The Anxiety Optimisation

The Anxiety Optimisation

As a regular Big Bang Theory viewer I always enjoy the geekiness and intellect of the four men which are contrasted with Penny's social skills and common sense. The specific scene which made me want to research a little more is the following;

Sheldon - The Big Bang Theory

Sheldon: "According to a classic psychological experiment by Yerkes and Dodson, in order to maximize performance, one must create a state of productive anxiety. So I’d like to ask you all to do something for me. Keep me on my toes. Just throw me off my game. Essentially, go out of your way to make my life miserable." - The Big Bang Theory, Series 08 Episode 13

Sheldon found himself in a life crises where he changed his career field (working on proton decay) and accomplished nothing. Now he wondered if he made a mistake deciding to study dark matter. Later Sheldon decides in order to maximize his performance he must create a state of productive anxiety. He wants the guys to go out of their way to make his life miserable which they are glad to do.

This might be a state where you find yourself in regularly, not being productive and accomplishing the minimum. This can either causes a person to become 'frustrated and motivated for change' or 'unproductive and lazy'.  As I want to be the former rather than the latter I decided to look into Yerkes-Dodson law.

The Yerkes–Dodson law referrers to an empirical relationship between arousal and performance.The law was first described in 1908 by psychologists R. Yerkes and J.D. Dodson. It dictates that one's performance increases with physiological or mental arousal, but only up to a point. When levels of arousal become too high, performance decreases.

The Research Study

Yerkes-Dodson Law

They discovered that mild electrical shocks could be used to motivate rats to complete a maze, but when the electrical shocks became too strong, the rats would scurry around in random directions to escape. The experiment demonstrated that increasing stress and arousal levels could help focus motivation and attention on the task at hand, but only up to a certain point.

How do you determine what arousal levels are ideal?

The key thing to remember is that this can vary from one task to the next. Research has found, for example, that performance levels decrease earlier for complex tasks than for simple tasks even with the same levels of arousal. What does this mean exactly? If you are performing a relatively simple task, you are capable of dealing with a much larger range of arousal levels.

The anxiety you experience before an exam is one example of how the Yerkes-Dodson Law operates.  An optimal level of stress can help you focus on the test and remember the information that you studied; too much test anxiety can impair your ability to concentrate and make it more difficult to remember the correct answers.

So where does the "sweet spot" lie? The formula for optimal functioning includes a balance between the demands of the situation and a person's skills; very often this occurs when we are drived to use our abilities to their utmost. But just where that optimal point will be varies widely from person to person. - read more about this: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-brain-and-emotional-intelligence/201203/the-sweet-spot-achievement

What can you do to increase optimal functioning?

The Drive Theory (Zajonc, R.B.;1965) explained that we need an "excitatory state produced by a homeostatic disturbance" (eg. increased arousal or stress to accomplish a task), which causes an instinctual need which drives the behaviour of an individual. It also states that if there is a presence of an audience it will either facilitate better performance of a task, or inhibit the performance of a task. Furthermore, Zajonc's drive theory suggests that the variable determining direction of performance is whether the task is composed of a correct dominant response (that is, the task is perceived as being subjectively easy to the individual) or an incorrect dominant response (perceived as being subjectively difficult). N.B. Cottrell in 1972 suggested that the correctness of the dominant responses is also influenced by an expectation of social reward or punishment based on performance.

Here we can see that there are three important parts to increase optimal functioning to have a strong performance. These are:

1.) Optimal level of stress.  It can either be because you are frustrated and motivated for change and,or you decided to set a goal for yourself. The end result is what should drive you.

2.) Your dominant responses. These are determent by the skills you have developed in yourself over time, and continue to do so. The more you practice your skills, the more often the correct dominant response will occur during a stressful situation.

3.) Social expectation. Also, as seen by Sheldon in Big Bang Theory, he asks the guys to keep him on his toes. Therefor he added the the presence of an audience in order to have a social expectation. This is something you can also do in your own life. Involve friends, family, or even social media to build an expectation from them. Inform them that you are busy with a task and that you want to improve your performance in this task. It could be as simple as telling friends to support you during your weight loss process or during the building of a new company. Either way, the social expectation will push you to work harder.

By diligently practicing these three important parts of optimal functioning you can improve your performance outcome of your task and goals ahead.  

References:

1. Diamond, David M.; Adam M. Campbell; Collin R. Park; Joshua Halonen; Phillip R. Zoladz (2007-03-28). "The Temporal Dynamics Model of Emotional Memory Processing: A Synthesis on the Neurobiological Basis of Stress-Induced Amnesia, Flashbulb and Traumatic Memories, and the Yerkes-Dodson Law". Neural Plasticity. 2007: 60803. doi:10.1155/2007/60803.

2. Zajonc, R. B.; Heingartner, A.; Herman, E. M. (1969). "Social enhancement and impairment of performance in the cockroach". Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 13 (2): 83. doi:10.1037/h0028063

Written by:

Somari Coetzee
Registered Counsellor