Editing Sensory processing sensitivity (section)

{{Short description|Personality trait of highly sensitive people}}
{{Redirect|Highly sensitive person|highly empathetic people|empath}}
{{About|the personality trait characterizing highly sensitive persons (HSPs)|the distinct but similarly-named disorder|Sensory processing disorder}}
[[File:20190807 SPS block diagram from Greven et al 2019.svg|thumb|upright=1.5 |Characteristics of SPS as graphically summarized by Greven ''et al.'' (review article, 2019)<ref name=Greven_201903/> A person with a high measure of SPS is said to be a '''highly sensitive person''' ('''HSP''').<ref name=Boterberg2016/><ref name=Booth2015/>]]
{{Psychology sidebar}}

'''Sensory processing sensitivity''' ('''SPS''') is a [[Trait theory|temperamental or personality trait]] involving "an increased sensitivity of the [[central nervous system]] and a deeper [[Cognition|cognitive]] processing of physical, social, and emotional stimuli".<ref name=Boterberg2016/> The trait is characterized by "a tendency to 'pause to check' in novel situations, greater sensitivity to subtle stimuli, and the engagement of deeper cognitive processing strategies for employing coping actions, all of which is driven by heightened emotional reactivity, both positive and negative".<ref name=Booth2015/>

A human with a particularly high measure of SPS is considered to have "hypersensitivity", or be a '''highly sensitive person''' ('''HSP''').<ref name=Boterberg2016/><ref name=Booth2015/> The terms ''SPS'' and ''HSP'' were coined in the mid-1990s by [[psychologist]]s [[Elaine Aron]] and her husband [[Arthur Aron]], who developed the Highly Sensitive Person Scale (HSPS) questionnaire by which SPS is measured.<ref name="AronAronJPSP1997" /> Other researchers have applied various other terms to denote this responsiveness to stimuli that is seen in humans and other species.<ref name=WolfEmergenceResponsive2008/>

According to the Arons and colleagues, people with high SPS make up about 15–20% of the population.<ref name=Boterberg2016/> Although some researchers consistently related high SPS to negative outcomes,<ref name=Booth2015/><ref name=Liss2008/> other researchers have associated it with increased responsiveness to both positive and negative influences.<ref name=DiffSuscep2009/><ref name=BoyceReview2015/><ref name=BoyceEllisBSCorchidDandelion2005/><ref name=VantageSens2013/> Aron and colleagues state that the high-SPS [[personality trait]] is not a disorder.<ref name=JournalJung2006/><ref name=201804AcevedoHSBrainVsDisorders/>