Talk:Sensory processing sensitivity

message: What I still miss is an article about the phenomenon of high sensitivity per se / as such.
What we have here is an article on highly sensitive persons, and tht's people, not the trait as such. Alrik Fassbauer (talk) 16:01, 6 December 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  High Sensitivity as such ?

message: This subject seems to me as an original research I have barely found any other references on the Web  apart from the Author Aron Elain herself ? so does it really belong here ? as WP is to ban original research ? --Khalid hassani 12:39, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: No, it is not original research, just ongoing research.  However, the term HSP is relatively new.  Pavlov's work on conditioning to pain and extreme stimuli found a broad range of sensitivity with a few clusters.  Jung and contemporaries used Pavlov's work when differentiating between introverted and extroverted cognitive types (not personality types).  As the introverted and extroverted cognitive types have become polluted with the introverted and extroverted personality type terms used in popular culture, new and more accurate terms are being developed.  Dr. Aron's description is one of the more popular descriptions of the trait since it has a positive 'spin', unlike names like "cognitiave or emotional hypersensitivity" which may have a negative social stigma.  Clinicians and academics are rapidly adopting this new descriptive name. ~ Bwagstaff 05:18, 4 September 2006 (UTC)

text: You beat me to it.  I came here to say just this.  This is not a new term. Viriditas (talk) 12:48, 19 May 2012 (UTC)
thread_title: Original research?

message: There appears to be other research in Germany and The Netherlands, independently of Dr. Aron's. My German and Dutch, however, isn't good enough to decipher it.
If you could provide some links, I am a native Dutch speaker and can probably also decipher most German. -- Manuzhai
Can you provide the Dutch references? -- Renato
I am HSP myself and the info seems to be correct. There is not much known about HSP anyway since the psychological idea of it is quite new. And that's one of the problems with recognition and acceptance of it in the first place. Just like Whiplash was 15 years ago... -- Jeroen
I wouldn't call it research, but in Austria and in the Netherlands there seems to be quite some publicity work for high sensitivity, imho. Alrik Fassbauer (talk) 14:02, 4 January 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  Other languages 

message: HSP's are something that I have quite a bit of experience, and I have read several of Dr. Aron's books.  This page is something that I plan on expanding when I have time (in about 2 weeks) when I get back into the country.  :)  Sonrisasgrandes 18:09, 8 July 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Women's intuition? Do tell! Ye gods, With the proliferation of ebooks it appears that pseudoscience is on the way to overwhelming science in the wiki realm. Whereas there was formerly some degree of credibility attached to books due to the editing process, that credibility is now gone and unless some lines are drawn in the sand, wikipedia will become a reiki master's dream come true.QuintBy (talk) 20:19, 8 January 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Future Additions 

