for aks198 - week 4 questions

rachelsaad

motivation_3e_ch06.pdf

Home >Psychology homework help >for aks198 - week 4 questions

127

C H A P T E R

6 Behavior, Arousal,and Affective Valence The body of man is a machine which winds its own spring.

—J. O. De La Mettrie, 1748

Music hath charms to soothe a savage beast, To soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak.

—William Congreve, 1697

■ While taking an exam, a student is unable to retrieve an answer from memory. However, as soon as she exits the classroom, the answer comes to mind. Could the anxiety that was aroused by the exam have interfered with recall of the answer? This question and the following ones are provided as guides for understanding the concepts in this chapter:

1. In what ways is arousal similar and different from motivation?

2. What produces arousal?

3. Does arousal affect how well a person performs a task? If so, how?

4. Is arousal linked to the quality of our feelings? If so, what is the nature of this link?

5. How do incongruous events produce arousal? Do their resolutions contribute to the enjoyment of humor, music, and suspense?

Arousal and Performance Whether pushed by a motive or pulled by an incentive, physiological and psychological arousal accompanies behavior. In one case, arousal is in the background and affects the efficiency of ongoing behavior. In the other case, arousal is in the foreground felt as an affective experience. The following two quotes describing people’s experiences help clarify this distinction. The first quote illustrates the effects of arousal on performance.

My math anxiety started because of a teacher that I had for math in the third grade. We were learning our times tables, and she didn’t have any sympathy for the kids that were a little slower than the others. We would play a flash card game in front of the class, and if you got it wrong, she made you look like an idiot. So my anxiety comes from being afraid of being wrong in front of a group, and looking stupid. (Perry, 2004, p. 322)

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

128 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

This next quote illustrates how arousal serves as an affective experience.

To her, the tension-and-release cycle that accompanies cinematic terror brings about some- thing like a gambler’s high. “It’s not that I’m a self-mutilator,” she [Ms. Gauh] said, “but it’s just a powerful rush when you can overcome some pain.” . . . “It’s the adrenaline,” said Sarah Stark, a movie theater manager in Lima, Ohio, explaining her long time interest in gory movies. For her, she said, violent horror movies amount to something of a personal endurance test, a bit like white-water rafting—the sheer terror of which clears the mind and, briefly, seems to reduce all of life down to a single exhilarating moment. (Williams, 2006, ¶ 12, 28)

The first quote by a student with math anxiety typifies the relationship between arousal and performance on a task. When arousal is high, as in the case of math anxiety, per- formance is low. If only math anxiety could be reduced, but not totally, then a student might perform better when solving math problems or taking a math test. The second quote is from individuals who enjoy watching horror movies. For them, movie scenes create a level of arousal that is optimal for creating a sense of pleasure, like a rush or moment of exhilaration.

The purpose of this chapter is to describe how these two functions of arousal help us to understand motivation. The intent of this first section is to describe arousal, its an- tecedents, and outcomes. It also covers how the quality of a person’s performance depends on the interaction between the level of arousal and the difficulty of the task being performed.

Categories of Arousal Arousal refers to the mobilization or activation of energy that occurs in preparation or dur- ing actual behavior. “My heart is pounding” implies physiological arousal while “I feel tense and anxious” implies psychological arousal. In combination with neurological or brain arousal, these are the different categories of arousal that have been studied.

Physiological Arousal. If you raced through your presentation during speech class with clammy hands, pounding heart, and dry throat, then you were physiologically aroused. Physiological arousal refers to those bodily changes that correspond to our feelings of being energized, such as sweaty palms and increased muscle tension, breathing, and heart rate. These changes indicate that the body is getting ready for action much like starting a car’s engine means that it’s ready to move. The autonomic nervous system controls physiological arousal and is divided into two branches: the sympathetic nervous system and the parasym- pathetic nervous system. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for arousing or preparing the body for action. It stimulates the heart to pump blood more effectively. It causes glucose, epinephrine (adrenaline), and norepinephrine (noradrenaline) to be released in the bloodstream. The sympathetic nervous system also makes rapid breathing possible, which increases oxygen intake. The parasympathetic nervous system, however, is concerned with conserving the body’s energy. It is active during quiet periods and tends to counteract the arousing effects of the sympathetic system.

Brain Arousal. The activation of the brain, ranging from deep sleep to wakefulness to alertness, is referred to as brain arousal. Different areas of the brain are aroused depending on the operations being performed. Just as a car uses more fuel when it is moving, various areas of the brain also use more energy when active. This energy is in the form of glucose

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 129

and oxygen. Two techniques for measuring brain activity make use of the fact that energy consumption increases in areas of the brain. Positron emission tomography (PET scan) is a procedure that produces a three-dimensional picture indicating areas of the brain that are most active. The picture is obtained by measuring positrons. These are particles with a positive charge that are emitted by radioactive substances injected into a person’s blood- stream and carried to the brain. These radioactive particles concentrate in those brain areas that have the highest blood flow or highest utilization of glucose. Another method for detecting brain activity makes use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This technique is used for obtaining high-resolution images of the brain from energy waves that are emitted from hydrogen atoms, which are released when the brain is surrounded by a strong magnetic field. The energy waves are influenced by the amount of oxygen in the blood of brain tissue. Just as our muscles need oxygen to work, increased blood flow and hence oxygen are provided to that part of the brain that is activated. Brain arousal is rele- vant for understanding subjective emotional experiences that map onto neural networks in the brain. This topic of affective feelings corresponding to brain activities is described in greater detail in Chapter 13.

Psychological Arousal. Is the anticipation felt prior to getting an exam back the same as the anticipation felt when opening a birthday present? Psychological arousal refers to how subjectively aroused an individual feels.An alternative strategy to relying on physiological in- dicators of arousal is to ask a person how subjectively aroused he feels. “I’m full of pep,” “I’m all psyched up,” or “I’m tired and have no energy” are verbal reports of various degrees of subjective arousal or activation. In researching subjective arousal, Thayer (1989) developed a theory of arousal that involves two dimensions: energetic arousal and tense arousal. Energetic arousal is a dimension characterized by a range of feelings from tiredness and sleepiness at the low end to alert and awake at the high end. High levels of energetic arousal are associated with a positive affective tone and optimism. For instance, energetic arousal could be associ- ated with planning a vacation trip. Tense arousal is a dimension characterized by a range of feelings from calmness and stillness at the low end to tension and anxiety at the high end. High levels of tense arousal are associated with a negative affective tone. The student’s description of math anxiety in the opening example is a case of tense arousal while the report from the horror-movie goers suggests their experience is a mixture of tense and energetic arousal.

The Scale Measuring Energetic Arousal and Tense Arousal in Table 6.1 provides a way of determining the intensity of each type of arousal that a person is momentarily ex- periencing. The items in Table 6.1 indicate that energetic arousal is associated with posi- tivity and pleasantness while tense arousal is associated with negativity and unpleasantness (Schimmack & Reisenzein, 2002). In validating these two types of arousal, Thayer (1978) found that students rated themselves more jittery and fearful (high tense arousal) on the day of an exam compared to a typical class day. Conversely, they were more likely to rate them- selves as being more placid and calm (low tense arousal) on a typical class day than on an exam day. Thayer also found that taking a brisk 10-minute walk elevated energetic arousal compared to sitting restfully for a similar amount of time. Resting, however, reduced an in- dividual’s level of tense arousal compared to walking.

➣ An older, more exhaustive measure of energetic and tense arousal is Thayer’s Activation- Deactivation Checklist, which is available at http://www.csulb.edu/~thayer/thayer/adacl.htm

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

130 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

TABLE 6.1 Scale Measuring Energetic Arousal and Tense Arousal

The six dimensions below describe arousal, energy, or activation levels. Please circle the number of each dimension that indicates how you feel at this moment.

Energetic Arousal sleepy � 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 � awake

tired � 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 � alert

drowsy � 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 � wakeful

Tense Arousal at rest � 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 � restless

relaxed � 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 � tense

calm � 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 � jittery

Note: Sum all of your energetic arousal and tense arousal scores separately. The value of each score indicates the amount of each type of arousal that a person experiences at the moment.

Source: Based on “Experiencing Activation: Energetic Arousal and Tense Arousal Are Not Mixtures of Valence and Activation” by U. Schimmack and R. Reisenzein, 2002, Emotion, 2, p. 414.

Sources of Arousal Does loud music, the promise of a bonus, or playing a game energize you? These are ex- amples of stimuli, incentives, and behavior that all contribute to arousal and energization.

