I am sitting here frantically trying to finish not one, but two assignments that I had yet to start until this morning. I finished one portion of my Social Psychology assignment and felt it was worthy of sharing with the masses. On a side note, it is seriously cruel and unusual punishment to be studying the chapter on Love and Attraction at this point in my life. Seriously, what immortal being did I piss off to deserve THAT chapter being studied NOW. In any case, I will get the point of this blog entry, my Social Psychology assignment. I am basically just doing a cut and paste from my assignment, so forgive me if it isn't in my typical "blog" writing style.
Misattribution of arousal is defined in my text as "the process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do".
In plain terms, when we encounter an unusual situation, and we are also evaluating how we feel about someone else, we have a tendancy to attribute that heightened state of arousal caused by the unusual situation to be caused by the new person we are evaluating rather than the situation itself. Whether it is being scared, excited, or even just getting heartburn it can make us think there are "sparks" on a first or second date. There are many studies that support this and if you are interested, I can point you in the right direction. Without further adu, here is the meat of my assignment.
Misattribution of arousal gave me insight into the on-going persistence of Vienna on the just completed season of the Bachelor as well as her eventually being proposed to by Jake, this year’s bachelor. As a result of learning about the misattribution of arousal, now I realize why someone who is as obviously tainted and flawed as Vienna could have been so persistent in the show and even a good indication of why she won.
On Jake’s second one-on-one date of the season, he takes Vienna to go bungee-jumping. He does so on the premise that both of them are afraid of heights and that he wants them to overcome that fear together. After some waterworks (by Jake), and rubbery legs, they jump off the bridge holding onto each other scared out of their minds. After they stopped bouncing around, they shared a pretty amazing upside down kiss, almost Spiderman style. The date progressed as expected, and it was abundantly clear that both of them were falling head over heels for each other.... Seriously Jake, Vienna over Gina? My god men are weird...
After the date, both Jake and Vienna claimed to have this special bond with each other that no other woman could equal. As it turns out they were both correct, despite Vienna’s seemingly purposeful attempts to be as horrible as possible, and Jake knowing full well what she was capable of, Jake proposed to Vienna at the end of the season. As the season progressed, everyone was left wondering why? Why Vienna? Gina, Tenley, Ali, and many more of the contestants were clearly a far better choice than evil, backstabbing, manipulating Vienna.
Learning about the misattribution of arousal, I realized that it was very likely that this was the cause of Jake’s interpretation of love. The date with Vienna was exceptionally arousing for Jake and he likely attributed that arousal to the beautiful woman hanging upside down in his arms. In effect, the results of the season were sealed the instant they jumped from that bridge, and while there were 5 more episodes and 11 other women, no one could match the level of arousal Jake obtained, not by Vienna, but from the knee-quaking heights of that bridge.
Now that I have intently watched every episode of the 2010 season of the Bachelor, and, like women all over North America, was dumbfounded every time Vienna got a rose, I have a pretty good idea that misattribution of arousal was why this choice was made over and over again. I can use this knowledge to help me in the future with my relationships. Newly re-entering the dating scene after almost 7 years of marriage, I need to make sure I steer clear of potentially arousing situations early in the relationship. Mini-golf sure seems like a lame first date, but at least it is almost certain to prevent any significant arousal in the situation that could cloud my thoughts about my feelings. Movies in general should likely be avoided, in addition to new food, or situations.
While it may seem overly paranoid to purposefully avoid exciting first or second dates, it definitely seems better than a long term relationship with a lame duck. On the flip side, if I happen to find “the one” and want to make sure I’ll get a second date maybe I should push them into traffic, just to get their heart going and make them love me even more. On second thought, maybe Mexican food would be a better choice...
P.S. If you are in my class and steal this for your assignment I will hunt you down and... think mean thoughts in your general direction. If you are my prof and wondering why my assignment came up on your Google search, it's actually me who wrote both of these.... seriously :)
Misattribution of arousal is defined in my text as "the process whereby people make mistaken inferences about what is causing them to feel the way they do".
In plain terms, when we encounter an unusual situation, and we are also evaluating how we feel about someone else, we have a tendancy to attribute that heightened state of arousal caused by the unusual situation to be caused by the new person we are evaluating rather than the situation itself. Whether it is being scared, excited, or even just getting heartburn it can make us think there are "sparks" on a first or second date. There are many studies that support this and if you are interested, I can point you in the right direction. Without further adu, here is the meat of my assignment.
Misattribution of arousal gave me insight into the on-going persistence of Vienna on the just completed season of the Bachelor as well as her eventually being proposed to by Jake, this year’s bachelor. As a result of learning about the misattribution of arousal, now I realize why someone who is as obviously tainted and flawed as Vienna could have been so persistent in the show and even a good indication of why she won.
On Jake’s second one-on-one date of the season, he takes Vienna to go bungee-jumping. He does so on the premise that both of them are afraid of heights and that he wants them to overcome that fear together. After some waterworks (by Jake), and rubbery legs, they jump off the bridge holding onto each other scared out of their minds. After they stopped bouncing around, they shared a pretty amazing upside down kiss, almost Spiderman style. The date progressed as expected, and it was abundantly clear that both of them were falling head over heels for each other.... Seriously Jake, Vienna over Gina? My god men are weird...
After the date, both Jake and Vienna claimed to have this special bond with each other that no other woman could equal. As it turns out they were both correct, despite Vienna’s seemingly purposeful attempts to be as horrible as possible, and Jake knowing full well what she was capable of, Jake proposed to Vienna at the end of the season. As the season progressed, everyone was left wondering why? Why Vienna? Gina, Tenley, Ali, and many more of the contestants were clearly a far better choice than evil, backstabbing, manipulating Vienna.
Learning about the misattribution of arousal, I realized that it was very likely that this was the cause of Jake’s interpretation of love. The date with Vienna was exceptionally arousing for Jake and he likely attributed that arousal to the beautiful woman hanging upside down in his arms. In effect, the results of the season were sealed the instant they jumped from that bridge, and while there were 5 more episodes and 11 other women, no one could match the level of arousal Jake obtained, not by Vienna, but from the knee-quaking heights of that bridge.
Now that I have intently watched every episode of the 2010 season of the Bachelor, and, like women all over North America, was dumbfounded every time Vienna got a rose, I have a pretty good idea that misattribution of arousal was why this choice was made over and over again. I can use this knowledge to help me in the future with my relationships. Newly re-entering the dating scene after almost 7 years of marriage, I need to make sure I steer clear of potentially arousing situations early in the relationship. Mini-golf sure seems like a lame first date, but at least it is almost certain to prevent any significant arousal in the situation that could cloud my thoughts about my feelings. Movies in general should likely be avoided, in addition to new food, or situations.
While it may seem overly paranoid to purposefully avoid exciting first or second dates, it definitely seems better than a long term relationship with a lame duck. On the flip side, if I happen to find “the one” and want to make sure I’ll get a second date maybe I should push them into traffic, just to get their heart going and make them love me even more. On second thought, maybe Mexican food would be a better choice...
P.S. If you are in my class and steal this for your assignment I will hunt you down and... think mean thoughts in your general direction. If you are my prof and wondering why my assignment came up on your Google search, it's actually me who wrote both of these.... seriously :)
