This is a reprint of a story I wrote for Inside Stunts Magazine, which is now out of business.

The Risk Gene, Stunt-performers & Borderline Personality Disorders

By

Leigh Hennessy

According to Art Linkletter, kids say the darndest things. According to every terrified parent around the globe, kids do the dumbest things. How many daredevil young boys do you know that have endeavored to fly off the roof of their house in a make-shift Superman cape? Or, stubbornly rammed their banana-seat stingray bicycle into a brick wall convinced they could pierce a hole through it? We’ve all taken a whack at defying gravity or inertia at one time or another in our young lives. We were courageous and we were invulnerable. We thought: Where’s the danger in it all? And, stunt people were no different.

However in adulthood, precarious pursuits diminish over time. Adults learn to protect themselves from danger. All modern research shows that the inclination to throw all caution to the wind declines with age. Humm? Why haven’t stunt people been affected?

Blame our fathers. When I was around 4 years old and still getting my fashion advice from diaper commercials, my father caught me standing on the edge of a high diving board contemplating a leap into the cool water below. When he discovered his topless tot on top of the ten-foot tower, his paralyzing screech from across the pool abruptly broke my concentration. But oddly unlike most parents, instead of forcing me to climb down to safety, he made me jump. The death-defying drop took intense coaxing, but I finally stepped off performing my first less than perfect cannonball. Weeeeeee! What fun! After a wimpy splash and labored dog-paddle to the side (of course, he wouldn’t help me swim to the side), nothing could stop me from climbing right back up.

A Southern AAU Diving Champion, Dad taught me early on to take the plunge, so to speak.  But that’s only part of the equation. The other part is genetic. Stunt performers have a rare gene that affects about one in five people, mostly young males. In the world of psychological research, it is known as the Risk Gene.

The Risk Gene is a DNA concoction of three neurotransmitters that make up the enzyme Monoamine Oxidase, what we commonly call MAO. The three neurotransmitters play a role in regulating arousal, inhibition and pleasure. Norepinephrine arouses the brain in response to incoming stimuli. For example, as a racecar increases in speed, norepinephrine allows the driver to experience an adrenaline rush, otherwise known as a thrill.  Dopamine is involved with the sensation of pleasure in response to arousal, letting the driver feel excitement as the speed increases. And serotonine acts as a brake inhibiting arousal, telling the driver to slow down when it gets too dangerous. A person with the Risk Gene has lower levels of MAO, causing a need for more stimuli than the average person to reach a desired level of excitement. In other words, a car has to go twice as fast for a person with the Risk Gene to experience excitement than for a person without it.

Dr. Frank Farley, from the University of Wisconsin and former President of the American Psychological Association, developed personality types similar to the familiar Type A and Type B. Most stunt people would classify themselves as a Type A since we can’t seem to keep still. However, Farley’s new personality type better exemplifies stunt people.  We are Type T – T for Thrills. He divides Type Ts into four categories: T-Mental, T-Physical, T-Positive and T-Negative. Obviously, we fall into the T-Physical category and most of the time we are T-Positive since we take risks safely and for good reason: to earn a living.

Risk-takers are also known as High Sensation Seekers or HSS. Dr. Marvin Zuckerman from the University of Delaware and pioneer in the study of risk-taking, calls HSS individuals an ironic moniker.  He calls them “Highs.” Since Highs have an excitement deficit, they get bored easily. They tend to be impulsive, uninhibited, social and prefer high stimulus activities. They prefer friends with offbeat or exciting lifestyles while avoiding boring people. Here’s a kicker: they have trouble keeping full-time jobs. They are more apt to succeed on Wall Street than in a factory or should I say, more likely to succeed in a film career rather than to that in a 9-5 office.

They are also the ones who buck the system. As our society increasingly imposes controls on risky behaviors, Highs seek new ways to achieve thrills. Case in point: In the past 30 years, as a result of unceasing liability lawsuits, new laws like seatbelt and helmet laws were recorded in the safety books. At the same time, so-called “Extreme Sports” were born.

