Novels, movies, and real-life experiences remind us of numerous instances of how men and women fall in love with each other in the time of diversity and the challenges they encounter. Experiencing adversity can make people fall in love due to psychological factors, such as the misattribution of arousal.
Multiple studies have demonstrated the misattribution of arousal effects. A person likely falls in love and experiences attraction and attachment to another person when they attribute their elevated physiological arousal elicited by any stimulus to that person (see Karandashev, 2024, for review).
For example, when a man or a woman feels anxious or scared on a roller coaster and then meets an attractive stranger afterward, he or she can misinterpret their physiological arousal (e.g., a pounding heart or shortness of breath) as romantic attraction to the stranger.
Extrinsic Motivation Can Excite Our Love Due to the Misattribution of Arousal
The misattribution of arousal is a psychological phenomenon where a person misinterprets the physiological arousal from one source, such as fear of danger or joy of watching a show, and attributes this arousal to another source, such as another person who is nearby.
Such misattribution of the arousal effect transforms any external arousal into romantic love, sexual attraction, or attachment to an infant’s mother.
Misattribution of the Arousal Effect in the Art of Seduction and Love
Many famous lovers in history and novels, such as Cleopatra, Giacomo Casanova, and Don Juan, were artful seducers enticing someone’s romantic and sexual love. Their stories illustrate that seduction often involves their understanding of human psychology and the misattribution of the arousal effect.
For example, Ovid, a Roman poet who lived in the first century, suggested in his book “The Art of Love” that a man who wanted to seduce a woman should take her to a gladiatorial tournament. It is highly likely that it would encourage her sexual desire and arouse her sexual passion.
How the Misattribution of Psychophysiological Arousal Arouses Love
Many modern experiments have demonstrated the effect of misattribution of arousal on the psychological arousal of love. In such situations, people erroneously assume what or who makes them feel aroused. For instance, when people are experiencing physiological and psychological arousal related to a fearful situation, they misattribute those psychophysiological responses to their romantic arousal.
The Capilano Suspension Bridge Study of Romantic Attraction
The well-known experiments commonly referred to as the Capilano Suspension Bridge Study were conducted in 1974 by Dutton and Aron. For experimental conditions, they used a suspension bridge, and for control conditions, they used a sturdy bridge. Because of its high altitude above the ground, the suspension bridge caused participants to react with anxiety. People would be afraid of the suspension bridge because it was suspended over the river and was too unstable to walk on. On the other hand, in the same experiment, a strong bridge that is stable for walking would not cause fear. It functioned as a control condition, a benchmark for comparison.
A female interviewer approached 85 male pedestrians on either a fear-arousing suspension bridge or a non-fear-arousing bridge. The interviewer asked participants to complete questionnaires featuring Thematic Apperception Test (TAT) images and to narrate stories based on the presented pictures from the TAT.
The narratives recounted by participants on the fear-inducing bridge exhibited an elevated degree of sexual content. Furthermore, these male participants exhibited a heightened propensity to attempt to reach out to the female interviewer post-experiment (Dutton & Aron, 1974).
How Adversity Strengthens an Infant’s Attachment to Mother
The ethological observations of Lorenz showed the powerful role of imprinting in the formation of an infant’s love toward its mother. The early experiences that birds and animals have in life have a significant impact on their attachment to their mother (Lorenz, 1935).
This is how ducklings’ attachment to their “mother” and love for her develop due to imprinting. The first moving object that ducklings encounter becomes the focus of their infantile attachment. It is their mother. Ducklings feel attached to the visual appearance, sound, smell, and movement of their mother. This form of imprinting, with consecutive formation of the attachment to a mother, endures for an extended period and appears to become a “fixed” form of the young animal’s attachment to the mother (see Karandashev, 2024, for review).
Subsequent investigations into the imprinting mechanisms and the factors that influence them revealed that the adverse circumstances that chicks or ducklings experience during their early lives serve to fortify the imprinting processes and the attachment to the mother.
In the following study, researchers revealed that experimental settings that cause anxiety in chicks or ducklings during the first few days of their lives elevate their physiological arousal levels, which in turn strengthens their attachment to a mother and reinforces their imprinting. Due to these adverse events, their emotional attachment to the mother developed stronger than it would have been in the absence of them (e.g., Hess, 1958; 1959; Moltz, Rosenblum, & Halikas, 1959; Pitz & Ross, 1961).
These results demonstrate how much the ways in which humans and their offspring imprint and attach to their significant others are similar to those of chicks and ducklings. For instance, a number of anecdotes and observations suggested that children who grow up in harsh circumstances might become more attached to their mother. Nonetheless, we must acknowledge that this type of attachment may cause issues with feelings of insecurity.
References
Dutton, D. G., & Aron, A. P. (1974). Some evidence for heightened sexual attraction under conditions of high anxiety. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30(4), 510–517. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0037031
Hess, E. H. (1958). ” Imprinting” in animals. Scientific American, 198(3), 81-93.
Hess, E. H. (1959). The relationship between imprinting and motivation. In M. R. Jones (Ed.), Nebraska symposium on motivation: Vol. 7(pp. 44-77). Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Karandashev, V. (2024). The Varieties of Love as Interpersonal Attraction. Springer.
Moltz, H., Rosenblum, L., & Halikas, N. (1959). Imprinting and level of anxiety. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 52, 240-244.
Lorenz, K. (1935). Der Kumpan in der Umwelt des Vogels. Der Artgenosse als auslösendes Moment sozialer Verhaltensweisen. Journal für Ornithologie, 83, 137–413.
Pitz, G. E, & Ross, R. B. (1961). Imprinting as a function of arousal. Journal of Comparative and Physiological Psychology, 54, 602-604.