Basic Psychological

Process- II
Assignment-II
 Arousal
 Performance and Arousal

Qazi Areeb
Student Id- 202005578
Sem-II
B.A. (H) English
Q. Identify possible psychological symptoms that may
occur in the over aroused and under aroused individuals.
Give explanation for the occurrence of these symptoms.

Arousal
Arousal is the psychological state of being awoken or
of sense organs stimulated to a point of perception. It involves
activation of the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS)
in the brain, which mediates wakefulness, the automatic
nervous system, and the endocrine system, leading to increased
heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory
alertness, desire, mobility, and readiness to respond .
Arousal is important in regulating consciousness, attention, and
information processing. It is crucial for motivating certain
behaviours, such as mobility, the pursuit of nutrition, the flight-
or-flight response and sexual activity.

Level of Arousal
According to Arousal Theory of Motivation, a person’s Level
of Arousal can be described as a function of alertness,
situational awareness, vigilance, level of distraction, stress and
direction of attention. In effect, how ready a person is to
perform appropriate tasks in a timely and effective manner.

Extreme under-arousal is manifest by unconsciousness,

possibly caused by tiredness, fatigue, hypoxia, poisoning or
other illnesses.
The activation of the ascending reticular activating
system (ARAS) and our arousal level influenced by a number
of different things such as emotions, the food we eat and the
neurotransmitters in the brain.

The neurotransmitters norepinephrine, serotonin, dopamine

and acetylcholine, all play a role in the function of activation
of the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS). Higher
levels of these neurotransmitters leads to higher states of
arousal and attention of different stimuli.

For example, if we are hiking in the woods and started to hear

sounds of an animal coming towards us, our activation of
the ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) will activate
and levels of norepinephrine will increase and will become
more aroused and alert.

When the system slows down, we might feel lethargic, sleepy

or have difficulty concentrating on things, which is known as
under-arousal.

When the system speeds up, we might feel highly active, be

alert and be ready to respond to different things in environment
which is known as over-arousal.

The person with low arousal needs might be motivated to

pursue simple activities such as crocheting or watching a movie
in order to maintain their arousal levels. The individual with
high arousal needs, on the other hand, might be motivated to
seek risky or thrilling activities such as motorcycle racing or
skydiving in order to maintain his or her ideal levels.
 Under Arousal
When the system slows down, we might feel lethargic, sleepy
or have difficulty concentrating on things, it is known as under-
arousal.
Researchers are unsure what causes low emotional arousal.
Researchers have proposed three theories that could account for
the low emotional arousal.
The first theory stresses that emotional arousal is highly
genetic. Secondly, some with low emotional arousal show
under arousal of the hypothalamus pituitary-adrenal (HPA)
axis. The HPA is responsible for the body's stress response.
Because there is thought to be under arousal of the HPA axis,
studies have shown that this causes reduced secretion of
epinephrine and cortisol. These two hormones are responsible
for the physiological response to a threat. Third, low emotion
arousal often elicits hypoactivity of the amygdala. The
amygdala in the brain is part of the limbic system, and is
responsible for processing and regulating emotions. This could
possibly explain as to why those suffering from low arousal
often lack empathy as well as emotional reactivity to other
people.
Symptoms of under arousal: tiredness, fatigue, hypoxia,
poisoning, uninspired, lack of motivation, depression and other
illness.
 Over Arousal
When the system speeds up, we might feel highly active, be
alert and be ready to respond to different things in environment,
it is known as over-arousal.

The Meriam-webster dictionary defines over-arousal as the state

of being excessively aroused. It occurs when a person’s body
suddenly kicks into high alert as a result of thinking about their
trauma. The optimal arousal theory of motivation states that we
seek to attain optimal arousal level because by achieving the
optimal arousal level, we can perform at our best. Even though
real danger may not be present, their body acts as if it is, causing
lasting stress after a traumatic event. Epinephrine (adrenaline) is
one of two stress hormones that play a role in the body's flight-
or-fight response. Epinephrine works in the short term and
produces acute stress symptoms, including pupil dilation,
increased blood pressure, and a rapid heart rate. The other
hormone, cortisol, works over the long term to regulate the
body's response to stress. The most common events resulting in
the development of over arousal are; exposure to trauma during
combat, physical abuse during childhood, sexual assault,
physical assault, threats from a person carrying a weapon, a
vehicular or sports accident, natural disasters, robbery or
mugging, fire, kidnapping, torture, plane crash, a life-threatening
medical diagnosis and terrorist attack.
Symptoms of over arousal: panic, high blood rate, rapid
heartbeat, aggression, submission, resignation, withdrawal,
irrational behaviour, mood swings, unconsciousness, sleeping
problems, difficulties in concentrating, constant anxiety, easily
scares or startled, self- destructive behaviour, heavy sense of
guilt or shame, etc.
Q. How these physiological symptoms inhibits performance
and also explain how the optimal arousal would be created
to increase performance?