message: I would like to completely re-do this article for the reasons I state below...
High Sensitivity does indeed exist, but the definition offered by Dr. Aron and Jim Hallowes is incorrect. Just because you are shy does not mean that you are highly sensitive. A highly sensitive person (HSP) is a person who is in tune with their soul, sprituality, and emotions, and has extra sensory perception. These people have opened up themselves and freed their soul and thus they feel things that others are unable to. Those who are highly sensitive make up a miniscule amount of the population, according to the department of psychiatric and paranormal studies of UCLA, 1 out of every 30,000 people is a highly sensitive person and this comes in varying degrees of sensitivity. Dr. Aron and Jim Hallowes are avidly pushing out false information and benfitting from it, because they are promoting cruises, to buy their books and their tapes, all filled with false information. High sensitivity is such a rare thing that no one really knows about it, and those who are truly highly sensitive don't go around parading it, so therefore these two can get away with their false information and bogus research because no one really knows what they heck they are talking about and they only have their false information to go by. If you want examples of true Highly Ssensitive People go take a look at Jesus christ, Edgar Cayce and Dr. David Viscott.The more renowned and known Highly Sensitive People. Being SHY does NOT make you a Highly Sensitive Person. Dr. Aron and Jim Hallowes are working over people's need to feel special by calling a characteristic everyone has exhibited and labeling it as a desirable trait, thus making it possible for them to make more money. I can't cite any credible sources because there are none, all the research done on HSp has been done with the definition and characteristics that Dr. Aron and Jim Hallowes SAY HSP have. The only credible information on HSP comes from those who are ACTUALLY hsp, which neither Dr. Aron or Jim Hallowes are. UCLA has has done some research on extra sensory perception in their department of psychiatric and paranormal studies, but they focus on the size and activity of the brain and what theat brings about. But again,,, just because you are shy does not mean that you are hsp,,, and on the contrary true Highly sensitive people are very outgoing.
Those are my reasons I guess for wanting to change it, and a little bit how I would change it,, if you would like to see how I actually edited the article before and how I would edit it this time around here is what I said... 
A highly sensitive person (HSP) is a person who is in tune with their soul, sprituality, and emotions, and has extra sensory perception. These people have opened up themselves and freed their soul and thus they feel things that others are unable to. Those who are highly sensitive make up a miniscule amount of the population, according to the department of psychiatric and paranormal studies of UCLA, 1 out of every 30,000 people is a highly sensitive person and this comes in varying degrees of sensitivity. They may find that they are able to read those around them simply by looking into their eyes, they are able to feel the emotions and thoughts of others around them, and they feel compelled to help those they come into contact with. Such people commonly will come off as wise and very familiar to those they interact with. They cannot tell the future or speak with the dead and they do not claim to be able to perform such things, they are simply people who feel every emotion at a higher and more profound degree than most, they have opened their minds and souls allowing them to feel what others supress and hide in themselves. High Sensitivity is not an inherited trait for it is a matter of setting ones soul free and becoming in tune with ones self.
The term highly sensitive person was coined and incorrectly defined as one who is simply shy, by Dr. Elaine N. Aron in 1996, and because of the incorreect definition given by Dr. Elaine N. Aron and Jim Hollowes the name is gaining popularity it is taking a characteristic which every single person on this earth is going to experience at least once in their lifetime and then labeling that behavior with a name that makes them feel special. By presenting High Sensitivity as simply someone who is shy, Dr. Elain N. Aron and her crony Jim Hallowes are making roughly over $200,000 between the two by playing on the minds and feelings of low self-esteem individuals. Their method of choice is to name drop celebrities to make their audience feel even more special, and after they have given their audience a sufficient ego boost they will encourage the audience to go on one of their many cruises, buy their books, and buy their tapes. They are using simple and easy salesman techniques, but they are lacking in their salespitch for they repeat the same Incorrect information over and over and over and are quite boring and seemingly unenthusiastic in their over rehearsed speeches.
True examples of Highly Sensitive People would be Jesus Christ, Edgar Cayce, and Dr. David Viscott.  
Attributes and characteristics
Highly Sensitive People enjoy their alone time, and solitude. Dr. David Viscott explains this thought in his book Finding Your Strength in Difficult Times, "When you have found yourself, being alone is a privilege, not a punishment... Your creations and inventions, your solutions to the problems that most vex you, all come to you in isolation. It is only when you are by yourself that you can be receptive to the stillness of your inner voice... This solitude is the place from which your originality and specialness issue... Learn to love being with yourself. It is the highest place to which you can aspire." While highly sensitive people enjoy being alone, they are not shy in the least. On the contrary highly sensitive people are very outgoing and personable, should they chose to go out.
Highly Sensitive People feel this deep need and desire to help those around them. You will often find Highly Sensitive People working in a field such as Teaching, Counceling, or Psychology... a field in which they can help and positively advance people's development.
 
If someone has any problem with what I have put here, feel free to say something, otherwise I would really like to correct this article.Cool ray man 21:38, 15 August 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: I strongly object.  Your rewrite is unsourced, heavily biased, not cross referenced, and factually deficient.  If you have additional citations, please add the detail along with them.  If you have additional source material, please expand the article and reference it.  But please don't just rewrite a growing article to fit your personal bias.  That particular rewrite would likely be reverted as vandalism by those who regularly patrol WP.  --Bwagstaff 07:09, 18 August 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Completely Editing this Article

