A
highly sensitive person (HSP) is a person having the innate trait of high
psychological sensitivity (or
innate sensitiveness as
Carl Jung originally coined it). According to Elaine N. Aron and colleagues as well as other researchers, highly sensitive people, who comprise about a fifth of the population, may process sensory data much more deeply and thoroughly due to a biological difference in their
nervous systems.
[1] This is a specific trait with key consequences that in the past has often been confused with innate
shyness,
social anxiety problems,
inhibitedness, or even
social phobia and innate
fearfulness,
introversion, and so on.
[2] The existence of the trait of innate sensitivity was demonstrated using a test that was shown to have both
internal and
external validity.
[3] Although the term is primarily used to describe
humans, the trait is present in nearly all higher
animals.