Our performance at work is also affected directly by the

number, complexity and intensity of stressors present and the
amount of subjective stress that we are experiencing. There is
also a direct relationship between stress and arousal. It is
therefore useful to connect levels of arousal with levels of
stress.

In psychology, this relationship between arousal levels and

performance is known as the Yerkes-Dodson Law.

The Yerkes-Dodson Law suggests that there is a relationship

between performance and arousal. The Yerkes-Dodson
Law states that there is a relationship between arousal and task
performance, essentially arguing that there is an optimal level
of arousal for performance, and too little or too much arousal
can adversely affect task performance. Increased arousal can
help improve performance, but only up to a certain point. At
the point when arousal becomes excessive, performance
diminishes. The anxiety you experience before an exam is one
example of how the Yerkes-Dodson Law operates. An optimal
level of stress can help us focus on the test and remember the
information that we studied, but too much test anxiety can
impair our ability to concentrate and make it more difficult to
remember the correct answers.

Easier tasks are performed best when arousal is relatively high

(alert, mentally active state), whereas a relatively low level of
arousal is preferable for more difficult tasks (relaxed state).
The law was first described in
1908 by psychologists Robert
Yerkes and John Dillingham
Dodson. They discovered
that mild electrical shocks
could be used to motivate rats
to complete a maze, but when
the electrical shocks became
too strong, the rats would
scurry around in random
directions to escape.
Robert Yerkes

Most of us (students) have experienced this need to maintain

optimal levels of arousal (stress) over the course of their
academic career. Think about how much stress students
experience toward the end of spring semester—they feel
overwhelmed with work and yearn for the rest and relaxation
of summer break. Their arousal/stress level may be too high.

Once they finish the semester, however, it doesn’t take too long
before they begin to feel bored; their arousal level is too low
and their level of performance or productivity is also typically
lower. Generally, by the time fall semester starts, many
students are ready to return to school. This is an example of
how arousal theory works.
 Yerkes-Dodson Curve
The Yerkes-Dodson law can be depicted as an upside-down U-
shaped curve.

The left side of the curve represents low arousal, or stress. The
right side represents high arousal. And at the centre is a medium
level of arousal.

The vertical line on the left side goes from poor performance
(at the bottom) to peak performance (at the top).

The optimal state of arousal and optimal performance come

together in the middle of the curve.
Low Arousal

Having no stress at all isn’t necessarily a good thing in terms

of performance.

Optimal Arousal

A moderate level of stress goes a long way. It’s manageable,

motivational, and performance enhancing. Our heart beats a bit
faster. We feel a sense of clarity and alertness. Our brain and
body are all fired up.

High Arousal

Intense stress can lead to a fight, flight or freeze response.

It’s the final play of the season, winner take all, and we’re up
to bat. It’s the make-or-break project that could get us a life
changing bonus. It’s the test that could keep us from
graduating.

In these types of situations, stress and anxiety are ramping up

to an unmanageable level.

Our heart may beat faster, but it’s unsettling, distracting, even
nerve-wracking. We lose focus and not reach our full potential.

In a final analysis, we sought to connect our results for

performance to observations that arousal has been linked to
both linear as well inverted-U-shaped neural gain in graphs for
evoked processing.
 Factors Affecting Level of Arousal
We all experience stress differently, so the optimal level of
stress for you won’t be the same as it is for someone else.

The factors that facilitate a person to perform at an optimal

level are variable and peculiar to the individual, however,
certain elements are often common, such as: workload, task
complexity and difficulty, task familiarity and task experience,
circadian rhythm, degree of associated risk in failure occurs,
personal and crew motivation, the working environment, levels
of personal stress, health, interpersonal relationships at work
etc. We should also go to bed and get up on time, do exercises,
take proper and balanced meal, create fatigue risk management
system and employee well-being programme to increase
performance.

Conclusion
The Yerkes-Dodson Law demonstrated that increasing stress
and arousal levels could help focus motivation and attention on
the task at hand, but inly up to a certain point. Therefore, it is
important for us to listen to our body and to keep our body in
balance by heeding the signals that it gives us.
Submitted by:
Qazi Areeb
Student Id- 202005578
Sem-II, B.A. (H) English