message: This section was removed from the main page due to non-encyclopedic content.  Please keep all advice off the main page.
Elaine Aron advises:
:"Rather than forcing themselves to fit in and be more outgoing, HSPs need to learn to appreciate their sensitivity in less stimulating ways. Developing boundaries for safety and comfort becomes important. If they are sensitive to bright fluorescent lights, chemical odors or certain kinds of people, HSPs need to use their creativity to find ways to avoid such stimuli." sensitiveperson.com Being Sensitive -- in an Insensitive World by Thomas Eldridge and "Spend at least eight to ten hours per day in bed, whether sleeping or not, plus an extra two hours spent in meditation or other forms of solitude and one hour of outdoor exercise." The Plight of the Empath or Highly Sensitive Person article on about.com by Kathy Moore, MBA, CH, hypnotist and motivational consultant.
Kathy Moore advises:
:"use some form of releasing therapy, such as Yoga therapy; hypnotherapy; energy work of any kind, such as Reiki; Dance; MAP or ACCESS, to 'let go' of stuck emotions, whether yours or someone else's."
Jim Hallowes of www.HighlySensitivePeople.com advises:
:“Take good care of yourself. Learn about this “gift” you have of the trait of high sensitivity. Learn to set healthy boundaries for yourself, also good nutrition and exercise is very important. Because highly sensitive persons process and reflect upon incoming information so deeply, they are more likely to become over stimulated and overwhelmed than Non-HSP and may need alone time. Be aware of this fact and honor it. Make an attempt to slowly and comfortably educate the important people in your life about your trait and temperament. With proper education about this inherited trait of high sensitivity, you will learn to not just cope and deal with your trait but to excel with it!”
Ted Zeff advises:
:It will help the HSP to create a daily routine. Spend at least fifteen minutes in the morning centering yourself through techniques such as meditation, progressive relaxation, listening to a meditation tape or CD, or hatha yoga. Your evening routine should consist of calming endeavors such as reading uplifting books, writing, meditating, taking a bath, or having light discussions. Try not to watch overstimulating or violent television shows or movies in the evening. It’s important to use the senses to calm the HSP’s nervous system.  Avoid jarring noises by listening to relaxing background music or white noise, or wearing earplugs. Give yourself or receive a massage on a regular basis. Reduce the time you sit in front of a television set or computer screen. Reduce your use of caffeine by drinking calming herbal teas and a lot of pure water. Try inhaling scents of calming essential oils or incense. Take a mini retreat twice a week and a longer retreat several times a year.The Highly Sensitive Person's Survival Guide by Ted Zeff, Ph.D.   
:A healthy diet for the HSP should include lots of organic veggies, fruits, whole grains, and low-fat protein. Reduce your consumption of sugar, preservatives, salt, high-glycemic foods, and processed foods. It’s calming and nurturing for the HSP’s nervous system to eat heavy, warm, moist dishes such as hearty soups and casseroles. The HSP should generally do gentle exercises like walking, yoga, or tai chi and avoid tense environments like overstimulating health clubs or very competitive team sports. It’s best not to work out after 7 P.M. since it may create insomnia for the HSP. 
:To create an enjoyable and relaxing work environment for the HSP, try to develop a positive attitude toward your job by creating enjoyable social interactions, helping others and being enthusiastic about your work. If possible, listen to calming background music, gaze at pictures of natural settings and bring flowers and plants to work. If you are sitting all day at work, periodically perform stretches and take short walks. Throughout the day do some slow abdominal breathing and take short meditation breaks. Explore changes in your job schedule such as beginning work later, working from home, or reducing your hours. If you are working in a very stressful job that can’t be modified, examine your beliefs and values as to why you continue to work in a difficult situation. Investigate new job possibilities that are well suited for your sensitivity. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Bwagstaff (talk • contribs) 22:49, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Advice (moved from article) 

message: Shouldn't a section like this be critical of the idea of there being HSPs? Nearly everyone dislikes people with certain personalities for whatever reason. (remark made by User:Tezero 23:59, 28 February 2013‎ and moved to the talk page by Lova Falk talk 14:18, 1 March 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: There seems to be a consensus in these last two sections that this article needs to take into account wider mainstream psychology. I don't have time to do this myself, but I have added a {{[[Template:Fringe theories|fringe theories}} template to the page indicating that it's a serious problem with the article.--Genandrar (talk) 22:14, 15 April 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Criticism 

message: Jobrot urges moving this article to a new SPS article, or merging it with Sensitivity (human).  For the record, here's why it should not be moved or merged:
:(a) "Sensory processing sensitivity." As already stated in the AfD, Wikipedia:Article titles#Deciding on an article title states that the title should be "one that readers are likely to look or search for, and Wikipedia:Article titles#Use commonly recognizable names states that "Wikipedia generally prefers the name that is most commonly used." Obviously, the commonly used term Highly sensitive person (with >900 views/day) is what readers search for—not the scientific term "sensory processing sensitivity" which didn't even have a re-direct until I made one in January 2016.
:(b) "Sensitivity (human)." The AfD's closing advised editors to consider merging with Sensitivity (human). I have. Merging HSP into Sensitivity (human) is wrong for at least two reasons:
::(b1) Sensitivity (human) is too broad because HSP is defined specifically in terms of Sensory Processing Sensitivity and not other types of sensitivity humans have; and, conversely,
::(b2) Sensitivity (human) is also too narrow for the term Highly Sensitive Person because of the observation of SPS in >100 non-human species.
Absent changes in the above facts, the article should stay where it is.  —RCraig09 (talk) 14:06, 18 May 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  Observation: Unfortunately the book was published two decades ago, and the references and most research occur after that, so it's difficult to throw material to the book's article. The balancing I describe in the following section seems necessary. —RCraig09 (talk) 02:02, 11 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Reasons ''not'' to move or merge this article

