Premium
THE BEHAVIOURAL EFFECTS OF SINGLE AND COMBINED STRESSORS: A TEST OF AROUSAL THEORY
Author(s) -
LIND P. M.
Publication year - 1976
Publication title -
british journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.536
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8295
pISSN - 0007-1269
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8295.1976.tb01528.x
Subject(s) - arousal , psychology , stressor , curvilinear coordinates , cognitive psychology , developmental psychology , social psychology , neuroscience , geometry , mathematics
Arousal theory assumes that a single physiological dimension underlies the curvilinear (inverted‐ U ) relation of behavioural efficiency to level of stimulation. Traditional tests of this assumption, which involved correlating different physiological measures of arousal, have produced equivocal results. The present study predicted that, if arousal is unitary, then stressors which separately induce it should be additive in their effects on behavioural efficiency. Although curvilinear changes in behavioural efficiency were found for white noise and shock separately, their combination failed to support the prediction.