Stimuli. Someone calls out your name and you orient yourself toward the source of the sound. The sound of your name has both a cue function and an arousing function (Hebb, 1955). The cue function determines the type of response, and the arousing function deter- mines the intensity of the response. The arousal function of a stimulus is apparent from the energizing properties of music, which are described later in this chapter.

In addition to arousal from a specific stimulus, background stimuli also affect a person’s level of arousal. These stimuli, not the focus of an individual’s attention, consist of time of day, caffeine, and the process of being evaluated. Time-of-day effects are most obvious from people’s sleep-wake cycles: low arousal during sleep and high arousal when awake. Clements and associates (1976) had students in university classes that met at various times of the day fill out a scale that measured energetic arousal. The results showed that energetic arousal followed an inverted-U relationship with time of day.Arousal began low for 8 o’clock classes, rose to its highest levels for 12 and 2 o’clock classes, and then declined to its lowest value for evening classes. Other studies have also shown that psychological arousal in- creases from shortly after 8 A.M. to noon and 2 P.M. and then declines, reaching its lowest point prior to bedtime (Thayer, 1967, 1978). More subtle are changes in body temperature, which increases from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. and then declines, as do changes in subjective alert- ness, which increases from 8 A.M. to around noon (Monk & Folkard, 1983). Caffeine from a cup of coffee boosts many people’s energetic arousal in the morning. As described in Chapter 4, the arousing effects of caffeine are considered pleasurable. Finally, we live in an age when many people suffer from evaluation anxiety, which occurs during exams, sports competition, and social situations (Zeidner & Matthews, 2005). Perhaps most pertinent to the reader is test anxiety and math anxiety, which are aroused in statistics courses.

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 131

Collative Variables. In addition to stimulus intensity, other variables also affect arousal. Berlyne (1960) proposed the term collative variables to refer collectively to stimulus char- acteristics that include novelty, complexity, and incongruity. A novel stimulus is one that is new and different from the stimuli to which a person has become accustomed. For instance, given a choice between two stimuli that differ in novelty, grade school children are more likely to choose the more novel one. It is assumed that a more novel stimulus is also more arousing (Comerford & Witryol, 1993).

The complexity variable is determined by the number of elements and the dissimilar- ity of those elements in a stimulus array. The incongruity variable refers to the difference between a single element in the stimulus array that conflicts with or is discrepant from accompanying stimulus elements or from previous elements. Collative variables also affect an individual’s curiosity. Looking time increases as complexity of various stimuli increases, such as drawings, photographs, and works of art (Faw, 1970; Leckart & Bakan, 1965; Nicki & Moss, 1975).

Tasks. Arousal has also been linked to how much energy a person is willing to expend in order to successfully complete a task or attain an incentive (Brehm & Self, 1989; Duffy, 1962). The degree of arousal or energization for getting ready to act is based on three factors: (1) the severity of the person’s need, (2) the value of the incentive being pursued, and (3) the likelihood that successfully completing the behavior will actually result in the incentive (Brehm & Self, 1989). For example, a person may become little energized if the value of the incentive is low. A person may become greatly energized, however, if the incentive is high and if the chances of earning the incentive are moderate—that is, not too easy and not impossible. To illustrate, people who think they have a good chance at winning a coupon from a fast-food restaurant show an increase in heart rate and blood pressure in anticipation of the task required to earn the coupon (Wright & Dill, 1993). The increase in heart rate and blood pressure, which indicates energization, was greatest when participants were doing a difficult task but one they thought was achievable. Participants who thought they had little chance to succeed showed a smaller increase in heart rate and blood pressure on the difficult task. After all, why get energized over a task that cannot be accomplished?

Arousal and Behavior Psychologists are interested in how arousal affects the performance of a person working on various tasks. The next several pages examine the relationship between arousal and behav- ioral efficiency.

Arousal-Performance Relationships. Personal introspection leads to conflicting con- clusions about the relationship between arousal and performance efficiency. For example, a person might conclude that it is good to be somewhat aroused while giving a speech, although too much arousal results in poor delivery. However, even the mildest arousal might prevent a person from falling asleep while extreme arousal is necessary to run across the street to avoid being hit by a car. Perhaps the relationship between arousal and behavior depends on the nature of the task that is being performed. Let us examine two experiments on how arousal affects performance on different tasks: basketball free throws and reaction time. Is the efficiency of these two behaviors affected by arousal in the same way? For bas- ketball free-throw behavior, Wang and coresearchers (2004) had participants shoot 20 freeIS

B N

0- 55

8- 46

77 0-

132 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

S u

cc es

sf u

l F re

e T

h ro

w s

Low Anxiety High Anxiety

FIGURE 6.1 Anxiety and Free Throws. As anxiety increased, there was a decrease in the num- ber of successful basketball free throws out of 20 attempts.

Source: Adapted from “Coping Style and Susceptibility to Choking” by J. Wang, D. Marchant, & T. Morris, 2004, Journal of Sport Behavior, 27, table 1, p. 83.

throws in low- and high-pressure conditions designed to produce low and high arousal. First, participants shot free throws in the low-pressure condition, during which only one person was present who scored the shots and returned the ball. Next, in the high-pressure condition, participants shot their free throws while being videotaped in the presence of stu- dent spectators. In addition, participants received $1 for every shot they made plus an ad- ditional $4 was added or subtracted for every shot that exceeded or fell short of the number made in the low-pressure condition. In order to determine if all of these manipulations in- creased arousal, participants completed a scale that measured their cognitive anxiety and bodily anxiety. The high-pressure manipulations had the intended effect: cognitive and bod- ily anxiety were greater in the high-pressure than in the low-pressure condition. How was free-throw performance affected? Figure 6.1 shows that participants made significantly fewer free throws while more highly anxious. The main conclusion is that as arousal (anx- iety) increases, free-throw performance declines.

In the case of simple reaction time, Smith and coresearchers (2005) manipulated arousal with varying amounts of caffeine. On different days and in the space of 90 minutes, participants drank two beverages either both without caffeine, one with and one without caffeine, or both with caffeine. The simple reaction time task consisted of participants pressing a key as soon as they saw a square appear on the computer screen. Did caffeine- induced arousal affect reaction time? Figure 6.2 shows that a greater amount of caffeine produced faster reaction times. The main conclusion is that as caffeine-induced arousal in- creases, reaction time becomes faster.

Yerkes-Dodson Law. Notice that these two experiments provide different conclusions re- garding the effects of arousal on performance. In one case (Figure 6.1) increases in arousal reduces performance while in the other case (Figure 6.2) it improves performance. Two hy- potheses suggest themselves for these results. First, some arousal helps performance but too much arousal hinders it. Second, the amount of arousal depends on the nature of the task, such as free throws versus reaction time. The first hypothesis describes an inverted-U

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 133

R ec

ip ro

ca l o

f R

ea ct

io n

T im

e (�

1 00

No Coffee One Coffee

20 Two Coffees

FIGURE 6.2 Caffeine and Reaction Time. Reaction speed became faster with an increase in the amount of caffeinated coffee that participants drank. Reciprocals of reaction times (� 1000) were computed in order to associate taller bars with faster reaction times. The RTs were 366, 353, and 343 milliseconds for no, one, or two coffees, respectively.

Source: Adapted from “Effects of Repeated Doses of Caffeine on Mood and Performance and Fatigued Volunteers” by S. A. Smith, D. Sutherland, & G. Christopher, 2005, Journal of Psychopharmacology, 19, table 1, p. 624.

arousal-performance relationship: as arousal increases, performance increases, levels off, and then decreases (Hebb, 1955; Malmo, 1959). The two inverted-U curves in Figure 6.3 show that for each task an intermediate level of arousal is considered optimal—that is, the level that is associated with the best performance.

The second hypothesis suggests that the optimal level of arousal changes with the nature of the task being performed. In other words, the optimal level of arousal is not fixed but depends on the complexity or difficulty of the task being performed. This complication

P er

fo rm

an ce

L ev

Level of Stimulation or Arousal

Harder task Easier task

FIGURE 6.3 Yerkes-Dodson Law. Each curve shows the inverted-U arousal-performance rela- tionship. As arousal increases, performance increases and levels off; further increases in arousal lead to decreases in performance. According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, the optimal level of arousal is lower for harder tasks than for easier tasks. The optimal level of arousal is associated with the best performance at a task.

