Record hunter (psychology)

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In the technical languages ​​( venture research , adventure education , adventure education ), in the scene languages ​​( extreme sports , adventure industry ) as well as in general usage, a person is called a record hunter who is constantly striving for new highs that he himself or no one before him has achieved.

term

In technical terms, the term initially contains an objective, neutral statement: It describes a person who has dedicated his interest to collecting extreme achievements. These can be personal records that push your own level of performance higher and higher. But it can also be about the comparison with competitors over absolute performance limits.

In colloquial language, however , the term has a slightly negative connotation : the record hunter is considered superficial in the meaning of the word “chasing after records” or “chasing existing records”, because what matters to him is the external appearance of the highest performance and the content- related value orientation is secondary or doesn't matter at all.

Guinness book fanatic

Since the Guinness Book of Records, which appeared in London , records from categories such as "natural world", "human body", "science & tech & travel & transport", "amazing feats", "arts & media", "modern society", “Sports & games” has started a real hunt for records, which for their part can hardly be surpassed in their bizarre . Individuals, groups, and entire cities strive to be documented by some extreme feature in this book. Achievements are recorded like

-who crushes most of the beverage cans

-who swallows the most sausages or eggs

- who has the longest fingernails

- who does the most tennis rallies

-who makes the longest chain out of plastic bags

- who can beat the record in permanent kissing (Hamburg) or in mass kissing (Mexico)

In sport , the fastest, most, and most exciting goals that professional athletes achieve or the mass of a vehicle that a strength athlete can move with pure muscle power are counted .

In the technology area , it's about the tallest structure, the longest bridge, the most powerful transmitter or the fastest car.

adventurer

The adventurer looks for excitement and finds them, among other things, in attempts to start risky ventures that meet this urge, that are not accessible to everyone and that cause a stir. The adventures become more and more unusual and daring, the more the adventurer has already gained risk experience and the more he trusts himself. The expectation of being able to market the adventure mostly plays an important role here as well, as can be seen from the response in the print and show media.

"Adventurous" are also attempts to fit into a record gap and z. B. to secure a place in the climbing history of a mountain: You want to be the youngest, oldest, most disabled climber of a mountain. One mountaineer tried to carry his baby up Mont Blanc in a backpack . A thirteen-year-old was heaved up Mount Everest by the Sherpas along with his entire family . Ninety-year-olds conquer the Matterhorn . You want to be the first woman, the first German, the first winter climber of a mountain. New record goals are constantly being invented ( ascent of all eight-thousanders , the “ Seven Summits ” / “golden” continental peaks) - single-handedly, with skis, without an oxygen mask, in the shortest possible time (in the so-called alpine style ).

With the adventurer , a way of life has developed professional traits, which has become a lucrative business through sponsor support and skillful marketing.

Extreme athlete

The principle of " Citius, altius, fortius " ("faster, higher and further, braver and stronger") was revived and popularized by Pierre de Coubertin as a reflection of the competitive society in sport with the establishment of the modern Olympic Games . Lists of the Olympic records and the most successful Olympians have been kept since ancient times. In addition, the striving for records at all performance levels up to world records came in the modern era .

Statistics keep track of the world records in athletics in the individual disciplines: who can achieve the greatest distance, height, strength, speed or endurance. Who will win the most titles? Who stays at the top of a discipline the longest. The record marks are set again and again - also through better equipment and increasing professionalism - and the level of performance is always raised. In non-Olympic sports, first ascents are collected ( mountaineering , climbing ) or height and distance records are set ( paragliding , hang-gliding ).

Frontier workers

The border crosser moves with his ambitions for tension stimuli on the divide between life and death. He tries to push the limits of what is humanly possible and in doing so to achieve unexpected, superhuman top performances that are marveled at by the masses. For example, the high-altitude mountaineer Reinhold Messner , who sees himself as a professional cross-border commuter , tried to set further records by crossing sand and ice deserts after the challenges in the high mountains.

The parachutist Felix Baumgartner caused a sensation in October 2012 as the peak of his cross-border commuter career with his stratospheric jump from almost 40 kilometers and a free fall of almost 37 kilometers at a speed of 1357.6 km / h. Before that, he had already surpassed all the top marks that base jumpers had set in front of him.

In earlier times, people who dared the seemingly impossible with their courage, such as the aviation pioneers Otto Lilienthal or Charles Lindbergh, were considered crazy. Like the modern cross-border commuters, they were only recognized and honored after their systematically increased record performance had proven achievable.

rating

The motivational situation of the record hunters is not structured uniformly, and their achievements can be assessed very differently: According to the research of the experimental psychologist Siegbert A. Warwitz, the effort to somehow get into the Guinness Book of Records results primarily from a pronounced desire for self-expression from an instinct to play and the desire for an attention-grabbing extraordinary show performance.

