Arousal theory

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Arousal Theory
Bungee jumping and skydiving are examples of activities that not everyone is willing or enthusiastic to do. Nevertheless, for some particular individuals, the more hazardous and adrenaline involved an activity is, the better. What is it that attracts these people to “daredevil” behaviors? Behaviors and activities that other “normal” people shy away from. According to psychologists (Wood et al. 235), the forces that play a part in making us choose to engage or not engage in such daredevil otherwise know as sensational-seeking behaviors are called motivation. There are some psychological theories that try to explain how motivation impacts the choices we make every day. One of these theories is the arousal theory.
The arousal theory states that all human beings tend to look for an ideal state of elation or arousal. Persons with high levels of elation will be drawn to high excitement engagements, such as bungee jumping. The rest of us are happy to settle for engaging in less exciting and less risky undertakings. When all is said and done, most people perform best at an ideal level of arousal, even though this level often fluctuates depending on the activity. According to researchers, high levels of arousal have been linked to sensational-seeking (otherwise known as daredevil) behavior. Each individual attempt to achieve an ideal state of arousal from their surrounding and often very little stimuli make him, or her be bored while an excessive amount of excitement causes anxiety.

Anxiety would easily prompt sensation seeking or daredevil behaviors.
The Arousal Theory, just like any other, has strengths and shortcomings. Strengths include the fact that it can be used to anticipate wrongdoing in people that have high scores on sensation seeking. Nevertheless, the Arousal hypotheses have no method of direct testing, and the connection between wrongdoing and the sensational feeling is obscure. Finally, this theory has not investigated thrill-seeking behaviors among adults thus more research should be done on older members.
Works Cited
ADDIN Mendeley Bibliography CSL_BIBLIOGRAPHY Wood, Peter B et al. “Sensation-Seeking and Delinquent Substance Use: An Extension of Learning Theory.” Journal of Drug Issues 25.1 (2015): 173–193.