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

134 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

was an early discovery in the history of psychology by Yerkes and Dodson (1908). They trained mice to discriminate between a white box and a black box at three levels of difficulty. In the process of learning, if the mouse made the wrong choice, it received an electric shock, which varied in intensity from weak to medium or strong. The strong electric shock “was decidedly disagreeable to the experimenters and the mice reacted to it vigorously” (pp. 467–468). The intensity of the shock has come to be equated with the level of arousal, although Yerkes and Dodson did not interpret their experiment in terms of arousal but in terms of the intensity of (electrical) stimulation. The results of their experiment show that performance on the discrimination problem depended on problem difficulty and on shock intensity. For easy discrimination problems, performance increased across all levels of shock intensity and almost never declined. For difficult discrimination problems, however, perfor- mance increased with shock intensity and then decreased. Medium-difficult discriminations showed the most pronounced inverted-U relationship. These findings became known as the Yerkes-Dodson law: low arousal produces maximal performance on difficult tasks, and high arousal produces maximal performance on easy tasks. This law is diagrammed in Figure 6.3.

Zones of Optimal Functioning. Experiments showing inverted-U relationships be- tween arousal and task performance have been scarce, however (Neiss, 1988). A reason for the shortage of evidence is that individuals have different optimal levels of arousal. The same general curve does not apply to everyone. The zone of optimal functioning hypothesis in sports psychology postulates individual inverted-U curves each with a zone of optimal arousal where an athlete performs best (Hanin, 1989). Arousal below or above this zone leads to poorer performance. The zone applies to different psychological vari- ables and has been tested most frequently with cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety. Cognitive anxiety refers to negative expectations and mental concerns about performance in a competitive situation. Somatic anxiety refers to the self-perception of physiological arousal associated with nervousness and tension. In a test of the zone of optimal function hypothesis, Krane (1993) examined the relationship between cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety and the performance of women players during soccer matches. Each player filled out the two anxiety scales about 20 minutes prior to each of the season’s 12 soccer matches. A player’s optimal zone for cognitive anxiety was defined as between one stan- dard deviation below and above her season’s cognitive anxiety mean. Her somatic anxiety zone was also defined as between one standard deviation below and above her season’s so- matic anxiety mean. At the end of the season, each player’s soccer match performance was classified as below, within, or above her optimal zone for cognitive and for somatic anxi- ety. Krane found partial support for the hypothesis. A player performed best when she was within but also below her optimal zone and played worst when above her zone.

The zone of optimal functioning for cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety has also been examined with swimmers. Davis and Cox (2002) measured cognitive anxiety and somatic anxiety 10 minutes prior to a highschool swimmer’s preferred event. Each swimmer’s mean and standard deviation for cognitive anxiety and for somatic anxiety was computed for the season. In this study, a swimmer’s optimal zone was defined as between one-half standard deviation below and above the mean for the season. The results for cognitive anxiety, but not for somatic anxiety, supported the zone of optimal functioning hypothesis. Swimmers swam faster when in their optimal zone for cognitive anxiety and slower when below or above their zone. Swimming times did not differ for the three somatic anxiety zones.

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 135

Section Recap Arousal refers to energy mobilization and activation of a person prior to or while engaged in behavior. Arousal occurs in several modes. Physiological arousal refers to excitement of the body, as reflected by sweaty palms and increased muscle tension, breathing, and heart rate. The sympathetic nervous system is responsible for stimulating the heart to pump blood more effectively, the liver to release glucose, the release of epinephrine (adrenaline) and norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and increased oxygen uptake. Brain arousal refers to activation of various areas of the brain as a person performs various activities. Brain arousal is measured by positron emission tomography (PET scan), which is a procedure that pro- duces a three-dimensional brain picture indicating areas that are most active. Brain arousal is also measured with a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) procedure that pro- vides an image showing the degree of activity in a particular brain area. A third mode of arousal is psychological arousal, which refers to how subjectively aroused an individual feels. Psychological arousal is composed of energetic and tense dimensions. Energetic arousal is associated with positive affect, while tense arousal is associated with anxiety and fearfulness.

Arousal itself stems from several sources. A stimulus, for example, has an arousing function and a cue function. In addition, background stimuli which do not capture a per- son’s attention also increase arousal. Arousal varies with time of day, being highest around noon and lower in the morning and evening. Coffee boosts arousal as does the process of being evaluated during exams or sports competition. Arousal also depends on collative vari- ables, including characteristics like novelty, complexity, and incongruity. A task also can be a source of arousal, since it energizes or activates a person even before he begins working on it. Task-induced arousal is based on a person’s need, value of the task’s outcome, and chances of success. Sometimes arousal increases behavioral efficiency and in other in- stances decreases it. This inconsistency is handled by an inverted-U relationship and the Yerkes-Dodson law.

According to the inverted-U relationship, as arousal increases, performance on a task increases and then decreases. According to the Yerkes-Dodson law, the high point of the inverted-U or arousal-performance relationship depends on the complexity of the task being performed. Low arousal produces maximal performance on difficult tasks, and high arousal produces maximal performance on easy tasks. According to the zone of optimal functioning hypothesis, each individual has her preferred zone of arousal based on cogni- tive or somatic anxiety. Athletic performance is better within the zone and worse below and above it.

Theories about the Performance-Arousal Relationship Several theories have been proposed to explain the inverted-U arousal-performance rela- tionship. The classic Hull-Spence drive theory emphasizes how arousal affects performance with little regard for any cognitive awareness on the part of the individual. The cusp catas- trophe model in sports psychology, the cue utilization hypothesis, and the processing effi- ciency theory are more concerned with the cognitive aspects of arousal and how this affects behavioral efficiency. The purpose of this section is to describe each theory along with some exemplary evidence for its support.

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

136 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

Hull-Spence Drive Theory What determines whether arousal aids or hinders performance? The answer depends on whether arousal is energizing a correct response or an incorrect response. For instance, correct responses occur more readily with easy tasks, while incorrect responses are initially more likely with difficult tasks. Spence and his associates (1956a, 1956b) employed Hull’s (1943, 1952) drive concept to account for the finding that high drive or arousal aids in the performance of easy tasks but hinders the performance of difficult tasks. For Hull, drive was a persistent inter- nal stimulus or pushing action of a physiological need. The stronger the drive, the greater the pushing action on all responses. Thus, for a simple task as drive increases, the strength of the correct response increases, as does the difference between the correct and the wrong responses. In a complex task, however, the most dominant response is often not the correct one. As drive increases, the strength of wrong responses increases, as does the difference between these responses and the correct one. For the correct response to occur in these situations, the incor- rect response must be weakened and the correct one strengthened.

To test this hypothesis, Spence and associates compared the learning of simple versus difficult paired associate tasks (Spence et al., 1956a, 1956b). In paired associate learning, a participant must learn to associate two words together such that a stimulus word cues the participant to say the associated response word. The simple paired associate task involved such pairs of words as complete-thorough and empty-vacant. It is easy to learn the response thorough to the stimulus complete, since these words have similar meanings. With these pairs, an increase in drive should make the occurrence of the dominant but correct response more likely, and hence learning should be faster. The difficult task involved pairs such as quiet-double and serene-headstrong. These pairs are more difficult to learn because the re- sponses double and headstrong are going to compete when the stimuli quiet or serene are presented. The reason is because quiet and serene are similar in meaning and thus will evoke the same response. An increase in drive in this case should also increase the likelihood of the dominant response, which is now the wrong response. This development should make learning more difficult. Drive or arousal in this experiment was defined by the participant’s level of trait anxiety as measured by an anxiety scale. Participants low in trait anxiety were defined as low drive, and those high in trait anxiety were defined as high drive. The results confirmed the prediction: high-drive participants learned the easy paired associate task faster than did low-drive participants. High-drive participants, however, learned the difficult paired associate task slower than did low-drive participants (Spence et al., 1956a, 1956b).

Cusp Catastrophe Model Sports is one of those endeavors in which it is very important to control arousal in order to maximize performance. Arousal factors that determine athletic performance are addressed in the cusp catastrophe model from sports psychology, which holds that there are two types of arousal: cognitive anxiety and physiological arousal (somatic anxiety) (Hardy, 1996a, 1996b). At low physiological arousal, increases in cognitive anxiety produce a slight improvement in athletic performance while at high physiological arousal, increases in cognitive anxiety pro- duce a decline in performance. Also, at lower levels of cognitive anxiety, increases in physio- logical arousal lead to small gradual increases and then decreases in athletic performance resembling a flattened inverted-U curve. However, at midrange or higher levels of cognitive anxiety, increases in physiological arousal lead to a cusp where performance is best. Here an

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 137

athlete is described as a “clutch” player. Increases in physiological arousal beyond this cusp, however, result in a sudden and dramatic drop in performance. At this point the athlete “chokes” and performs very badly.

