This is a measure of espousers' visceral reaction to situations that others may think are dangerous; or just the thought of experiencing extreme situations involving elements of perceived risk.
This is most prevalent in men, over indexing in under 35's, and can explain some of the riskier behaviour exhibited by a significant minority of these people - risky behaviour is fun.
The behaviour can range all the way from imagining they would enjoy riding on a fast motorbike to being involved in a street riot - which explains the overwhelming presence of younger males often seen in civil disobedience situations everywhere in the world - and the lack of women over 55, who are the least likely to espouse this attribute.
Espousers believe that rules can be constraints on their aspirations and that, if the rules need to be broken so be it - breaking the rules can be part of the excitement in life.
This orientation creates an espouser that is likely to be seeking situations to experience the heightened emotions and awareness that comes from being in high adrenaline producing circumstances. The buzz of this high is a the motivating force that drives them - not necessarily their stated motivation. This means that many of the espousers of this attribute will be found on political mass action marches and demonstrations, both fringe and mainstream, but in the groups that tend to raise a little more hell than organizers might wish for. They are not so much driven by ideology as they are by the thought of disorder and bending a few rules.
Though the statements do not directly reference the issue it is likely that many of the alt-right trolls found on many social media posts are behaving not from a deep sense of socio-political conviction as they are being motivated more by a sense of exhilaration they get from doing something 'dangerous', bending a few rules in the hope of provoking some 'disorder' in the on-line community.
The sense that life can be an adventure full of challenges is strong in these espousers. Overcoming challenges - physical, intellectual and emotional - brings them personal rewards. Anti-social behaviour can be seen as short cut to define and achieve a 'life of adventure'.
Using ExhilarationDemographic Skews: 1) Over-indexed: Male, under 35, mid-market. 2) Under-indexed: Female, 55+, down-market. Exhilaration espousers also espouse other Attributes. The top five most highly correlated Attributes of Exhilaration espousers are, in order of the strength of relationship: 1) Buzz In total those who espouse Exhilaration also over-index significantly on 37 other Attributes. |
If "Exhilaration" (or the associated attributes) are important to you and you would like to delve more deeply, contact us at mail@cultdyn.co.uk