Misattribution of arousal
We mislabel the source of our physical arousal, pinning it on the wrong cause.
What it means
Misattribution of arousal is the tendency to mistake the origin of one's physiological arousal, attributing bodily activation caused by one source to a different, more salient or plausible one. It rests on the two-factor theory of emotion: an emotional experience combines a state of undifferentiated physiological arousal with a cognitive label, and when the true cause of the arousal is ambiguous or unnoticed, the mind reaches for the most available explanation in the environment to interpret what it is feeling. The classic suspension-bridge study showed men aroused by crossing a frightening bridge were more likely to feel attracted to a woman they met there, reading fear-driven arousal as romantic attraction. A boundary condition is that misattribution depends on the real source being unobtrusive or unclear; when people can plainly identify why they are aroused (for example, a pill they are told causes a racing heart), the effect disappears. It matters for understanding attraction, persuasion, exercise-driven mood, and the broad insight that emotion is partly a story we construct, and the story can be wrong.
Examples
Men who met a woman while crossing a high, swaying suspension bridge felt more attracted to her than those who met her on a safe, low bridge, mislabeling fear-arousal as desire.
A couple who pick a horror film for a first date find each other more appealing afterwards, reading the racing heart the screen produced as chemistry across the table.
Confronted about something trivial at the end of a hard run, a person argues far more hotly than usual, filing the leftover arousal of exercise as anger at whoever is in front of them.
First described in Dutton & Aron (1974); Schachter & Singer (1962).