One implication of the cusp catastrophe model is that the drop in performance can be so drastic that it is manifested as freezing—that is, the individual ceases all behavior. Freez- ing, also known as tonic immobility, refers to a lack of behavior that occurs in reaction to extremely stressful circumstances. Tonic immobility is characterized by the absence of movement, lack of responsiveness, the tendency to maintain the same posture, remaining silent, an unresponsiveness to pain, and yet a tendency to remain alert (Moskowitz, 2004). Freezing occurs in many animals but also in humans during stressful situations. It has been induced in a variety of birds, chickens, and rats by holding them on their backs for 15 to 30 seconds (Gallup et al., 1970; Ratner, 1967). Freezing occurs in animals when they are attacked by predators, at which time tonic immobility serves as an adaptive strategy. If the prey animal has unsuccessfully tried to escape or fight back, then it freezes as if it were feigning death (Ratner, 1967). Marks (1987) comments on the evolutionary significance of freezing by noting that many predators only attack and kill moving prey. When prey freezes, predators lose interest and their attention lapses, which provides an opportunity for prey to escape. Hawks, for example, do not eat dead animals and would starve if not provided with moving prey to eat (Marks, 1987).

However, when freezing occurs in humans it is usually in situations where it is not adaptive, especially in emergency situations. Leach (2004) provides some descriptions of people’s behavior during emergency situations. For example, the passenger ferry MV Estonia sank in September 1994 in the Baltic Sea. While sinking, passengers were seen standing still as if paralyzed, exhausted, or in shock. Or they were just sitting incapable of doing anything. In another case, a North Sea oil platform exploded as a result of natural gas accumulation in July 1988. Leach reports that many workers made no attempt to leave the platform and one worker just slumped down unable to move. Another emergency example is the case of an airplane that returned to a Manchester, England, airport in 1985. Upon land- ing it was discovered that one of the engines was on fire. Unfortunately, there were delays in evacuating the plane because many passengers froze; in fact, “. . . several people were seen to remain in their seats until they became engulfed in flames” (Leach, 2004, p. 540).

According to evolutionary psychology (Chapter 3), human nature evolved because it had survival value. Is freezing a case of evolutionary old behavior intruding into frighten- ing emergency situations in the present? Yes, according to Moskowitz (2004), who wrote that tonic immobility in humans is a holdover from our evolutionary past during which time humans were also prey. Just like animals today freeze in order to increase their chances for survival, so did humans long ago. Thus, freezing that occurs in emergency situations like sinking ships or burning airplanes are really remnants of this behavior that once provided a survival advantage. Unfortunately, in such situations, freezing is incompatible with the behavior that is required for escape.

Cue Utilization Hypothesis A cognitive explanation of the inverted-U arousal–performance relationship is provided by Easterbrook’s (1959) cue utilization hypothesis, which holds that the number of cues or amount of information utilized by a person in any situation tends to decline with an increase

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

138 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

in arousal. Usually, the use of peripheral and irrelevant cues is reduced, while the use of central and relevant cues is maintained. In the case of simple tasks, irrelevant cues are more likely to be excluded with increasing arousal; thus, more attention can be given to task- relevant cues. Complex tasks, however, involve many cues. Arousal involves the exclusion of task-relevant cues as well, and consequently performance declines. One reason for the reduction in utilizing task-relevant cues comes from the attention-grabbing nature of auto- nomic nervous system arousal (Mandler, 1975, 1984). A pounding heart and butterflies in the stomach compete for attention, allowing less attention to be devoted to the task at hand; as a consequence, performance declines.

Research on memory and emotionally arousing events has supported Easterbrook’s cue utilization hypothesis. For example, arousal should enhance the memory for major or central details of an event but not for peripheral or irrelevant details. In two questionnaire studies, Christianson and Loftus (1990) asked university students to recall the most traumatic events in their lives. Students were asked how many central and peripheral details they remembered. Central details are relevant and directly associated with the traumatic event, while peripheral details are neither relevant nor directly associated. Students were also asked how strong their emotional feelings were during the event and how strong their emotional feelings were in recalling the event. The results showed that participants remembered more central details than peripheral details. Furthermore, the more intense their emotional feelings about the event, the more likely they were to remember central but not peripheral details.

Are there some events, such as the events of September 11, 2001, so ingrained in our memories that we will never forget them, even if we want to? Is the memory for extremely emotional and arousing events somehow different than the memory for the more mundane things of life? One answer to these questions is based on a theory about the relationship between arousal and a shift in memory systems. This theory, by Metcalfe and Jacobs (1998), postulates the existence of two memory systems, with the level of arousal determining which system is operating. Such a theory postulates the existence of a cool memory system and a hot memory system, each in a different area of the brain. The cool system, which is localized in the hippocampus, serves the memory of events occurring in space and time. For example, this system would help a person to remember the location of her residence and that her car is parked in a different spot today than yesterday. The hot system, which is localized in the amygdala, serves as the memory of events that occur under high arousal. The hot system is responsible for the intrusive memories of individuals who have experienced extremely traumatic events years earlier.

The level of activation of the cool and hot memory systems depends on the level of arousal (Metcalfe & Jacobs, 1998). The degree of activation or efficiency of the cool system follows the inverted-U curve shown in Figure 6.3. As arousal increases, activation of this memory system increases, levels off, and then decreases. The system is most efficient at intermediate levels of arousal but inefficient at very high levels. The hot memory system, however, shows increasing levels of activation with increasing amounts of arousal. This sys- tem is least efficient at low levels of arousal but most efficient at very high levels of arousal. Both systems interact to determine a person’s total memory. However, the cool system is most functional at low and intermediate levels of arousal, while the hot system is most func- tional at high levels. Thus, where the cool system leaves off, the hot system takes over. Metcalfe and Jacobs further theorize that the hot system is geared up for remembering the

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 139

details of stimuli that predict the onset of highly stressful or arousing events, such as events that predict danger.

Processing Efficiency Theory Evaluations occur in many facets of life, such as exams, sports competition, and social set- tings, and can become sources of anxiety in those situations (Zeidner & Matthews, 2005). However, the level of anxiety individuals experience in evaluative situations depends on their disposition to become anxious—that is, some people become anxious quicker than others. So, imagine being evaluated for speed and accuracy for attempting to solve “in your head” problems like: 478 � 59 � ? Does your level of math anxiety, in this case, affect your problem solving efficiency?

Trait vs. State Anxiety. Anxiety is not a single entity but instead consists of two parts: trait and state. Trait anxiety is an individual difference measure of the disposition to per- ceive environmental events as threatening and to respond anxiously. State anxiety refers to the actual feelings of apprehension, worry, and sympathetic nervous system arousal that are evoked by threatening situations (Spielberger, 1975). In other words, trait anxiety is the propensity to react with state anxiety in threatening situations, such as evaluation that occurs during exams, sports competition, and social settings. For example, trait anxiety is the disposition to become anxious (state anxiety) during a math test. In general, state anx- iety is damaging to performance especially on tasks that are complex (Zeidner & Matthews, 2005). But, how does anxiety affect performance?

Anxiety and Processing Efficiency. According to processing efficiency theory, anxiety expresses itself as worry, which is a preoccupation with evaluation and concerns about per- formance. Worry, in turn, takes up working-memory capacity and with less working-memory available performance on cognitive tasks declines (Eysenck & Calvo, 1992). Anxiety and accompanying worry are especially telling in their effects on math problems. For instance, solving the problem 478 � 59 requires a person to retain intermediate solutions (7 and “carry 1”) in her working memory. According to processing efficiency theory, the capacity of working memory to retain an intermediate solution decreases because of the presence of in- trusive thoughts of worry. Experimental evidence is provided by Ashcraft and Kirk (2001), who compared low, medium, and high math anxiety students for accuracy in working math problems. Some problems did not require “carrying operations” (15 � 2) and other problems did (23 � 18). The effects of anxiety was only apparent with problems that required carrying operations. As math anxiety increases and uses more working memory space, problem solv- ing efficiency decreases for problems that require carrying operations.

