The excitation transfer paradigm

Carlos is playing a video game surrounded by friends. When it is in the final phase, it makes a mistake and loses the game feeling great frustration. One of his friends makes him an innocent joke about it and Carlos gets angry and leaves the room. Although the joke would not have caused a similar response on another occasion, Carlos has transferred his excitement by carrying out a disproportionate response. This is what happens in many of our daily behaviors that may seem irrational and that are explained through excitation transfer paradigm.

Content

• The development of Zillmann's research
• What is the excitation transfer paradigm?
• Zillmann proves his paradigm through different investigations
  • Conditions for the excitation transfer process
• Applications of the excitation transfer paradigm
  • Links of interest

The development of Zillmann's research

In the late 60s, the psychologist Dolf Zillmann of the University of Alabama, proposed the paradigm of the excitation transfer, a theory that continued to develop during the following decades. This psychologist, a student of emotional reactions, was based on the theory of Clarck Hull impulse reduction and in the Theory of the two Stanley Schachter's emotion factors.

The first proposes that our impulses or biological needs They are the basis and motivation of our behaviors, regardless of external stimulation.

On the other hand, the theory of the two factors of emotion affirms that emotions occur so much For physiological excitement or arousal, as for the cognitive evaluation of an event, That is to say: people feel a physical activation and evaluate this excitement according to the events that are happening to them, labeling the emotion according to these two observations.

Based on these theories and modifying them through their investigations, Zillmann tries to explain how excitation is transferred from one situation to another.

What is the excitation transfer paradigm?

This theory proposes that The excitation that a specific event causes us, HE Transfer to the answers we issue before other events later with the same intensity. That is, according to Zillmann, we transfer the excite. Although we summarize it in a simple way, this is a wide theory that explains behaviors that constantly unnoticed in the day to day to day.

In Zillmann's words: "The residual excitement that leaves virtually any emotional reaction is able to intensify any other later emotional reaction. The degree of intensification depends, of course, on the magnitude of the waste that prevails at the time ”. The residual arousal, or general physiological and psychological activation of the organism, is transmitted from one context to another causing responses, sometimes disproportionate.

This intensity in excitation can connect different emotions. This means that an excitement in which an emotion of fear underlies, for example, can lead to similar excite.

Zillmann proves his paradigm through different investigations

One of these investigations was carried out in 1971 and was based on showing films of different content to several participants. The films could be of erotic, violent or neutral content. Prior to this, an accomplice bothered the participant. After visualizing the films, the participants could administer downloads of different intensity to the person who had bothered them. As Zillmann expected, the participants who had visualized violent content carried out more intense downloads than those who had visualized neutral content and those who had received erotic content, much more than the previous ones.

Conditions for the excitation transfer process

To meet the excitation transfer process, three specific conditions must be given:

• The second event towards which we show excitation, must occur when the excitation due to the first stimulus has not yet dissipated.
• There must be an erroneous attribution of this excite.
• Before the second stimulus occurs, the person has not reached the total excitation threshold.

Applications of the excitation transfer paradigm

This theory has been applied in different fields such as psychology or psychophysiology, but it has undoubtedly had a great effect on the area of ​​communication. In the 70s, just when the paradigm began to develop, there was a great concern about the high violent content that the audiovisual media spread. The excitation transfer paradigm was used to explain the behaviors of people whose reactions were influenced by these contents, Although at first this influence was denied due to the fiction of the arguments issued. The paradigm, for the first time affirmed that any stimulus whether fictional or real, can cause an excitation transfer. This has been used in many research especially focused on studying aggressions that have been influenced by the media and propaganda.

Links of interest

• Excitation-transfer theory. https: // psychology.Iresearchnet.com/social-psychology/social -psychology-the-transfer-theory/excitation/excitation/excitation/excitation
• Excitation-transfer theory. https: // www.Alleydog.com/Glossary/definition.PHP?Term = excitation-transfer+Theory
• Excitation Transfer in Communication-Mediated Aggresive Behavior. Dolf Zillmann. 1971. https: // www.Scientedirect.com/science/article/pii/0022103171900758