Sensitivity and the individual framework of being
Keywords:
sensitivity, environmental sensitivity, highly sensitive person (HSP), agency, capabilitiesAbstract
In recent years, the concept of being a highly sensitive person has come to be known through popular science. Even in scholarship, it is an interesting concept, but it appears in various forms under several different concepts which are all united by inter-individual differences in sensitivity and sensitivity to environments. This article discusses the phenomenon of sensitivity, highlighting its scholarly terminology as well as Finnish and international research on the subject. It outlines what we call
a framework of being, covering an interactive, communal and societal dimension. This framework refers to an environment involving existence and activity, where an individual functions, grows and develops. Individual frameworks of being provide an
overview of different people’s agency and capabilities in terms of their sensitivity. This is a new way to examine the subject, targeted towards the interactive relationship between an individual and an environment as well as the analysis of its nature,
taking individual differences in sensitivity into account. The theoretical analysis of sensitivity opens up opportunities for further research. Social science research is required for expanding the field of study involving sensitivity and differences in sensitivity.