message: , when you you reverted my recent edit, you wrote in the edit summary,  However, this is the conclusion paragraph from Boterberg and Liss's paper:
One factor displayed more problems than the other, but both displayed problems. What's more, 2 additional sources papers by independent reliable source (Liss et al., 2008 and Booth et al., 2015) summarized the existing research in similar ways said:
* Although research on this construct is somewhat limited, several studies have suggested that sensory processing sensitivity is associated with negative clinical outcomes. It has been found to be related to social phobia (Neal, Edelmann, & Glachan, 2002), avoidant personality disorder (Meyer & Carver, 2000), anxiety and depression (Liss, Timmel, Baxley, & Killingsworth, 2005), perceived stress and ill-health (Benham, 2006), and agoraphobic avoidance (Hofmann & Bitran, 2007)... In much of her popular literature, Elaine Aron (1996) discusses the advantages of being a highly sensitive person. From the present analyses, it appears that many of these advantages are associated with AES, rather than with EOE or LST. Whether an individual who is high in AES is physiologically a highly sensitive person who has learned to cope with their sensitivity appropriately has not been investigated. —Liss et al. (2008)
* It is important to note, however, that SPS has been consistently associated with negative outcomes (Ahadi & Basharpoor, 2010; Aron & Aron, 1997; Aron et al., 2005; Liss et al., 2005)... However, it should be noted that SPS has been consistently related to lower wellbeing... —Booth et al. (2015) (my emphasis)
Yes, only one source used the exact word "consistently", but it's more recent than Liss et al. by 6 years. Anyway, we don't remove reliably sourced content that reflects mainstream views just because there isn't identical wording in every other source, especially material from one of the more reliable sources that exists on this topic. It offers needed context to an article that's otherwise sourced to the primary findings of someone with a direct conflict of interest. —PermStrump(talk) 08:33, 19 May 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks, PermStrump, for your (much-welcomed) source-based reasoning. I appreciate the dilemma, when mainstream popular psychology's emphasis (decidedly recognizing Aron as an authority) differs from mainstream scholarly emphasis (more divergent, of course).  I have limited time-per-day to work on WP, so, in brief: I hope you preserve in this article the idea that high SPS is "an amplifier of an environment's effects" (source)--both negative and positive--as supported by Aron herself and in the references in the final paragraph of the present "Related concepts" section: Belski 2009, Pluess 2009 and 2010 and 2013. —RCraig09 (talk) 10:39, 19 May 2016 (UTC)

text: Quick question: is your "direct COI" with E. Aron simply because she markets books/videos/workshops? Or is it because of a journal-by-journal analysis of each reference? —RCraig09 (talk) 10:39, 19 May 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  That time I was referring to her blatant (not "simple") COI as having written books and currently selling related merchandise on her website. Also as a self-described "HSP" she's too close to the topic to be objective. The fact that she's overly positive about the outcomes means little because of her deep association with the topic. For those kinds of statements we need to use the independent sources. —PermStrump(talk) 10:50, 19 May 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  Actually, I didn't find Aron's work was "overly" positive about outcomes; rather, her public emphasis has been on overcoming the dominant cultural perception that sensitivity is ~uniformly a negative trait. In that sense, she has been trying to balance public perception (source linked above), and I think that should be reflected in this article, in context. It's great you're finding pertinent content from non-Aron articles, as my Jan-Feb overhaul began by re-organizing content from previously cited references. —RCraig09 (talk) 13:03, 19 May 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  COI is pretty cut and dry. I get what you're saying and that that's what she says she's trying to do. Regardless, it's better to cite the independent reliable sources, because when we cite her, it has to be clearly contextualized as coming from someone with a COI. It's also a major WP:BALANCE issue. —PermStrump(talk) 16:27, 19 May 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  Sorry for hiatus.  Of course I agree about avoiding or at least pointing out COI, placing assertions in context, and maintaining wp:Balance. In the little time I could spend here recently, I find that a many of the non-Aron scholarly sources are themselves wp:primary-ish for what they're cited for (like your Boterberg and Liss discoveries), indicating the field is a relatively young one. Lay sources seem to uniformly follow Aron as a, if not the, authority. But definitely, it's wrong to portray Aron as saying "SPS is good" and the mainstream saying "SPS is bad": the backbone of Aron's work has been that SPS is both a blessing and a curse (my words) but that as a clinical psychologist Aron is acknowledging its many difficulties but emphasizing positive aspects to overcome Psychology's traditional inclination to find something wrong and "cure" it, and in her popular publications to overcome society's stigmatization of the sensitive.  As the article is about the term(s) she initially propounded, her reasoning must be included, in context—a difficult balancing act. —RCraig09 (talk) 01:54, 11 June 2016 (UTC)

