Arousal

Performance Typology Map

Abilities
Arousal
Attitude
Behavior
Beliefs
Competencies
Engagement
Environment
EI
Experience (nurture)
Feelings
Intention
Motivation
Nature (genes)
Organizational Level
Performance
Performance Improvement
Performer Level
Process Level
Results
Skills
Social Pressure
Talent
Understanding
Values

A certain amount of arousal can be a motivator toward change (with change in this discussion being learning). But too much or too little will work against the learner. You want some mid-level point of arousal that provides the motivation to change (learn). Too little arousal has an inert affect on the learner, while too much has a hyper affect. There are optimal levels of arousal for each task to be learned:

• lower for more difficult or intellectually (cognitive) tasks
• higher for tasks requiring endurance and persistence

You might think of arousal and cognitive levels as fluid in a glass. If you put too much in of any ingredient, the glass overflows. If you do put too little in, you are not using the glass to its fullest capabilities. And if you put the wrong ingredients in, but the glass is full, then it does not taste good.

What does this mean to trainers?

When training tasks that are high on the cognitive scale or are highly complex, use less motivators and keep the stress level low. The brain tends to shut certain aspects out when it has too many inputs coming in at once, and the one input that you do not want it to shut out is what your learners need to learn. Some trainers call this brain-overload or brain-cramps. This does not mean you cannot make the material interesting, just keep their arousal on an even keel.

Outdoor or physical team training activities require more arousal techniques. This is where the trainer has to become more of a college football type coach and less of a trainer. The effort to reach the peak arousal point where the most change (learning) takes place is higher on this scale than cognitive learning. To reach that peak arousal point you need to provide more stress and motivation. This is why such team training programs as the U. S. Armed Forces Basic Training creates great teams - they reach the arousal point that is on the high-end for this type of learning.

Tests can be great motivators for getting students to learn...it shows they mastered the task, they do not like to fail, they want that certificate, its a challenge, etc. But test taking anxiety can push some learners' arousal level over the peak arousal point. You can reduce stress levels by supplying non-graded quizzes and performance activities that provide reassurance and feedback to the learners.

When the optimum arousal point goes too low then use activities that get the learners interacting with each other or moving. Provide inspirational speeches, challenging games, and puzzles. Give a pop quiz.

When the optimum arousal point goes too high then take the cognitive focus off the goal (eliminate "what if" statements) and place it on the process. Take a break, watch a video, stretch. Play a fun, but interesting game.

Provide the who, what, when, where, why, and how questions about the learning to take place as it helps to eliminate fears...you and the learning environment need to control the stress factors, not the unknowns.

Anxiety and Arousal

• Reality anxiety - the fear of a real danger in the external world that alerts the ego to danger. NOTE: This is the type of anxiety needed in some types of training, while the next two need to be eliminated.
• Neurotic anxiety - the fear that one's inner impulses cannot be controlled (id).
• Moral anxiety - the fear of the retributions of one's own conscience (superego).

Of course, too much anxiety impedes the learning process

When you take anxiety out of the training environment, you leave the learner without a major motivator. There is an old learning theory (now discredited) that states "the learner is an empty vessel in which the instructor pours knowledge." And unintentionally, this is how many training environments now operate. All the learners have to do is show up for the training session and they pass as the training environment has been completely sanitized of all emotions. The trainers believe that their entertaining and interesting instruction is going to be "poured" into the learners.

Excellent training places the responsibility of learning on both the trainer and the learner - the trainer provides the learning tools, while the learner's responsibility is to use these tools. And by creating an anxious-free environment, you take away one of the major motivational tools of the learner.

Perhaps anxiety's most effective use in training would be in a safety class. Pilots go through simulators not only for the psychomotor practice and to increase their knowledge, but also because some of the simulations are so realistic that they get anxiety attacks that tell them "danger, do something now!" not "something is going wrong, lets wait and see what happens." These types of anxiety attacks are our friend, they tell us to take immediate action by releasing adrenaline into the bloodstream, stimulating the heart, raising the metabolic rate, and increasing the blood glucose concentration.

Safety is not only having the knowledge to do things the correct way, the skills to perform correctly, but also the "attitude to react" to unsafe conditions. Some have said it is unethical for trainers to change attitudes, or that trainers should change behaviors, not attitudes. But that is a training cop-out. I work in a plant with forklifts, conveyors, machinery, and many other potential hazards. When I leave work I want to do so via my car, not in a hearse on the way to the county morgue or in an ambulance with an amputated leg, because the people who work with me "displayed safe behaviors" but did not have the attitude to react to something going wrong or sense (become anxious) when they were about to do something dangerous. Failing to incorporate affective (attitude) domain training into a safety classes means that you, the trainer, failed at your task. The Learning Zone How do you know when you have reached the optimum arousal point for your learners? In sports, a player who is playing great is at the optimum arousal point and is said to be "in the zone." Achieving the optimum arousal level in a training environment puts students in the Learning Zone:

• They become totally involved in the learning process by centering in on the task to be learned as non-learning stressors have been eliminated.
• They loose self-consciousness of the fear they might fail and gain a desire to succeed as their emotions are now tied to the learning environment. Failing becomes challenges because they become more adaptive to the learning environment and they believe the learning environment will "fine tune" itself to meet their needs.
• They have clear visions of what the task to be learned can provide as they know how it will help them in their future endeavors.
• They have a sense of being in control of their learning environment as they are ripe for learning (they are NOT just going through the motions).
• They become more intrinsically motivated (self-directed) because they want to learn the task (their focus is on the task rather than reward and punishment).

The optimum level of arousal allows one to go from this to this.

In closing, each task has an optimal level of arousal and the level of arousal includes anxiety, attention, agitation, stress, and motivation. The trainer's job is to help each learner reach their optimal level of arousal so that their focus is totally on the task to be learned.

References

NOTE: Although this is an old reference (1908), the Yerkes-Dodson law has held up over time through numerous studies. Just because something is old, does not make it invalid. In fact, since it has held up for so long, you might say it has gone from theory to law to phenomenon.