TY - JOUR
T1 - Pupillometry and hindsight bias
T2 - Physiological arousal predicts compensatory behavior
AU - Sleegers, W.W.A.
AU - Proulx, T.
AU - van Beest, I.
N1 - Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - According to violation–compensation models of cognitive conflict, experiences that violate expected associations evoke a common, biologically based syndrome of aversive arousal, which in turn motivates compensation efforts to relieve this arousal. However, while substantial research shows that people indeed respond with increased arousal to expectancy violating events, evidence for the motivating role of arousal is rarely found. In two within-subjects studies (N = 44 and N = 50), we demonstrate evidence for the motivating role of arousal in this violation–compensation process among university students. Using pupillometry and the hindsight bias phenomenon, we show that people respond with greater arousal when presented with expectancy violating information. In turn, we show that the pupillary response is positively related to the amount of hindsight bias being displayed. These findings provide further insights into the process underlying the hindsight bias and, crucially, support key predictions following from threat–compensation models.
AB - According to violation–compensation models of cognitive conflict, experiences that violate expected associations evoke a common, biologically based syndrome of aversive arousal, which in turn motivates compensation efforts to relieve this arousal. However, while substantial research shows that people indeed respond with increased arousal to expectancy violating events, evidence for the motivating role of arousal is rarely found. In two within-subjects studies (N = 44 and N = 50), we demonstrate evidence for the motivating role of arousal in this violation–compensation process among university students. Using pupillometry and the hindsight bias phenomenon, we show that people respond with greater arousal when presented with expectancy violating information. In turn, we show that the pupillary response is positively related to the amount of hindsight bias being displayed. These findings provide further insights into the process underlying the hindsight bias and, crucially, support key predictions following from threat–compensation models.
KW - arousal–behavior link
KW - hindsight bias
KW - pupillometry
KW - threat–compensation
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85095843262&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1948550620966153
DO - 10.1177/1948550620966153
M3 - Article
JO - Social Psychological and Personality Science
JF - Social Psychological and Personality Science
SN - 1948-5506
ER -