanor Roosevelt, who helped the country through the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/great-depression-and-the-new-deal\/\">Great Depression<\/a> and racial tensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Former Vice President Al Gore, an introvert, is another example of a leader whose conscience benefited society: long before most people cared about it, he engaged in a decades-long campaign to raise awareness of the danger posed by global warming. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What did Elaine Aron find in her highly sensitive person research? How do these findings relate to introverts? According to Elaine Aron, a highly sensitive person (HSP) has 27 characteristics based on research. Of HSPs, 70% are introverts so introverts are often associated with these traits. Keep reading for more about Elaine Aron, highly sensitive person research, and introverts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1742,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,24],"tags":[192],"class_list":["post-24333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","category-psychology","category-society","tag-quiet-the-power-of-introverts","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Elaine Aron: Highly Sensitive Person Research Findings - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to researcher Elaine Aron, a highly sensitive person can be identified by 27 characteristics. See the list and what it means.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Elaine Aron: Highly Sensitive Person Research Findings\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to researcher Elaine Aron, a highly sensitive person can be identified by 27 characteristics. See the list and what it means.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Shortform Books\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-01-17T03:36:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-01-29T20:43:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/educated-abuse-survivor.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"763\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rina Shah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rina Shah\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/d07435826f13a8f422d5d333dceac287\"},\"headline\":\"Elaine Aron: Highly Sensitive Person Research Findings\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-17T03:36:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-29T20:43:38+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/\"},\"wordCount\":495,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/educated-abuse-survivor.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Quiet: The Power of Introverts\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Lifestyle\",\"Psychology\",\"Society\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/\",\"name\":\"Elaine Aron: Highly Sensitive Person Research Findings - Shortform Books\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/elaine-aron-highly-sensitive-person\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/educated-abuse-survivor.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-01-17T03:36:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-01-29T20:43:38+00:00\",\"description\":\"According to researcher Elaine Aron, a highly sensitive person can be identified by 27 characteristics. 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