Morrow 1

Edward Morrow
Professor Kelly Bladl
URWT 1102
10/26/16

Rhetorical Analysis of Desperately Seeking Sensation: Fear, Reward, and the Human Need for
Novelty

For years, the primary tool to analyze why a person takes risks was to evaluate them from
a psychological standpoint. Recently, this has changed as there have been breakthroughs in
neuroscience that have allowed for different methods of study. Brenda Patoine of The Dana
Foundation has used her 20 plus years of experience to concisely relay this research. Some of
this research covers brain imaging and how it has led to new methods of analyzing previous
psychological data. Within this article, Patoine summarizes the sound research of professors to
effectively help others in the field understand how new breakthroughs in neuroscience are adding
to the psychological study of thrill seekers using a clear tone, specific results, and a well laid out
article.
A key indicator of an effective article is Brenda Patoines introduction for the article.
From the beginning of the article Patoine establishes a tone that is professional and easy to
comprehend. The information presented in the article is specific to the neuroscience field and
intended for those in that field and this can be shown through her use of terminology. Patoines
use of terminology and style of writing are showcased in the following section:

In contrast, in the low-sensation seekers, insula activity barely rose above baseline levels.
(See Figure 1b.) Instead, there was pronounced early activity in the anterior cingulate, a
part of the cortex strongly linked to the regulation of emotions.
This section shows that Patoine is sticking to a scholarly tone that emphasizes the use of
information relevant to the subject. The use of such terminology and formal style of writing suits
the purpose of article, which is to summarize findings, and is useful in relaying the information
clearly.
Since Brenda Patoine establishes a clear tone in the article it is clear to see what the
results of the new research are. After the intro, Patoine lays out that developments in brain
imaging have allowed for neuroscientist to map a persons response to stimuli. Patoine relays the
work of Jane Joseph Ph.D. and how they compared the reactions of high risk seekers to low risk
seekers and states the hypothesis of the Jane Joseph and her colleagues. From there Patoine states
how those findings build on what psychologists have been studying since the 1900s. She does
this by first explaining the work psychologist Marvin Zuckerman such as his four traits of
sensation seeking. Including all the cited work of professionals in the fields of psychological and
neuroscience demonstrates Patoines use of logos rhetorical methods in the article. She appeals to
the logic of her audience by using the knowledge of Zuckerman to back up Joseph findings.
The logos of the article also shows in its clear layout. Patoine organizes the article into
clear sections each dealing with a certain aspect of sensation seeking. While each section is
distinct, they share a common thread in explaining some aspect sensation seeking. Even though
the article is broken into sections, Patoine keeps the article flowing by using consistent language
and topics sentences that are effective at introducing the subject and tying it to the last section.
With this being a scholarly article there is little room for pathos but the layout of article did lend

to it. In the section summarizing the brain imaging research, Patoine references pictures that
show the results of the scans. There are snakes depicted at the bottom of these pictures which are
likely intended to represent the fear stimuli. The layout of the article was a key part in relaying
its purpose. Brenda Patoine constructs the article in way that is easy to follow and breaks down
the information that way it is easier to digest. This aided in her task of summarizing and
comparing.
Brenda Patoine has wrote an article that works in summating the developments of
neuroscience that study thrill or sensation seeking. While it is successful at this there may have
been a few weak points in the article that lessen its impact. Brenda Patoine is noted to have been
writing about neuroscience for over 20 years to both professional and casual crowds. In the
article, she balances between making it approachable for everyday readers and comprehensive
enough for those in the actual field. This is evident from the thorough explaining of some of the
concepts that neuroscientist and psychologist would already be aware of. This may have taken
away from the overall effect of the article as more time could have been spent to explaining more
on the developments itself. While there are links that are provided to learn more about the
research, the purpose of the paper was to summarize this specific work. The article does deliver
on its second purpose of explaining how the developments build on previous psychological
methods.
In short, Brenda Patoine has created a very well written article. By establishing her tone
early on and making it consistent it she makes the paper feel professional and that it fits within
the given context of the site. The clear tone make the article easy to follow and to determine its
purpose and audience. To make sure the purpose of the article was met, Brenda Patoine also used
the rhetorical strategy of logos to her benefit by citing the works of those in the field of the topic

at hand. Along with the citing of reliable sources she also used a clear layout to the article in
flowing sections that made the information digestible. While there could have been more
attention paid to the actual developments of the neuroscience the article was still effective in that
it summarized and gave insight to what had been discovered. By being aware of her audience
and using methods that suited this style of writing, Brenda Patoine successfully summarized and
explain how neuroscience can help determine how thrill seekers weigh risk vs reward.

Works Cited
Patoine, Brenda. "Desperately Seeking Sensation: Fear, Reward, and the Human Need for
Novelty." The Dana Foundation. The Dana Foundation, 13 Oct. 2009. Web. 3 Oct. 2016.