text:  As a corollary: references that show SPS is "related to" negative outcomes actually support the validity of the HSPScale, even if only to predict or explain those outcomes. —RCraig09 (talk) 14:54, 11 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: This may come as a great shock; but I actually agree with the sentiment you're expressing above. I personally would love it if psychological conditions were less stigmatized, and if the industry as a whole focused less on finding something wrong and "curing" it (as you say). Aims which are somewhat reminiscent of Schizoanalysis. However, Aron's ideals and Wikipedia's vary greatly on this issue. I believe it is up to psychologists to fix the issues with their industry, and it's up to Wikipedia (unfortunately) to reflect the WP:DUE viewpoint of that industry. Complete with its desire towards harder data, better diagnostics, evidence and scientific consensus. It is unfortunate, but Aron's desire to change the industry and the world's view of psychology and sensitivity is NOT going to start here on Wikipedia, and the article must be made as rigorous as policy requires. Her mission is hers, ours is ours. --Jobrot (talk) 13:07, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Outcomes 

message: User:Jytdog pinged me and here I am....  Anyway, I should note that this is outside my area of specialization in psychology (I'm more a comparative cognition/behaivoural neuroscience type).  That said, this stuff strikes me as a minority view as far as personality psych goes.  Leafing through an intro book I can tell you that this is not in the personality section.  Dbrodbeck (talk) 17:05, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: User:Dbrodbeck Thanks for replying!  So in your review condense and redirect/merge to Personality psychology, would be reasonable?   And are there other experienced psych editors who could be helpful here, that you are aware of?  thanks again.  Jytdog (talk) 18:30, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: The notion does seem to be about a personality characteristic or trait, that is pretty clear.  That said, there is a lot here, and if it were to be condensed and put in the personality psych article it would be I think at best a passing mention.  I am, however, just one guy, and as noted, this is not really my area of psychology per se. Dbrodbeck (talk) 18:36, 16 June 2016 (UTC)

text: Further, I just looked at Authoritarian personality and it has its own article.  It is mentioned in intro books and I think we can say it is much less a minority view.  I'm not sure how much that helps....  Dbrodbeck (talk) 18:39, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Super helpful, thanks!   Will keep thinking....Jytdog (talk) 19:12, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: FWIW I'm a mental health therapist (licensed clinical social worker), so I don't feel like I'm totally talking out of my @#$ or anything, though this obviously isn't my specialty. IMO it's clearly not a mainstream view within academia, which essentially makes it wp:fringe as far as WP is concerned. It's not the same category of fringe as say, Transcendental Meditation, (at least not when you're looking at the independent, peer-reviewed sources), but I think it falls solidly in the pop psych realm, which is probably where it will fizzle. If it doesn't and if in the future it piques the interest of more scholars, then it would make sense to have two articles, one for Aron's book The Highly Sensitive Person and one for the personality trait of HSPs, also coined by Aron, "sensory processing sensitivity". As it still hasn't pick up steam in the almost 20 years since the book was first published, it seems undue at this point to have two articles and runs the risk of lending false credibility to the concept. I'm starting to think the best option is merging this article with the book's article in some way, maybe as "Highly sensitive person" with a section on the book, maybe one for the website(?), and one on SPS. I imagine there's a lot of overlap in the fluff and undue weight in both articles now that needs to be removed per NPOV and wp:promo, and if we stick to independent, reliable sources without being redundant, it's really hard for me to imagine that the content would necessitate two articles. —PermStrump(talk) 19:38, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Permstrump has kinda crystallized my thoughts here.  Dbrodbeck (talk) 20:17, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: OK, convergence is good (thanks for clarifying your background  PermStrump).  So there is one review in pubmed (by Aron) for "Sensory processing sensitivity" and the same one for "Highly sensitive person".   I can't see how we can justify even one article.   It really seems that we should merge both articles to a single paragraph in Personality psychology.  Fwiw I recently wrangled Misophonia to the ground, wresting that article from advocates and practitioners. (that article might even be too long).  These "sensitivity" articles have kind of proliferated in WP.   Permstrump, are you aware of any "independent" sources on SPS or HSP (by independent I assume you mean not by Aron or an acolyte)...  Jytdog (talk) 21:29, 16 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  I'm not understanding why this topic in Personality Psychology is being (apparently) held up to a MEDRS standard. With  [ hundreds of relevant journal cites ], SPS doesn't seem to be a minority or fringe view in the sense of mainstream researchers refuting or trivializing the SPS concept. Lay reference coverage is non-trivial (Psychology Today, Wall St. Journal, Scientific American etc., not just Huff Post).  There are still 26 (est.) non-Aron references cited and Permstrump was able to add three new secondary references in his first pass circa 18 May. Maybe removal of improper wp:primary sourcing should occur before deciding moving/merging.  —RCraig09 (talk) 00:50, 17 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: ...and would you really consider posting the Huff Po one here, so we can check that it's not WP:PROMO for her book for instance? Or given that you believe SPS need not actually be MENTIONED in the source; how many of the sources you're talking about are both not written by undergraduates of Aron AND not WP:PROMO for her book AND are explicitly discussing Aron's terms which are after all what this article supposedly covers. See what happened below (all in bold) with 'Wolf 2008' to get what I'm talking about [hint: he doesn't use her terms at all]. --Jobrot (talk) 01:34, 17 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Editors will look more and more closely as they see problems, and step further and further back when sources are accurately represented. That's the nature of testing for accuracy on Wikipedia; and this article has had ongoing issues revealed about it. From the fact that the "science name" SPS is also an Aron term (even though neither Aron has a background in neurology), to the question of "100 other species" being "Highly Sensitive People" (a theory which appeared in the article when it had that title at least), to the revelation that Aron attended Maharishi University of Management in the 70s (and may have got her qualifications there) which is now just a managerial school but still asks students to perform Transcendental Meditation for its "consciousness-based education" system. There have just been some continuing issues. So we look closer. That's just the way it has to be. --Jobrot (talk) 02:53, 17 June 2016 (UTC)

