Effect of timing of information about mitigating circumstances on emotional responses to provocation and retaliatory behavior

To determine whether the reduction of retaliatory behavior by knowledge of mitigating circumstances is due to less motivation to retaliate or to an inhibition of motivated retaliation, subjects were provoked by a rude experimenter and informed of mitigating conditions (a) before provocation, (b) after provocation, or (c) not at all. Physiological data revealed that prior knowledge of mitigation prevented pronounced excitatory responses to prococation. In contrast, when mitigating conditions were not known, excitatory responses to provocation were intense. In addition, when mitigating information was supplied after provocation, excitatory responses decayed more rapidly than when no such information was supplied. Retaliatory behavior, as measured in complaints about the rude experimenter, was substantially lower in the condition in which mitigation preceded provocation than in the other two conditions. The retaliatory behavior of subjects who were informed of mitigation after being provoked did not differ significantly from that of subjects who were not informed of mitigation. The findings were interpreted as incompatible with the assumption that under mitigating conditions retaliation is motivated but inhibited and as generally supportive of the proposal that mitigation attenuates the response to provocation. In order to explain the failure of the reception of mitigating information after provocation to reduce retaliatory behavior in spite of the observed facilitation of excitatory decay, it was suggested that when subjects were experiencing high levels of anger, they formed a behavioral disposition to retaliate, which outlasted the state of elevated arousal.     

Social Costs of Smoking: Effects of Tobacco Smoke on Hostile Behavior1

Male and female undergraduates interacted with a same-sex experimenter and a same-sex assistant of the experimenter. Either the experimenter or the assistant smoked. Subjects were provoked or not provoked by the experimenter and then smoked. Subjects were provoked or not provided by the experimenter and then provided with an opportunity to treat him or her in a hostile manner. Additionally, subjects were classified as smokers or nonsmokers and as supporting or opposing smoking in public places. Tobacco smoke was found to facilitate hostile behavior whether or not subjects were independently annoyed and whether or not it originated from the annoyer or a bystander. No sex differences were observed in this effect. Also, no appreciable difference was observed in the hostile behavior of smokers and nonsmokers. Persons opposed to public smoking reacted more strongly to the provocation than persons supportive of public smoking, but this effect was independent of the presence or absence of smoke.     

Empathetic perception of emotional displays in films as a function of hedonic and excitatory state prior to exposure

A film clip depicting a young couple in a dysphoric encounter was seen following one of four film segments that were selected and pretested to effect a factorial variation in (a) hedonic tone (positive, negative) and (b) excitatory potential (low, high). Reactions to the subsequent film were assessed via ratings to test predictions from excitation-transfer theory and to determine sequential effects in hedonically valued experiences. In a first experiment, in which the subsequent film was viewed immediately after the antecedent film, a nearly significant distraction effect of excitation occurred, that is, affective responses to the subsequent film were less intense following high-excitation films than following low-excitation films. In a second experiment, in which the procedure employed in the interval between films was changed to foster close attention to the subsequent film, an excitation-transfer effect was observed, with the dysphoric encounter being perceived as sadder after high-excitation films than after low-excitation films. In both experiments, hedonic-set effects were also observed. The role of cognitive adjustment in excitation transfer was discussed.     

Viewer's moral sanction of retribution in the appreciation of dramatic presentations

An audiovisually presented fairy tale, which involved provocation and retaliation as the central theme, was created in three versions. Relative to the provocation, retaliation was too mild, equitable, or too severe. Children at the developmental stages of expiatory retribution (4-yr olds) and equitable retribution (7- and 8-yr olds) served as subjects. Appreciation of the presentation was measured in facial displays, in structured interviews, and in ratings. Consistently across measures, it was found that for children at the stage of expiatory retribution, appreciation increased with the severity of the retaliatory acts. Children at the stage of equitable retribution, in contrast, appreciated equitable retaliation the most. At this stage, inequitable retaliation (too mild or too severe) was found to impair appreciation significantly. The findings were interpreted as consistent with the proposal that the depiction of punitive, retaliatory activities will be enjoyed the more, the closer they approximate the viewer's moral expectations.     

Pornography's Impact on Sexual Satisfaction1

Male and female students and nonstudents were exposed to videotapes featuring common, nonviolent pornography or innocuous content. Exposure was in hourly sessions in six consecutive weeks. In the seventh week, subjects participated in an ostensibly unrelated study on societal institutions and personal gratifications. On an especially constructed questionnaire, subjects rated their personal happiness regarding various domains of experience; additionally, they indicated the relative importance of gratifying experiences. Exposure to pornography was without influence on the self-assessment of happiness and satisfaction outside the sexual realm (e.g., satisfaction deriving from professional accomplishments). In contrast, it strongly impacted self-assessment of sexual experience. After consumption of pornography, subjects reported less satisfaction with their intimate partners—specifically, with these partners' affection, physical appearance, sexual curiosity, and sexual performance proper. In addition, subjects assigned increased importance to sex without emotional involvement. These effects were uniform across gender and populations.     

Enhancement of experienced sexual arousal in response to erotic stimuli through misattribution of unrelated residual excitation.

In a pretest, three phases of recovery from a standard physical exercise were determined. In Phase 1, subjects experienced high levels of physiological excitation and recognized that their arousal was due to exercise. In Phase 2, subjects maintained substantial excitatory residues from the exercise but felt that their arousal had returned to base level. In Phase 3, subjects' excitatory responses had decayed, and they knew they had recovered from the exercise. Subjects in the main experiment were exposed to an erotic film in the first, second, or third recovery phase after performing the exercise. Subjects viewing the film during the second recovery phase reported being more sexually aroused by the film and evaluated the film more positively than subjects in the other two conditions. Counter to the notion of arousal as a simple energizer of all behavior, these findings were interpreted as supporting excitation-transfer theory, which posits that residual excitation enhances emotional responses to unrelated, immediately present stimuli only when the prevailing arousal cannot be attributed to its actual source.     

The effect of suspense and its resolution on the appreciation of dramatic presentations

In a factorial design, degree of suspense (low, intermediate, high) of an adventure presented audiovisually was varied with resolution of the suspense (resolved, lingering). The variations were accomplished by producing different versions of the same program. Appreciation of the presentation was measured in the viewers' facial displays, in structured interviews, and in ratings. Consistently across measures, it was found that under conditions of resolved suspense, appreciation substantially increased with degree of suspense. Under conditions of lingering suspense, appreciation also increased with degree of suspense but to a significantly smaller extent. Excitatory responses were measured in skin temperature and heart rate. A significant differentiation of heart rate as a function of degree of suspense was observed. In addition, both skin temperature and heart rate disclosed sudden declines in excitation with the effective resolution of suspense.