Math anxiety appears to be unique.Ashcraft and Kirk (2001, exp. 3) hypothesized that math anxiety only affected the working-memory capacity for numbers but not for letters. In their experiment, they compared the effects of anxiety on working-memory capacity for numbers versus working-memory capacity for letters. A participant’s level of math anxiety was measured with a scale similar to the Abbreviated Math Anxiety Scale. With this scale, participants answer questions about how much anxiety is evoked in situations relevant to mathematics (Hopko et al., 2003). Examples may include using a table in a math book, lis- tening to a lecture in math class, or being given a “pop” quiz in math class. During the actual

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

140 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

3.6

3.4

3.2 P

er fo

rm an

ce M

ea su

Low Medium

Math Anxiety High

Listening span

Computation span

2.8

2.6

2.4

2.2

FIGURE 6.4 Math Anxiety and Performance. As math anxiety increased, working-memory ca- pacity for arithmetic decreased. Specifically, as math anxiety increased computation span with numbers decreased while listening span for letters did not decrease significantly.

Source: Adapted from “The Relationship among Working Memory, Math Anxiety, and Performance” by M. H. Ashcraft and E. P. Kirk, 2001, Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 130, table 3, p. 233.

experiment, the researchers used a listening-span task to measure the working-memory capacity for letters and used a computation-span task to measure the working-memory capacity for numbers. For the listening span, participants heard a number of simple sentences, answered a question about each, and were required to remember the last word of each sen- tence. For example, “It rained yesterday.” When? “The dog sat on the porch.” Where? After hearing and answering a number of such sentences, participants were asked to recall the last word in each sentence in the correct order (e.g., yesterday, porch). The mean number of words recalled correctly defined the letter-span size. The computation-span task resembled the listening-span task. The participant heard a series of simple problems, such as 7 � 3 � ? followed by 2 � 6 � ? They were required to solve each problem and also to remember the last number of each. At the recall, participants had to name the last number of each prob- lem in the correct order (e.g., 3, 6). The amount recalled correctly defined the working- memory capacity for numbers. Ashcraft and Kirk reasoned that on the basis of processing efficiency theory, math anxiety should negatively influence working-memory capacity for numbers but not for letters. Their results in Figure 6.4 show that as anxiety increased, working- memory capacity for numbers (computation span) decreased while the capacity for letters (listening span) was affected slightly, although not significantly. If working memory is not used to capacity, then anxiety has little effect on math performance. However, when used to capacity as in this experiment, anxiety has a detrimental effect on math performance.

Section Recap There are several theories that help explain the inverted-U arousal-performance relation- ship. According to the Hull-Spence theory, arousal magnifies the intensity of all responses. In a simple task, arousal magnifies the dominant response, which is usually the correct one. Arousal of the dominant response in complex tasks is most likely to be the incorrect

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 141

response. According to the cusp catastrophe model, performance efficiency is based on the interaction between physiological (somatic) anxiety and cognitive anxiety. At low cognitive arousal, performance increases moderately as physiological arousal increases and then decreases. At high cognitive arousal, however, performance increases and then catastroph- ically drops as physiological arousal increases. During extremely arousing and dangerous situations a person may exhibit tonic immobility, which refers to freezing. This behavior was adaptive in our evolutionary past to escape predators but today that behavior interferes with escape from danger, such as in the case of sinking ships or burning airplanes. According to the cue utilization hypothesis, the amount of information utilized in a situa- tion declines as arousal increases. In simple tasks there is a decline in the use of irrele- vant cues, and in complex tasks there can also be a decline in task-relevant cues as arousal increases. According to memory research, as arousal increases there is better recall of central detail and a decrease in the recall of peripheral detail. One theory is that a cool memory system works best under moderate arousal, while a hot memory system works best under high arousal. Thus, as arousal increases there is a shift from a cool to a hot memory system.

Many individuals suffer from evaluation anxiety, which occurs during exams, sports competition, and social situations. Trait anxiety is an individual difference variable to respond negatively and with worry to the environment in general, while state anxiety refers to feelings of apprehension activated by a particular situation. According to processing efficiency theory, state anxiety—especially in math—expresses itself as worry, which takes up working-memory capacity. As a result of increasing state anxiety, solving math problems declines in efficiency, especially when carrying operations are involved.

Arousal and Affective Valence When considered an independent variable, arousal affects performance: some arousal aids performance but too little or too much hinders it. When considered a dependent variable, arousal depends on the collative variables of novelty, complexity, and incongruity. Humans are both pushed and pulled toward experiencing arousal at a certain intensity and valence. Arousal experiences are provided by collative variables like novelty in new fashions; complexity in art, music, or movies; and incongruity in jokes. This section examines the motivation that humans have for two components of arousal: intensity and valence.

Variation in Affective Valence Can a person be aroused or energized but still feel subjectively neutral? Or is arousal always accompanied by a positive or negative feeling (Thayer, 1989)? Riding a roller coaster, watching a suspenseful movie, or attending a good party are arousing and provide positive affective experiences. A near traffic accident, witnessing a violent crime, or being insulted are arousing and produce negative affective experiences. While being performed, strenuous exercise may feel negative and arousing, but when completed it feels pleasant while some arousal still remains. Thus, arousal is not neutral but instead has a positive or negative feel to it (Thayer, 1989; Watson & Tellegen, 1985). In trying to determine how the level of arousal regulates behavior, it may be difficult to separate affective valence from arousal (Neiss, 1988). Consequently, both arousal and associated affective valence must be kept in mind when describing behavior.

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

142 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

V al

en ce

o f

A ff

ec t

0 1

�

2 3 4 5

Level of Stimulation and Arousal

6 7 8 9 10

FIGURE 6.5 Graph of Optimal Level of Stimulation Theory. A person’s affective valence depends on the level of stimulation and arousal. As the level of stimulation and subsequent arousal increases to a moderate level, affective valence increases. Further increases in the level of stimu- lation and arousal produce a decrease in affective valence. Very low and very high levels of arousal are associated with negative affective valence.

Optimal Level of Stimulation Theory What is the relationship between levels of arousal and affective valence? Zuckerman (1969) described the relationship as an inverted U in his optimal level of stimulation theory. One postulate of this theory is that every person has an optimal (best) level of stimu- lation or arousal that is associated with the highest positive affective valence. This optimal or preferred level of arousal is not fixed but changes with personality, age, time of day, and experience. Another postulate is that the optimal level of stimulation and arousal is usu- ally at a moderate level—not too low and not too high. A third postulate is that deviations in either direction from this optimal level decrease positive affective valence. If arousal increases or decreases from the optimal level, then affective valence decreases. Finally, af- fective valence becomes negative when levels of stimulation and arousal are very low or very high (Zuckerman, 1969). Figure 6.5 graphically shows optimal level of stimulation theory (Berlyne, 1960; Hebb, 1955; Zuckerman, 1969). According to Zuckerman (1969), people are motivated to position themselves at the intermediate level of stimulation that provides the highest positive affective valence. When arousal is low, increases in arousal are positively reinforcing. Thus, a person seeks stimulation, such as loud music with a beat, a party with friends, or an action TV program. When arousal is high, decreases in arousal are negatively reinforcing. Consequently, a person then seeks a decrease in stimulation, such as listening to soft music, being alone, or resting. Increases in arousal above the optimal level or decreases in arousal below the optimal level are punishing. Very low lev- els of arousal are associated with boredom and with a feeling that “there is nothing to do,” while very high levels of arousal are associated with stress and a feeling that “I can’t get everything done.”

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 143

When Arousal Is Too Low. Boring situations are characterized by repetitiveness, sim- plicity, and a general lack of stimulation. Consequently, people try to avoid and escape boring situations (Jones, 1969; Zubek, 1973; Zuckerman, 1964). Experiments designed to test the effects of low levels of stimulation have employed a technique known as sensory deprivation. This involves reducing sensory stimulation from touch, sound, and light to the lowest possible level. To accomplish this, participants are confined to dark soundproof chambers, where they lie quietly on a mattress with their arms and hands confined in cardboard tubes, thereby eliminating tactual stimulation. Earplugs and gog- gles may also be used to further reduce the level of stimulation. A variation of this pro- cedure known as perceptual deprivation allows the participant to see and hear to some extent, but only diffuse and nonpatterned light and static noise, such as the hum of a fan (Zubek, 1973).