text: Rcraig it is matter of NPOV more than anything. Jytdog (talk) 02:21, 17 June 2016 (UTC)

text:  To clarify, I forget where Aron got her PhD, but it wasn't Maharishi University. She and her husband were both professors there in the 1970s, which I'm pretty sure was when she only had a bachelors actually and then later she went back and got a masters and later a PhD (I did this research back at the time I posted about this FTN though, which was at least a few weeks ago—maybe months—so now I'm just going off of memory). The part that I couldn't verify independently was whether she was actually ever a professor anywhere else. The WP article doesn't really do Maharishi University or Transcendental Meditation (TM) justice. TM is essentially a New Age cult invented by Maharishi Yogi, who had a lot of wealthy and some highly educated followers (including Deepak Chopra), so he started a university that somehow got and maintained its accreditation. TM has a huuuuuuge web of WP articles that are "well"-maintained by what I assume are paid editors. —PermStrump(talk) 03:30, 17 June 2016 (UTC)

text: Ah, okay. Yeah, the "About Our Founder" link takes prominent place on the university's website. Thanks for clarifying some of the details. --Jobrot (talk) 04:51, 17 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Minority view of personality psychology?

message: Though the plain language of Wolf is inherently clear enough to indicate SPS is one among many names for the same concept across species:
*, —Wolf 2008
: Boterberg 2016's direct citation of Wolf 2008 is explicit in text: 
* —Boterberg 2016
Please reconsider. I'm not inviting argument or tangents. —RCraig09 (talk) 03:00, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title: Summary (re "Blanking the cross-species incidence section") 

message: So with the claim that HSP and SPS can be found in other species removed due to a lack of reliable sourcing; what exactly is the difference between this article and Sensory processing now (previously titled Sensitivity_(human))? Other than an overt and WP:UNDUE coverage of Aron's views that can already be found elsewhere on Wikipedia. I feel having multiple articles is probably a bit much. Where do we go from here? --Jobrot (talk) 05:48, 17 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: as a first step i think the book article can be merged into this one. Jytdog (talk) 15:19, 17 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Perhaps after that some of the stuff from here can be merged into Sensory processing (in it's own section), and it might be a good idea to put something from Sensory Processing Disorder in a section there too. --Jobrot (talk) 10:31, 19 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: I dunno, putting anything from here into Sensory processing seems like a big pile of WP:UNDUE. Dbrodbeck (talk) 13:29, 19 June 2016 (UTC)

text:  Agree with Jytdog, that some of the book article's content can be merged here, and the book article can then be replaced with a redirect. (FYI, the book article stalled since it was hard in 2012+ to isolate the effect of the 1995 book itself from hundreds of subsequent articles.) —RCraig09 (talk) 02:36, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Where do we go from here? 

