Pathological Thrill-Seeking as Arousal-Floor Wrong Attractor: A Displacement Framework Analysis

This paper applies the Displacement Framework to pathological thrill-seeking, analysing it as a wrong-attractor state in which the arousal floor — the minimum stimulation level experienced as tolerable — has been elevated through repeated high-intensity arousal. Using displacement cost D(ξ), accumulated displacement Φ, and basin geometry, we show how the displacement cost of ordinary experience increases as the arousal floor rises, and how risk escalation deepens the basin through further tolerance elevation.

Nine formal propositions characterise the arousal floor mechanism, hedonic treadmill dynamics, dopaminergic and noradrenergic architecture, thrill-seeking as trauma-based self-regulation, and return paths through calibrated challenge and nervous system regulation. Published as part of The Phronesis Issues preprint series.