So, while researchers have been working hard to decipher the roles of nature and nurture in risk-taking behavior, many see a dark side of taking risks. Risk-takers not only represent a limited sample of society, they often don’t have the resources or role-models for T-Positive behavior. Therefore, to fulfill their need for thrills, Highs often resort to drugs, sex, gambling, reckless driving or various crimes. The dominant conclusion of the psychological community is that risk-takers are abnormal. Prominent researcher from UC Davis, Dr. Salvadore Maddi,  feels that well-adjusted people are “good at turning everyday experience into something interesting.” Dr. Randy Larsen, psychologist from the University of Michigan, takes it to another level. He thinks risk-takers are a little sociopathic.

Others view us as normal, but with a common unique personality profile. One such expert is Dr. Keith Johnsgard, a professor of clinical and sports psychology at San Jose State University. He has spent more than a decade studying HSS personalities. Some common traits he found include that they tend to have a higher tolerance for pain, they tend to minimize risk when evaluating situations and experience less anxiety, and they have a facility for assimilating figures and symbols faster. In addition, he finds that they are tough-minded and unsentimental, they have a high drive to be the best, they are fiercely independent, non-conformists, don’t like to be told what to do, and are exhibitionistic and creative. All research also concludes that they have a higher sex drive. Intriguing, but perhaps it’s a subject better suited for a different magazine.

While researchers squabble over character traits and labels, the reality is that the world depends on risk-taking behavior. Survival requires it. Society provides abundant opportunities for constructive risks such as investing in business ventures, running for political office, taking an unpopular stand or perhaps making more conventional choices like changing careers, going back to school, getting married or having children. Our history is shaped by Type-T personalities. Would there be a United States of America if not for the pilgrims? Would there be Christianity without Jesus of Nazarus? Would women have the right to vote without the Suffragettes? And how far would the civil rights movement have gone without Martin Luther King? The world needs risk-takers.  The Dalai Lama reminds us, “Take into account that great love and great achievement involves great risk.”

Quite frankly, if no willing cowboy back in the first half of the 20^th century didn’t jump up and proclaim, “I can fall off that horse, Mr. Director,” there would be no stunts in pictures. It took some brave souls to establish and develop the creative and exciting craft of stunts that magically enhance the art of filmmaking as we know it.

However, ultimately, the greatest benefit to taking risks is personal. “Taking a risk, stepping away from the guardrails, from the rules and the status quo, that’s when you get a sense of who you are,” affirms Dr. Farley, former APA President. You have to push beyond the boundaries to know that. Challenging your limits increases your self-esteem. The satisfaction achieved from that step off the platform awesomely fulfills your soul, giving you a reason to believe in yourself.

A great little book we should all read called “Right Risk” by a former high-diver Bill Treasurer is filled with intriguing thoughts on the subject. His answer to why climb the mountain is not ‘because it’s there.’ It’s more profound. It’s because IT means more than the mountain’s location. To Treasurer, “IT is all the lessons to be gleamed by going through the ordeal of taking a risk. It is the gratification derived from learning character-building lessons about fortification, courage, sacrifice and persistence. It is the personal fulfillment you feel when you withstand strength-sapping pain and find out what you are truly made of … And, ultimately, it is the self-confidence gained from experiencing first hand the pre-eminent value of your own worth.”

So, stunt performers have lucky genes. We challenge ourselves every day. We take it to the limit regularly. Sometimes we succeed. Sometimes we fail. But, ultimately, we learn. Therefore, the next time a parent in your neighborhood panics over their child attempting to fly off the roof, assure them that it’s OK. It’s not the dumbest thing they can do (but, it could be the darndest). Foremost, remind them that it’s their first stab at self-discovery. Better yet, quote Anonymous who said, “Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”

Tags: risk, risk taking, Sports, stunts

This entry was posted on Monday, April 19th, 2010 at 8:47 am and is filed under Health & Fitness, Perspective. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.