message: Having read Aron's 1996 book in 2012 and overhauled this article in Jan-Feb 2016, I offer the following understanding of SPS, which was apparently lost in the word walls above.
# The concept has had various terms adopted by different researchers working independently, including what Wolf 2008 surveys as terms including: coping style, reactivity, flexibility, plasticity, with Wolf himself calling it responsiveness. Wolf's ref [15] cites Aron's 1997 "SPS..." article as documenting the concept in humans (accord, Boterberg 2016).  
#Simplified in my words: the concept is a specific personality trait in which one subpopulation's responsiveness/susceptibility/reactivity/sensitivity/etc. to environmental stimuli is higher than another subpopulation's in the same species. Aron's SPS is sensory processing sensitivity; not sensitivity in general. Individuals scoring above the high-20% breakpoint on the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS) are in the highly sensitive person (HSP) category.
# SPS is not autism, sensory processing disorder, sensory overload, Amplification (psychology), avoidant personality disorder, or differential susceptibility hypothesis (mentioned by other editors), though SPS has been "related to" both positive and negative life results.
# For WP purposes, sensory processing sensitivity is used in hundreds of journal articles and would not find a proper home at Sensory Processing Disorder, in the vague traits of Sensitivity (human) or Sensitivity (general), or in Sensory processing.
A clear understanding is needed before substantive editing here, and I hope this summary helps. Let's keep comments concise and without tangents. —RCraig09 (talk) 02:40, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't understand what you are talking about here.  When you write "SPS" what do you mean? Jytdog (talk) 03:19, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Sensory processing sensitivity, the topic of the article. —RCraig09 (talk) 03:24, 20 June 2016 (UTC)

text: Ah OK.  When I see SPS I think WP:SPS.  So in pubmed there are 13 article here for "sensory processing sensitivity".  One of them is a review.  And in PscyNet I got four hits on that phrase.  So where are these hundreds of articles? (not rhetorical) Jytdog (talk) 03:42, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  Currently (2016-06-20) 388 results on a scholar.google.com search, including 307 articles citing Aron's 1997 JPSP journal article. This topic is about a trait in personality psychology, not a disorder that would be associated with medicine per se.  —RCraig09 (talk) 13:11, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  SPS 101 

message: I’ve started investigating Permstrump’s COI/vested-interest concerns at RSN “Take 2”. From that discussion (Permstrump, Jbhunley, et moi) it appears there is no evidence of academic dishonesty to indicate Arthur Aron was on the particular journal committee that reviewed their HSP work for publication.  
I’ve gone further, and correlated the Arons’ graduate students and collaborators listed at their website, with authors cited in this WP article. The evidence indicates (see expandable text below) that none of the article’s NON-Aron references were authored by people affiliated with the Arons on their website.
User:Permstrump, can you demonstrate, with evidence, which of the article’s 24 (est.) non-Aron references you thought might not in fact be independent?  This information could be critical in dealing with sourcing in this article. —RCraig09 (talk) 02:48, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: As I've stated previously, completely unrelated to potential academic dishonesty, the publications by the Aron's aren't independent because of their conflict of interest being the originators of the term having a book by the same name. See WP:INDY —PermStrump(talk) 19:53, 20 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Understood, User:Permstrump. Here I was only asking about the possibility of references not authored by Arons still (somehow) not being independent. It looks like I read too much into your wp:RSN comments. —RCraig09 (talk) 20:49, 21 June 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: Sorry I misunderstood too. The independent sources that I mentioned in a previous thread weren't meant to be exhaustive. Those were just the ones I was aware of at that moment because I had them bookmarked or they were already cited in the article. I'm definitely open to the possibility that there are others. —PermStrump(talk) 21:09, 21 June 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Authorship investigation 

message: Have any studies been done with respect to savantism and highly sensitive people?  It would be interesting to see how those areas correlate here.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.139.254.117 (talk) 19:17, 7 October 2016 (UTC)
replies: text: I think there have been studies noting some correlation between high SPS and creativity, but I doubt we'll ever read anything affirmatively linking SPS to Savant syndrome. SPS identifies a personality trait and doesn't involve a developmental disability, and SPS might even be described as indicating the opposite of a developmental disability. SPS has continually been wrongly confused with many things.  —RCraig09 (talk) 19:55, 7 October 2016 (UTC)
replies: text:  Not an expert or anything, but don't necessarily see savantism as a developmental disability.  Nor do I see SPS as an ability.  I see them more as biological dispositions of the brain architecture, and I can easily see how excess "ability" can lead to functional impairment.  This may be entirely unsupported by the facts, however.  Which is why I'm interested in the facts.  75.139.254.117 (talk) 06:44, 18 November 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Savantism 

