Introduction

A highly sensitive person (HSP) is a neurodivergent individual who is thought to have an increased or deeper central nervous system sensitivity to physical, emotional, or social stimuli.¹ Some refer to this as having sensory processing sensitivity, or SPS for short. A sensitive nervous system makes it harder to filter out stimuli and easier to get overwhelmed by our environment. They account for approximately 20 percent of the total human population.

While highly sensitive people are sometimes negatively described as being “too sensitive,” it is a personality trait that brings both strengths and challenges. However, Our culture usually leads us to see the phrase “highly sensitive” as a negative. There is some cultural discrimination. For example, a more sensitive, empathetic and deeper processing style are often seen as weak, faulty, or too slow. And many highly sensitive employees often endure shame because of their sensitivity. Thus, many HSPs experience difficulty finding an appropriate match between innate temperament and career.

I want to investigate the lived experiences of highly sensitive persons (HSPs) in China to better understand the way they experience careers. Explore the relationship between their highly sensitive traits and inequality, and explore ways to effectively enhance their work experience

Methods

Firstly, an online questionnaire survey and telephone interviews will be combined to obtain data. Secondly, combined with network data crawler, text mining and other methods, I will try to mine the relevant information about HSPs on the Internet.

Respondents: The main way to find respondents is through a Chinese social app for highly sensitive people. Secondly, there are some KOLs who specialise in popularising science for highly sensitive people, and respondents can be found from their followers. Alternatively, I could try to contact these KOLs to see if they could help promote my project and thus obtain a larger amount of data.

1 Online questionnaire

The questionnaire will consist of two parts, one is Elaine Aron’s HSP Self-Test, and the other is a questionnaire designed by myself, which mainly covers HSPs work experience and health status.

The aim of online questionnaire is to obtain quantitative and qualitative data. The main data analysis will focus on descriptive analysis. If a larger sample size can be collected, statistical modelling can be attempted to analyse the data, such as regression analysis and correlation analysis.

2. Phone interview

Telephone interviews will be conducted to record the specific workplace experiences and feelings of HSPs.

3. Internet data crawler.

I will try to crawl all the relevant information of HSP on the Chinese Internet as much as possible and try to explore the current status of HSP and mine more valuable information.

Objectives

To explore whether there are some inequality experiences for HSPs in the workplace To learn about the current public perception and general awareness of HSP in China.

To explore how to help hsp choose a more suitable work and life style.

Literature

Aron, E. (2010) Psychotherapy and the highly sensitive person : improving outcomes for that minority of people who are the majority of clients / Elaine N. Aron. [Online]. New York, N.Y: Routledge.

ARON,Rytovaara, M. (2000) ELAINE N. The Highly Sensitive Person. How to Thrive When the World Overwhelms You. London: Thorsons, 1999. Pp. xix + 251. Journal of analytical psychology. 45 (1), 149–152.

Bröhl, A.S. et al. (2022) “Personality profile of the self-identified highly sensitive person,” Journal of Individual Differences, 43(2), pp. 95–104. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000363.

Cooper, T. M. (2014) The integral being: A qualitative investigation of highly sensitive persons and temperament-appropriate careers. ProQuest Dissertations Publishing.

Geall, L. (2022) 3 things you can do to thrive at work as a highly sensitive person, Stylist. The Stylist Group. Available at: https://www.stylist.co.uk/health/mental-health/highly-sensitive-person-work/649233 (Accessed: December 10, 2022).

Highly sensitive person (2022) Psychology Today. Sussex Publishers. Available at:https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/basics/highly-sensitive-person (Accessed: November 30, 2022).

Rozehnalova, J. 2016, “Highly Sensitive People in an Insensitive World: How to Create a Happy Life”, Journal of Mental Health, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 564.

Siegfried, D. (2004) Making Work Work for the Highly Sensitive Person. The Booklist 100 (15) p.1332–.

Stefan Lindsay, J. (2017) The Highly Sensitive Teacher: Sensory-Processing Sensitivity, Burnout, and Self-Efficacy in Urban Public School Teachers. eScholarship, University of California.