We experience life through our senses and each of us has a distinct level of tolerance for the sensations we experience. A Sensory Profile provides a specific approach to understanding our own responses and those of others.
A Sensory Profile is a research based framework that reflects how sensitive we are to the input of sound, movement, visual images, fragrances, taste, texture and touch in our daily lives.
Our tolerance is determined by the brain, and we all respond from low to high thresholds in tolerating sensory information in everyday things.
If your threshold for response is low, you would react easily to a small amount of sensory input – you respond more often, which means you register a lot of detail and changes around you.
A person with a low threshold can be seen to be observant and detail oriented – Low threshold people make excellent organisers as they generally don’t miss a thing in their planning. You are in-tune with every detail in your surroundings, but tend to become easily stressed or overloaded.
If your threshold for response is high, you generally require more intensity of sensation to react and can cope with multiple inputs and variety – you tend to respond to sensations less often, or perhaps actively look for activities with more intense sensory input.
A person with a high threshold can be seen as casual and accommodating, but may tend to get carried away in reaching a goal, ignore procedures or miss important details. You cope with multiple inputs and need intensity to perform at your best.
Research shows that we regulate our responses from passive self regulation – where we allow things to happen, tolerating the added input; to active self regulation – where we try to control the things that happen around us.
In this way, our thresholds, and the way we regulate our response forms
- 4 patterns of sensory response with
- high or low thresholds and
- passive or active response.
We respond to the environment in one of these 4 four basic patterns of sensory response – as Sensitives; Avoiders; Bystanders or Seekers. These patterns make up our Sensory Profile and can provide a framework to help us understand ourselves and others.
Sensitives have low thresholds and passive self regulation so they tend to let things get too much for them and may feel overwhelmed. Sensitives can be described as precise, based on their acute awareness of detail. If you are Sensory Sensitive you are selective about tastes and food, clothing textures and environmental light and heating –everything must have the ‘just right’ level of intensity otherwise you become uncomfortable. Sensitives can be distracted by environmental changes and will be seen to continuously comment on changes that they experience such as ‘how noisy’ or ‘how draughty’ a place has become.
Sensitives can be artistic which links closely to their level of perception. Because you are usually the first person to notice things in your surroundings, you can come across as caring and observant, as you would pick up on a person’s change in mood or facial expression.
The fact that you pick up on detail and intensity makes you prefer predictability when it comes to choosing where to go out, where to shop or the type of holiday to choose. You prefer familiar experiences so as not to be caught off-guard with additional demands. Holidays would be at a quiet venue such as a game farm or fishing venue, where the pace can be controlled and enjoyed; entertainment would be at a familiar restaurant with compatible food tastes, textures and noise level.
If you are sensory sensitive you may feel more comfortable when you are able to manage circumstances and keep track of processes.
Avoiders love to be organised and favour routine. If you are an Avoider, you have a low threshold and use active self regulation to reduce sensory input. You actively create routines for predictability because, like Sensitives, your nervous system tolerates only a limited number of changes in one go, before going into overload. Your focus on detail supports your ability to learn detailed skills and you are excellent at putting procedures into place. You generally insist on things being done the ‘right way’ and actively work to manage input. You prefer time alone or periods of time-out and people around you may criticise you for ‘not getting out more’. You also prefer short conversations and tell people to ‘get to the point’.
Avoiders favour the use of a ‘man-cave’ or study area at home and you take comfort in the way you structure your environment. You enjoy the sanctuary of your home.
Under stress, you can be seen to be controlling in an attempt to restrict additional sensory ‘noise’. Similarly you would prefer to drive rather than be driven as this enables you to be in touch and fore-warned of acceleration, visual changes of traffic, sudden stops and direction changes and the sounds that map our world in terms of distance and time.
Bystanders have a high threshold and need lots of input to get them involved. If you are a Bystander you have passive self regulation and need more intensity if you are to become aware of change. You are not bothered by noise and distractions and are generally easy going and accommodating.
You have excellent focus and easily cope within open-plan offices and with changes to routine; however, details need to be highlighted as you need intensity to alert you to the detail.
Bystanders need more input than most to reach an appropriate level of alertness, and for this reason you need to build in changes to your routine such as going to gym at lunch break or physically moving between areas of work so as to maintain your focus.
Seekers love sensation and actively search out ways in which to liven things up. If you are a Seeker, you have a high threshold and active self regulation to ensure you find more sensation. You inherently enjoy multi-tasking and are good at it, but you may over-look the fact that your level of activity, movement, sound and variety can upset other people with whom you interact.
As a Seeker, you tend to touch and fiddle with things, love spicy and textured foods, fragrances, bright colours and you need movement – Seekers choose high energy activities because these activities give you the sensory intensity needed to reach a ‘just right’ level of focus. As a Seeker you are on-the-go and are a creative thinker who will do well in jobs requiring you to interact with different people, manage quick turnaround times, or brainstorm solutions. This makes you the life and soul of the design team, but in your intensity you may overlook smaller details that could impact the process. You are essentially a team player, but are less focussed on the procedures and you don’t enjoy fixed routine.
Perhaps you have recognised some of your own sensory responses in the 4 patterns above, or perhaps notice that your natural behaviour tolerance can change in different contexts. Our sensory patterns are a reflection of our tolerance for a particular situation. This means that there can be some fluctuation in our thresholds as we have different tolerances for different sensations.
By example, you may be able to mask or regulate your responses in a structured context at work, but may find that your response at home after a demanding day might be exaggerated and more difficult to manage.
It may be an interesting experiment to look at an incident and ask yourself which sensory system was triggered (auditory, visual, smell, taste, movement or touch….) and ask yourself whether you would benefit generally from more of that input or prefer less of that sensory intensity.
Having looked at the different patterns of our individual sensory response, here is a point to ponder:
- Each of us has an individual sensory tolerance as a baseline for the way we respond and behave. This means that many of our reactions relate more to our biological makeup (‘sensory DNA’) and less to our intention to behave that way. We can then, surely, manage the way we interact using activities that increase or decrease of level of arousal so as to determine how much, or how little, we respond in tricky situations.
MySense 