The aversive nature of sensory deprivation is illustrated in experiments performed by Smith and associates (1966, 1967). In the sensory deprivation condition, the researchers confined participants alone in a dark soundproof room. Other than a bed, there was nothing else in the room, and there was nothing to do. In the control condition, participants were confined in a similar room but had access to light, TV, music, books, magazines, writing paper, playing cards, and the possibility of conversation with another participant in an adjacent room. The aversive nature of sensory deprivation became apparent from several findings. First, people were reluctant even to participate in the study. Only 74% agreed to participate after it was explained that they would have to live for seven consecutive days and nights in the room. Of the 40 participants who began the seven days of sensory deprivation, only little more than half (21) completed all seven days. Thus, the aversive nature of sensory deprivation is shown by the fact that many participants dropped out. Only one out of 20 par- ticipants dropped out of the control condition, and that was due to illness. Zuckerman (1964) also notes that approximately one-third of all participants drop out of sensory deprivation experiments like the one described here. It does not seem to matter if the sensory depriva- tion lasts 2, 4, 7, or 14 days.

Hedonic Reversal. At first glance, it might seem that optimal level of stimulation the- ory (Figure 6.5) applies only to stimuli that have a positive valence. As positive stimuli increase in intensity their pleasurable effects increase. Do negative stimuli show a reverse effect? As their intensity increases, is there an associated increase in unpleasantness? It appears that is not always the case. Hedonic reversal refers to the eventual liking of stim- uli that were initially aversive or feared (Rozin, 1999). For example, people develop a liking for bitter-tasting beverages, which they initially disliked, such as beer or coffee. Chili peppers that were initially painful are now enjoyed for the burn they provide. Rozin and Schiller (1980) documented how with increasing exposure to chili in their food, indi- viduals eventually learn to enjoy the burn that is produced. The researchers reasoned that the burn is the body’s early warning system regarding a harmful stimulus. However, the burn intensity does not reach the level of being harmful. Some individuals also learn to en- joy the experience of fear at low intensities. Fear which should motivate escape and avoid- ance behavior is now enjoyed in controlled settings, such as scary movies and roller coaster rides. Many people enjoy feelings of suspense and fear when they view actors on screen being attacked, physically injured, or terrified by other individuals or by supernatural beings (Hoffner & Levine, 2005).

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

144 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

Stimulus Complexity and Affective Valence Have you ever seen a movie more than once because you did not understand it fully the first time? Do some outfits have the wrong combination of plaids and colors, creating a look that’s “too busy”? Is some music too atonal or harsh for enjoyment? Each one of these ques- tions addresses the role of stimulus complexity in determining feelings of pleasure. Complexity refers to the number of dimensions that characterize a stimulus. Individual stimuli can vary in intensity, duration, size, and predictability, while objects can vary in the number of individual stimuli that compose them. The degree of complexity determines the level of arousal and valence, which is associated with the amount of pleasure a person experiences.

Liking Increases, Decreases with Complexity. Preferences for aesthetic stimuli de- pend on their arousal potential, which is based on complexity (Berlyne, 1970). Preference changes in an inverted-U fashion, with increases in stimulus complexity (see Figure 6.5). Moderately complex stimuli are preferred more, while stimuli of low and high complex- ity are preferred less. For instance, the inverted-U relationship applies to architectural stimuli, such as the complexity of house facades. Imamoglu (2000) presented students with eight drawings of Turkish house facades that varied in complexity. The simplest draw- ing showed only the essential elements, while the most complex drawing included addi- tional elements, articulations, and surface treatments. After students examined each drawing, they selected two drawings they liked most and two they liked least. Their choices followed the inverted-U complexity relationship described in Figure 6.5. Students mostly preferred facades of intermediate complexity and preferred fewer facades of lesser or greater complexity.

In addition to visual stimuli, the appreciation of poetry is also affected by its com- plexity. Kamman (1966) categorized poems into one of five levels of complexity. Univer- sity students then evaluated the poems for their goodness and desirability for memorization. The results followed the inverted-U pattern of Figure 6.5. Poems of intermediate complex- ity received higher goodness ratings and were preferred for memorization compared to poems that were either less or more complex.

Does liking for artificial music also depend on complexity? Vitz (1966) defined dif- ferent levels of complexity by creating six sequences of tones varying in terms of pitch, duration, and loudness. The simplest tone sequence involved two different pitches at one duration and one volume setting. The most complex sequence involved 18 pitches, with eight different durations, and involved four levels of loudness. Vitz played each of the six tone sequences to his participants and asked them to rate how much they liked each sequence. The results followed the inverted-U relationship. As complexity of the tone sequence increased, liking increased and then decreased.

The inverted-U relationship in Figure 6.5 between complexity and liking is also descriptive of actual music. In a supporting experiment, North and Hargreaves (1995) had university students rate for subjective complexity 60 different excerpts of nonvocal New Age music. A different sample of students rated how much they liked each of the same 60 excerpts. An inverted-U relationship provided the best fit for the relationship between complexity ratings and liking ratings of the 60 musical excerpts. As shown in Figure 6.6, as music complexity increases, liking increases, levels off, and then decreases.

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 145

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Mean Subjective Complexity

M ea

n L

ik in

FIGURE 6.6 Subjective Complexity of Music and Liking. As the rated subjective complexity of music increased, liking for that music increased, leveled off, and then decreased.

Source: From “Subjective Complexity, Familiarity, and Liking for Popular Music” by A. C. North and D. J. Hargreaves, 1995, Psychomusicology, 14, figure 1, p. 82. Copyright 1995 by Psychomusicology. Reprinted by permission.

The inverted-U complexity-liking relationship also occurs when music is played in a natural setting. North and Hargreaves (1996) played short selections of low, moderate, or high complexity of New Age music in the cafeteria at a student union building. Diners rated the music on a scale ranging from “dislike very much” to “like very much.” Their ratings showed that they liked music of moderate complexity more than that of either low or high complex- ity. Furthermore, when asked “what they would like to change about the cafeteria” (p. 497), diners were more likely to recommend changing the music when it was of low or high com- plexity. In other words, moderately complex music was preferred most while having lunch. People who are knowledgeable about music, such as music majors, also prefer music of mod- erate complexity. Burke and Gridley (1990) presented four piano compositions that covered a large range of perceived complexity as rated by music professors. The piano selection rated least complex was Bach’s Prelude and Fugue, and Boulez’s Piano Sonata No. 1 was rated most complex. The four piano selections were played either to musicians, who were music majors, or to nonmusicians. Analyses of the ratings indicated that as the complexity of the piano pieces increased, both groups showed increases and then decreases in their liking.

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

146 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

Experiences, Complexity, and Liking. Perceived complexity is subject to stimulus habituation. Consequently, preferred levels of complexity do not remain constant, but in- stead change. Specifically, repeated exposure decreases the perceived complexity of stim- uli that are at or below optimal complexity. Thus, their appeal decreases. Repeated exposure also decreases the perceived complexity of stimuli that are above their optimal complexity. These stimuli have now shifted closer to the optimal level and hence their appeal increases. To illustrate, Smith and Dorfman (1975) exposed participants 1, 5, 10, or 20 times to visual stimuli of low, medium, or high complexity. Liking ratings decreased consistently for low complexity stimuli and increased consistently for high complexity stimuli over 20 expo- sures. However, liking ratings increased for medium complexity stimuli during the first 10 exposures and then decreased with further exposures.

Advertisements provide a real-world example of the effects of repeated exposures. The intent of an advertisement is to produce a favorable attitude toward a product and motivate people to buy. However, repeated advertisements of certain products can have the opposite effect. Cox and Cox (2002) presented participants with three different dresses that had either a simple design or a complex design. After one, two, or four exposures, partici- pants rated the dresses for complexity and liking. Repeated exposures resulted in decreased complexity ratings. The simple-design dresses moved away and the complex-design dresses moved toward the optimal level of complexity. As a result, liking ratings decreased for simple- design dresses and increased for complex-design dresses. Thus, motivation toward or away from stimulus changes with experience.

Preferences for music also depend on level of complexity and amount of exposure. Specifically, listening experience determines what level of complexity of music is most enjoyable (Steck & Machotka, 1975). Sometimes liking for a piece of music increases with repeated listenings, and sometimes it decreases. These changes depend on whether the music was below or above a person’s preferred level of complexity. To illustrate, Heyduk (1975) had participants listen to four different piano compositions at four different levels of musical complexity. By playing each selection over and over, participants’ liking for the music changed. If complexity of the music was below a participant’s preferred level, then liking decreased. There were no new incongruities to resolve and no arousal; consequently, less enjoyment was derived from the music each time. If the complexity of the music was above the participant’s optimal complexity level, then liking increased. In the process of repeated listenings, new incongruities were discovered and resolved each time, thereby cre- ating arousal and pleasure. With more complex music there is something new to discover each time, while less complex music is too predictable—there is nothing left to discover. Thus, with greater experience, more complex music is enjoyed.

