The idea of arousal as a non-specific state of activation has been implicated as an explanatory factor for many aspects of human behavior, ranging from emotional experiences to learning and memory. Critiques of this concept have highlighted that arousal is ambiguous and evidence for its role in emotion is mixed. However, contemporary emotion theories and empirical research continue to incorporate the concept of arousal in ways that fail to address its problems. Here, we review the origins of the term arousal in physiology and trace how it has been translated and applied to psychology (particularly as it relates to emotion). We consider whether the construct of arousal is currently (a) consistent and (b) useful in understanding human behavior.

中文翻译：

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唤醒可能没什么值得兴奋的


唤醒作为一种非特异性激活状态的想法已被暗示为人类行为许多方面的解释因素，从情绪体验到学习和记忆。对这个概念的批评强调，唤醒是模棱两可的，其在情绪中的作用的证据好坏参半。然而，当代情绪理论和实证研究继续以无法解决其问题的方式纳入唤醒的概念。在这里，我们回顾了生理学中唤醒一词的起源，并追溯它是如何被翻译和应用于心理学的（特别是当它与情绪有关时）。我们考虑唤醒的结构目前是否 （a） 一致并且 （b） 对理解人类行为有用。