Abstract
An experiment was conducted to test Zillmann's hypothesis that misattribution of residual arousal in the excitation transfer paradigm is influenced by the salience of perceived arousal symptoms at the point of potential misattribution. Eighty subjects in a 2×2×2 design were either physiologically aroused or not aroused, and were subsequently subjected to a procedure designed to induce either positive mood (elation) or negative mood (depression). Simultaneously, they were either made self-aware or not. It was reasoned that self-focused attention would lead to heightened awareness of residual arousal and that, if the salience of arousal hypothesis is correct, this would prevent misattribution of arousal and the resultant intensification of experienced emotion from occurring. In accord with this reasoning, it was found that aroused and self-aware subjects experienced residual arousal significantly more intensely, were less prone to misattribute it, and did not show an excitation transfer effect. These results were, however, obtained only for subjects in the negative mood condition.
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This paper was written while the first author was a Visiting Fulbright scholar at the University of California, Los Angeles. The authors would like to thank Bernard Weiner for his helpful comments on an earlier draft of the manuscript.
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Reisenzein, R., Gattinger, E. Salience of arousal as a mediator of misattribution of transferred excitation. Motiv Emot 6, 315–328 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00998188
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00998188