After Warwitz, adventurers are primarily looking for the exciting self-awareness and the exciting experience in order to intensify the attitude to life and improve the quality of life. The early buccaneers were also about land conquest and enrichment. The pirates in the service of Her Majesties Walter Raleigh , Francis Drake or Hernando Pizarro are classic examples. In order to make adventures profitable in our time, they have to be as unusual and spectacular as possible and therefore dangerous. They find undivided approval and admiration in the general public, especially when they are below a value horizon , e.g. B. counting the rescued people during mountain rescue missions .

Extreme athletesas well as cross-border commuters draw their drive energies primarily from the awareness of their own extraordinary performance and the need to savor this in competition and in surpassing the others as an exciting experience. It's about experiencing superiority, enjoying public awareness. You want to stand out from the crowd of nameless average citizens, make your own name known and earn admiration and self-confidence. By documenting their achievements in tables of the scenes and in autobiographies , they also work on their fame. It is even economically worthwhile for particularly successful and skilful representatives of this direction of motivationto makethe adventure search, extreme sport orcrossingthe border a maxim in life , especially since they meet the philobatist's attitude towards life .

Record hunters can also play a very constructive role in a social setting : They make a significant contribution to entertainment in the modern media society with live presentations, film documentaries, photo reports, talk shows or interviews. In addition, their mental and physical performance potential enables them to contribute to the advancement of scientific knowledge or technical development with the courageous use of their whole personality. Numerous pioneering achievements, such as the journeys of the great explorers James Cook , Sven Hedin , David Livingstone or the aviation achievements of Otto Lilienthal , Charles Lindbergh , Bertrand Piccard, served to gain knowledge and benefit mankind.

However, immersion in the tense, dangerous life and successful risk management can also take on intoxicating traits . There is a risk that the incessant pursuit of records will become an end in itself, become an addiction to behavior and ultimately lead to self-destruction. This is indicated e.g. For example, if the record is sought at any price, including with drug support and regardless of health and the natural personal performance limit. The venture researchers Michael Apter, David Le Breton and Horst Opaschowski have highlighted this point of view in their work.

literature

  • Michael Apter: In the intoxication of danger . Publishing house Kösel. Munich 1994
  • David Le Breton: Pleasure in risk . Dipa publishing house. Frankfurt 1995. ISBN 3-7638-0336-X
  • Guinness World Records 2014 current German edition, ISBN 978-3-411-81320-9
  • Iris Hadbawnik: To the limit and beyond. Fascination with extreme sports . Publishing the workshop. 2011. ISBN 978-3-89533-765-9
  • Reinhold Messner: moving mountains - the credo of a cross-border commuter . FSVO. Munich 1993. ISBN 3-405-14561-9
  • Reinhold Messner, Thomas Hüetlin: My life at the limit . Malik, Munich 2004. ISBN 3-89029-285-2
  • Horst W. Opaschowski: Xtrem. The calculated madness. Extreme sport as a time phenomenon . Germa-Press Verlag 2000. ISBN 3-924865-33-7
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. Attempts to explain cross-border behavior . 2., ext. Edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, ISBN 978-3-8340-1620-1 .
  • Siegbert A. Warwitz: From the sense of the car. Why people face dangerous challenges . In: DAV (Hrsg.) Berg 2006. Munich-Innsbruck-Bozen. Pp. 96-111. ISBN 3-937530-10-X

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Guinness World Records 2014 current German edition
  2. ↑ Reinhold Messner: Move mountains - The credo of a cross-border commuter . FSVO. Munich 1993
  3. ↑ Extremely record-breaking ( memento of the original from November 23, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Report on Baumgartner's stratospheric jump on DRadio Wissen @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / Wissen.dradio.de
  4. ^ Otto Lilienthal # memorials
  5. ^ Charles Lindbergh # Honors
  6. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings. Attempts to explain cross-border behavior . 2., ext. Edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016
  7. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Risk must want the essential . In: Ders .: Search for meaning in risk. Life in growing rings . 2., ext. Edition, Verlag Schneider, Baltmannsweiler 2016, pages 296–311
  8. ↑ What drives Teufelskerle ( memento of the original from April 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.podcast.de archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. - Interview on Deutschlandradio on October 12, 2012
  9. ↑ Iris Hadbawnik: To the Limit and Beyond. Fascination with extreme sports . Publishing the workshop. 2011
  10. ↑ Reinhold Messner, Thomas Hüetlin: My life at the limit . Malik, Munich 2004
  11. ^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: From the sense of the car. Why people face dangerous challenges . In: DAV (Ed.) Berg 2006 . Munich-Innsbruck-Bozen. Pages 96-111
  12. ↑ Batthyány, Dominik / Pritz, Alfred (ed.): Intoxication without drugs: Substance-free addictions . Springer, Vienna New York 2009
  13. ↑ Michael Apter: In the intoxication of danger . Publishing house Kösel. Munich 1994
  14. ↑ David Le Breton: Pleasure at Risk . Dipa publishing house. Frankfurt 1995
  15. ↑ Horst W. Opaschowski: Xtreme. The calculated madness. Extreme sport as a time phenomenon . Germa-Press Verlag 2000