Usage
The term "highly sensitive person" was coined by Dr. Elaine N. Aron in 1996, and the name is gaining popularity because it presents the trait in a positive light. It posits that shyness, inhibition, and fearfulness may or may not be acquired by highly sensitive people, depending on environmental challenges. Other names used to describe the trait in literature include "introverted emotional temperament", "chronic cortical/cortisol arousal", "hypervigilance", and "innate shyness".
A number of books have been written on the topic, for example Help Is On Its Way by Jenna Forrest, The Highly Sensitive Person by Elaine Aron, and The Highly Sensitive Person's Companion by Ted Zeff, PhD.
Dr. Aron describes the opposite end of the spectrum, "the opposite of a Highly Sensitive Person (HSP) is a person who takes many risks, that is, acts without reflecting very much. An HSP who is an HSS (High Sensation Seeker) also will find ways to have lots of new experiences, but won't take a lot of unreflected-upon risks." She also cites studies involving other animals ranging from mammals to houseflies and goldfish.
Read more about this topic: Highly Sensitive Person
Famous quotes containing the word usage:
“I am using it [the word ‘perceive’] here in such a way that to say of an object that it is perceived does not entail saying that it exists in any sense at all. And this is a perfectly correct and familiar usage of the word.”
—A.J. (Alfred Jules)
“Girls who put out are tramps. Girls who don’t are ladies. This is, however, a rather archaic usage of the word. Should one of you boys happen upon a girl who doesn’t put out, do not jump to the conclusion that you have found a lady. What you have probably found is a lesbian.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1951)
“Pythagoras, Locke, Socrates—but pages
Might be filled up, as vainly as before,
With the sad usage of all sorts of sages,
Who in his life-time, each was deemed a bore!
The loftiest minds outrun their tardy ages.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)