Further evidence for this generalization comes from research byTan and coresearchers (2006), who used short classical piano compositions that were initially near or above the listeners’ perceived optimal level of complexity. Moderately complex were intact composi- tions, which consisted of 1-minute selections from classical piano works. Highly complex were patchwork compositions, which were composed of 20-second segments from three dif- ferent classical works. Two music professors independently rated the patchwork composi- tions as highly complex and the intact compositions as moderately complex. The research participants listened to the intact and patchwork compositions plus filler compositions up to four times: twice on Tuesday and twice on Thursday. After each listening, they rated the compositions on several dimensions, such as liking. The results indicated that liking ratings for the intact compositions overall declined slightly over the four hearings while the ratings

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 147

of the patchwork piece increased. Initially the patchwork compositions exceeded the opti- mal level of complexity whereas the intact compositions were optimally complex. Repeated hearings reversed this difference. Patchwork compositions presumably approached the opti- mal level of complexity while intact compositions decreased below that level. As a result liking ratings increased for patchwork and decreased for intact compositions.

There is a problem with the conclusion that repeatedly listening to the same piece of music eventually reduces its enjoyment. On the contrary, people enjoy hearing their fa- vorite piece of music over and over. For example, radio stations play music from the past (golden oldies), and people buy CDs in order to hear the same music repeatedly. So why doesn’t your favorite piece of music “get old”? One hypothesis is that a part of our brain functions like a musical grammar processor (Jackendoff, 1992). This processor has a primitive schema about a basic musical grammar by which it resolves musical notes. Regardless of whether the music is novel or highly familiar, the musical grammar proces- sor works the same way each time to assimilate musical notes into its primitive schema. Each rehearing brings pleasure because the processor is sealed off from long-term mem- ory and so does not benefit from having heard the music before. It responds as if it has heard a familiar piece of music for the first time. Thus, each time it assimilates a novel or familiar musical note, enjoyment results.

Incongruity Resolution in Music, Humor, and Suspense Collative variables such as novelty and incongruity evoke arousal and determine the valence of a person’s affective reaction. A novel or incongruous event is an unexpected outcome—that is, a specific event was expected but something else occurred instead. When these events are resolved or understood, positive affect results. If not, surprise, confusion, or puzzlement re- mains. The resolution or understanding of novel and incongruous events serves as the bases for amusement, the pleasure of music, and the thrill derived from suspense and horror films. A feature of incongruity-resolution is that the punchlines, the musical notes, or the suspense- ful ending are assimilated into pre-existing knowledge structures known as schemas. These are mental representations of environmental regularities that an individual has experienced. They range from the abstract and general to the concrete and specific. Schemas can be thought of as scripts, recipes, maps, or concepts that help direct a person’s attention, form hypotheses, develop expectations, and understand novel and incongruous events. An attend- class schema is known by every student and involves entering the classroom, taking a seat, taking notes on the professor’s lecture, and leaving at the end. This schema guides a student’s behavior regarding what to expect and what to do.

Valence and intensity of affective reactions depend on the degree of incongruity and on the resolution of the incongruous events. Mandler’s (1984) schema incongruity model describes how the degree of incongruity affects both the valence and intensity of an emo- tional reaction. First, the degree of incongruity determines the degree of arousal and also determines whether or not the incongruous event is resolvable. If it is resolvable, then a positive affect results; if it is not, then a negative affect results. Events congruous with our expectations are ones that occur as expected. For example, if the traffic light is red, then we expect a car to stop. According to the schema incongruity model, congruous events produce no arousal and are considered familiar and in no way out of the ordinary. A slightly incongruous event produces some arousal and is pleasurable because it is easily assimilated into an available schema. For example, a person does not receive any mail even though a letter was expected. However, this incongruity is resolved when he realizes thatIS

B N

0- 55

8- 46

77 0-

148 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

0 10 20 30

% Listening Episodes

Pass the time

Enjoyed it

Habit

Create right atmosphere

Create/accentuate an emotion

Helped to concentrate

Person I was with liked it

Brought back memories

Create an image for me

Learn about the music

F u

n ct

io n

o f

M u

si c

fo r

L is

te n

Other

40 50 60

FIGURE 6.7 Reasons for Listening to Music. This graph shows the percentage of occasions that people gave for listening to the music they had selected. Enjoyment was the most frequent reason; to learn more about the music was the least cited reason.

Source: Adapted from “Uses of Music in Everyday Life” by A. C. North et al., 2004, Music Perception, table 18, p. 72.

it is a national holiday and thus there is no mail delivery. When incongruity is more severe, assimilation into a current schema may not be possible and a search for an alternative schema is then necessary. This process, for instance, occurs in resolving the incongruity cre- ated by the punch line of a joke. In this example, the arousal is greater but the pleasure resulting from resolution is also greater, as might occur in events that are pleasantly sur- prising. Some severe incongruities may not be resolvable because the individual has no rel- evant schema into which the event can be assimilated. The result of such an experience may alter existing schemas or lead to the development of new ones. Severe incongruities produce high arousal that is tinged with negative affect if they are not successfully resolved, as, for example, when a young child fears an object that is outside her range of experience.

Music The pleasures derived from listening to music are innate, although the evolutionary signifi- cance of music is unclear (McDermott & Hauser, 2005). However, one thing is clear. People the world over enjoy music. In an attempt to determine why people value music, North and coresearchers (2004) sent text messages once per day for two weeks to 346 cell phone own- ers in England. On receipt of the message, participants were asked a series of questions con- cerning the reason they were listening to any music. Individuals reported they heard music on 39% of the occasions. Figure 6.7 summarizes the reasons that individuals gave for listen- ing. Enjoyment was the most frequently cited reason. However, as North and coresearchers

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 149

(2004) note, music served mostly as background stimulation and common functions of listening to music were habit, to pass the time, and to help create the right atmosphere.

Music Regulates Arousal. When you hear John Philip Sousa’s Stars and Stripes played on July 4th, do you get an impulse to march? Does swing music produce the impulse to swing and waltz music the impulse to waltz? And years ago, did your parents lull you to sleep with a lullaby? Composers have written music to arouse and to relax us. In a review covering 120 years of the physiologically arousing and calming effect of music, Bartlett (1996) concluded that music had the intended consequence of producing physiological arousal. Most studies showed that stimulating music produced increases in heart rate, muscle tension, electroder- mal responses, respiration rate, and blood pressure. Calming music had the opposite effect. The type of music and its tempo can affect psychological arousal. For instance, Kellaris and Kent (1994) played either a classical composition for flute, horn, bassoon, and cello or pop music with a “Paula Abdul-type dance beat” (p. 386). The music was played at a slow, moderate, or fast tempo. Participants rated the music for psychological arousal, such as stimulating/soothing, arousing/calming, and soft/loud. Their findings showed that arousal ratings were greater for the pop music than for the classical music. In addition, as tempo increased, arousal ratings increased for pop but not for classical music.

Occasionally you might listen to a musical passage that evokes a sudden increase in arousal, known as a chill.This is a unique physiological reaction characterized by goose bumps, shivers, or tingles. Chills are accompanied by electrodermal responses, which reflect sweating and blood flow (Grewe et al., 2007; Guhn et al., 2007). Finally, as one might expect, musical passages that evoked chills were perceived as pleasant (Grewe et al., 2007). Furthermore, not only can music produce arousal as in the case of chills, but it can also produce emotions (Davies, 1994). Music can make us feel sad or happy, and many researchers employ classical music as a mood induction procedure. Halberstadt and associates (1995) induced a happy mood by having participants listen to “happy” music (Mozart’s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik) and a sad mood by having participants listen to “sad” music (Mahler’s Adagietto). Music rated as being elating or depressing can be played to induce positive and negative moods (Pignatiello et al., 1986). Lyrics can also affect mood. Stratton and Zalanowski (1994) found that a musical melody accom- panied by sad lyrics was more depressing than either melody or lyrics alone. As shown in Figure 6.7, on 20% of the listening occasions people reported that listening to music “helped create or accentuate an emotion” (North et al., 2004, p. 72).