message: Under the existing title "Attributes, Characteristics, and Prevalence," there was a brief mention about how SPS has been distinguished from disorders, and how research has included and/or distinguished SPS from other labels. Perhaps this page would benefit from a new section/heading that specifically provides info on studies regarding SPS versus disorders (differences and false similarities that would cause confusion). In Aron's book Psychotherapy and the Highly Sensitive Person... Aron states that the interpretation of the definition of "disorder" and the seemingly similar traits of SPS clients to those of many DSM disorders may have caused misdiagnosis in the past, and goes on to analyze why (or identifies the source) of this confusion.  
From reading peer-review articles, it seems that much research has been centered around SPS in relation to personalities and other characteristics. Because relationships between SPS to other traits/characteristics are so important to the context of SPS in psychology, this Wikipedia article could benefit from additional studies that prove these associations, while keeping a balance between the positive and negative. Since there are both advantages and disadvantages for SPS, as already mentioned and cited in this Wikipedia article, it would benefit to show this with a correct positive/negative balance of specific data that allow readers to see for themselves that this is true. One example of an association can be found in the peer-review article "The Highly Sensitive Person: Stress and Physical Symptom Reports," in which SPS has been correlated to physical health symptoms, though this study did not show a causation. The article also noted that the relationship between SPS and physical symptoms was not dependent on self-rated stress levels. I find it important to add these correlations onto the Wikipedia page (while emphasizing that correlations don't imply causations) because of all seemingly multiplicity of studies that have gone into trying to link or distinguish SPS from other traits, characteristics, disorders, or other areas of life. In other words, adding studies/results that show the relationship between SPS and specific (dis)advantages would more strongly reinforce the idea that the scientific world recognizes both advantages and disadvantages to this trait.     
To expand on the description of SPS, we could emphasize and elaborate that SPS is a trait subdivided into 3 parts: 1)Aesthetic Sensitivity, 2) Low Sensory Threshold 3) Ease of Excitation, using the peer-review article "A psychometric evaluation of the Highly Sensitive Person Scale...." This article describes the study that led to these subfactors within the HSP scale. 
Other areas we could improve on include reorganizing information under new headings. For example, the mention of brain function and genetics studies under the heading "Prevalence" could be moved to a different section titled "HSP in Various Research Areas." The body of information under "Prevalence" could instead expand on its current topic sentence that SPS is found in an abundance of non-human species. This way, the information listed under headings would be more relevant to the title of the heading. 
In addition, Aron's book "Psychotherapy and the Highly Sensitive Person..." offers details about how Aron conducted her original research, including the demographics of her sample and how she polled volunteers for her research. This could be used to add more specifics under the heading "Origin and Development of the Terms" 
MissAndrea (talk) 08:20, 13 January 2017 (UTC)
replies: text: MissAndrea, thank you for your many thoughtful comments.  I agree with most of what you say, but this article has had a long history. Some Wikipedia editors raised issues in 2016 that caused this article to be shorter, such as by consolidating content or moving content from the body to footnotes.  Also, some primary sources were removed, in favor of (preferable) secondary sources. The article was shortened, to avoid giving readers the impression that the concept has more mainstream scientific approval than some editors perceive that it does (though the Arons' 1997 scientific paper has been cited by over >300 scientific papers). Also, because of their sales of books and courses, the works of Drs. Aron are not considered by some to be adequately objective for Wikipedia purposes, and their statements must be put in context and not simply cited as authoritative. For these reasons (not all of which I agree with), many of your helpful suggestions would probably not fit community consensus here. However, when I have time I will consider your thoughtful suggestions and new citations. Thanks, and good luck on your project. —RCraig09 (talk) 17:13, 13 January 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  Add Content from Studies 

message: After a 26 July 2019 tool-based edit, many links in footnotes were eliminated or changed. I'm not saying the changes are wrong (too massively labor-intensive to verify), but FYI the earlier citations are preserved in this version. —RCraig09 (talk) 21:47, 26 July 2019 (UTC)
thread_title: Note to posterity, re links in citations etc.

message: Dear Wikipedia Team,
I suggest addition of below section to <Introduction>.
Please let me know if this makes sense. Thanks.
Albert Einstein, Nicole Kidman, Jim Hallowes, Greta Garbo, Katharine Hepburn, Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland and Martin Luther King Jr are some famous personalities that are highly sensitive (HSP).
: I appreciate the intent. However, after discussions in (mainly) 2016, the content of this article has been rather strictly limited to what's asserted in technical or medical papers. Whether historical figures and celebrities meet the HSP definition is conjectural or anecdotal, even if it's from Dr. Aron's website, so it's probably not appropriate here. —RCraig09 (talk) 18:23, 15 September 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  <Introduction> Regarding addition of celebrity names who are HSP