This perspective allows for the merging of both a positive and a negative situation to elicit the same physiological reaction. For example, during a tennis match both our mental as well as our physical arousal are necessary for a successful game. The situation need not be a life threatening one in order to produce arousal, rather, many activities are associated with arousal. Social psychologists have maintained that cognitive dissonance may produce arousal. That is, when an unexpected event or piece of information is unpleasant, it requires alleviating, which produces arousal.
Arousal here is interpreted as both the cognitive and the physiological reaction to the stimuli.
It has been implied that a certain level of arousal is required for all activities. In 1955 Hebb proposed a relationship between arousal and performance which could be represented as a normal bell curve. As illustrated above, arousal is necessary for functioning in a fight or flight scenario, Hebb suggested that arousal is necessary for behavioral efficiency in our everyday lives. In this study, Heron paid male college students a substantial sum of money to lie on a bed for as many days as they could endure. Various measures were taken to produce a restricted stimulation environment.