arousal

some interesting research that i read about in the jurnal of counseling and development. the theory being tested was that emotions result from the cognitive labeling of pysiological arousal states.

For example, in one classic study, male subjects walked across either a shaky or a stable bridge and were then asked to tell a story to a woman (Dutton & Aron, 1974). The stories told by the "shaky bridge" subjects contained a greater number of erotic elements than did the stories told by their "stable bridge" counterparts. Shaky bridge subjects were also more likely to call the woman after the study than were the stable bridge subjects. Thus, skaky bridge subjects mistakenly attributed the physiological arousal caused by the shaky bridge to sexual attraction.

interesting, huh?

comments:

Maybe they associated love with terror.
phil | Email | Homepage | 06.28.04 - 9:29 pm | #

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i think it's the arrousal that both love and terror evoke within a person. they both induce a physical experience that shifts the internal state of an individual.
ashley | Email | Homepage | 06.29.04 - 10:51 am | #