Sensation seeking and Internet motives: Why and where we explore on the electronic frontier

The Internet as a mass medium revolutionized how we communicate and how we consume media. This thesis explores how the personality characteristic of sensation seeking influences and relates to Internet use. The hypotheses sought to assess the differences in motives for using the Internet between high sensation seekers and low sensation seekers, the different types of Internet sites that high sensation seekers enjoy compared to low sensation seekers, and interactions between sensation seeking and sex on the types of Internet content enjoyed. Results revealed a relationship between sensation seeking and using the Internet to fulfill certain motives. In addition, high sensation seekers enjoyed visiting more arousing sites. Finally, there was an interaction between sex and sensation seeking on enjoying arousing sites.