Incongruity Resolution and Music Appreciation. Although the pleasure derived from music may be an innate reaction, it also depends on the incongruity-resolution process. According to Gaver and Mandler (1987), listening to music activates various schemas, such as the progression of notes in a melody; the harmony, chords, or combination of tones; and the type of music, such as rock, blues, or symphonic. One suggestion is that a music schema is based on an innate expectation about repetition—that is, if it happened twice, then it should happen a third time. In the case of a sequence of musical notes, we expect them to repeat (Rozin et al., 2006). Thus, activation of the schema leads to expectations about the next note, chord, or progression of the melody in general. However, as Rozin and core- searchers (2006) point out, the listener would soon habituate to the same sequence of notes and become bored. Listening pleasure is maintained, however, when the next sequence of notes is repeated but with a change in loudness or pitch, for example.The next note, although

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

150 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

incongruous, is easily assimilated into the prevailing music schema and hence enjoyed. For example, the onset of chills occurs where there is an incongruity or the beginning of some- thing novel like a change in loudness, tempo, or entry of a voice or their combination (Grewe et al., 2007).

Incongruity Resolution and Humor The concept of incongruity-resolution can be extended for the understanding of humor. Inevitably the punch line of a good joke elicits smiles, laughs, and amused feelings. The schema incongruity model specifies how punchlines are able to evoke humor.

Consider the following joke: “A mechanical engineer, an electrical engineer, and a computer software engineer were riding in a car when it broke down. ‘It’s probably a valve,’ said the mechanical engineer. ‘It’s probably a spark plug,’ said the electrical engineer. ‘I know,’ said the computer software engineer, ‘let’s all get out of the car and get back in again’” (Crossen, 1997). The stem of the joke activates a schema that aids the processing and comprehension of information contained therein. The stem constrains the reader to expect an ending such as the following: “‘The car’s computer system has probably mal- functioned,’ said the computer engineer.” According to the actual punch line, however, the computer engineer suggests that everyone get out of the car and then get back in. In other words, the computer engineer’s actual suggestion is incongruous with what one would expect to be the diagnosis of the car’s problem. In a joke, the punch line disrupts cognitive processing of the stem material and produces surprise and arousal (Mandler, 1984). For instance, the onset of the punch line brings an increase in electrodermal activity (Godkewitsch, 1976) and muscle tension (Chapman, 1976). If the punch line is unresolved—that is, “I don’t get it”—then the affective value of the incongruity remains puzzling and negative. The in- congruity is resolved, however, by assimilating the punch line into an alternative, less obvi- ous schema also residing in the stem. For example, the computer engineer’s “computer solution” schema replaces the “car solution” schema. In this way, the punch line of “get out and get back in again” is assimilated into the “computer solution” schema. Thus, the punch line is understood when a person realizes that computer users fix their computers by turn- ing them off and then on again (Deckers & Avery, 1994; Raskin, 1985; Suls, 1983). The res- olution of the punch line results in smiles, laughs, and amused feelings. Ruch (1993) has used the word exhilaration to describe that increase in arousal that is specifically linked to humor. Exhilaration comes from the Latin hilarare, meaning to gladden or to make merry. That is one of the functions of humor: it arouses and gladdens us simultaneously.

Resolution of Suspense The enjoyment of suspenseful movies also requires resolution as a successful outcome according to a theory of suspense enjoyment (Zillmann, 1991). Several developments must occur before a viewer enjoys the resolution of suspense, however. First, there must be the possibility that some calamity or harm is going to happen to the protagonist in the story or movie. There is some likelihood, as Zillmann (1991) states, that the heroine is in danger of being humiliated, threatened, beaten, raped, strangled, stabbed, shot, severely injured, or even killed by her human assailant or a supernatural being. If the probability of these tragic events happening is perceived as too low, then no tension or suspense accumulates. Also, if the probability is perceived as too high, then these bad events are a foregone conclusion and

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9

C H A P T E R S I X / Behavior, Arousal, and Affective Valence 151

the viewers may begin to experience sadness or some other dysphoric (unhappy) emotion. Second, the anticipated tragic event will not lead to a buildup of suspense if the viewer is not favorably disposed or does not identify with the protagonist in the movie. The viewer has to care what is going to happen to the character in the story. Third, viewing the anticipated demise of the protagonist produces physiological arousal brought on by the sympathetic ner- vous system, such as an increase in heart rate and muscle tension. The viewer experiences these reactions as unpleasant, a feeling labeled as empathetic distress (Zillmann, 1991). Finally, the uncertainty in the tense situation is resolved when there is a turn of events in which the heroine avoids or escapes the dangerous situation or successfully thwarts her as- sailant. The resolution produces a switch from dysphoria to euphoria as the viewer or reader experiences relief along with any gratification that the protagonist is now safe. Furthermore, according to the theory of suspense enjoyment, the amount of pleasure experienced during the resolution phase is based on the remaining amount of arousal that had accrued earlier.

Section Recap Arousal is tinged with positive and negative affect. Optimal level of stimulation theory presents affective valence as changing with the level of arousal in an inverted-U relation- ship. As the level of stimulation and subsequent arousal increases, affective valence becomes more positive. But with further increases, affective valence becomes less positive and more negative. Paradoxically, repeated exposure to unpleasant stimuli at weak intensi- ties eventually evokes positive affect according to the concept of hedonic reversal. This con- cept refers to the eventual liking of initially aversive or dangerous stimuli as a result of repeated exposures. Sensory deprivation is a way of creating extremely low levels of stim- ulation. In this condition, participants lie quietly on a mattress in dark soundproof cham- bers. The inverted-U curve also describes the relationship between stimulus complexity and preference for visual stimuli, dresses, and music. Stimuli that are less or more complex than the optimal level are preferred less. However, repeated exposure decreases perceived stim- ulus complexity. The result is decreased liking of simple stimuli and moderately complex stimuli and increased liking for complex stimuli. In the case of the musical grammar processor, however, people never tire of their favorite melody because the processor responsible for the resolution of musical notes has no memory.

Incongruity-resolution provides the link between arousal and affect in music, humor, and suspense. Musical notes, punch lines, and suspenseful situations are enjoyed when elements from those domains are incorporated into known schemas by a process known as assimilation. Schemas are representations of knowledge about regularities in the world, such as musical patterns, scripts, or concepts. An incongruous element is understood when it is resolved by fitting (assimilating) it into a prevailing schema. The degree of incongruity determines the valence and intensity of an emotional reaction, according to the schema- incongruity model. Positive arousal increases with the degree of incongruity as long as the incongruity is resolvable. Extreme incongruities that are not resolvable result in reactions that are both intense and aversive. The enjoyment of music stems from the listener’s ability to assimilate the next note or musical phrase into an activated musical schema. Some mu- sical passages produce a chill (goose bumps, shivers), which are physiological reactions that occur when an incongruous or novel event occurs in the music. Jokes are enjoyed when the punch line is assimilated into an alternative schema inspired by the stem of the joke. The

IS B

N 0-

55 8-

46 77

0- 9

152 P A R T T W O / Biological Properties of Motivation

enjoyment of suspense in movies takes place when the incongruity in the seemingly dan- gerous situation produces physiological arousal. According to the theory of suspense enjoyment, pleasure, as relief from arousal, occurs when the incongruity is resolved—that is, when the danger has passed and the protagonist is safe.

A C T I V I T I E S

1. Fill out the Scale Measuring Energetic Arousal and Tense Arousal in Table 6.1 at various times during the day, and each time compute your score for energetic arousal and for tense arousal. Did you detect any variation in your score as a function of time of day? Did your scores differ as a function of the type of activ- ity, like getting an exam back, getting ready for a date, or at the end of an exhausting day?

2. Describe the situation in which you experi- enced heightened arousal. For example, you were auditioning for the school band or were giving a speech in front of a class. a. What physiological symptoms of arousal

did you experience, such as butterflies in the stomach, dry mouth, pounding heart, and trembling?

b. Describe your feeling of psychological arousal. Was it an instance of tense arousal or of energetic arousal?

c. Did arousal affect your behavior? For ex- ample, because of the arousal, did you do much better, better, worse, or much worse

than you usually do? Or was there no effect on your behavior?

d. Locate your performance on the task on the inverted-U arousal-performance curve (Figure 6.3).

3. Does your exam performance depend on the time of day a class meets? Do you think that you could do better on an exam if it was given between noon and 2 P.M. rather than at 8 A.M. or in the evening?

4. Try your hand at joke resolution. Next time you hear a joke, assimilate the punch line into the al- ternative, less obvious schema that was derived from the joke stem. Proceed by developing an ending from this alternative schema and com- paring that with the actual punch line. Does the ending from the alternative schema coincide with the punch line? If so, the joke is resolved.

5. As a check on your hot memory system, do you remember where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news of the September 11th terrorist attack?

IS B

N 0-558-46770-9