ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the stimulation-seeking and group dynamics applications. Stimulation-seeking following increases in arousal is general or nonspecific in the sense that all sensory input to the peripheral receptors serves to inhibit the nervous discharge resulting from incongruity. Low self-esteem can be considered a reflection of a threatened or disintegrating cognitive map, and we would expect it to be associated with various manifestations of arousal. The disparaging test results constituted incongruity, which raised the level of arousal in the subjects and threatened their cognitive map. Consequently, if the stimulus objects behave "punitively", attachment behavior is directed at those objects in an attempt to seek congruity, to re-affirm or "match" the cognitive map with its corresponding external representation. A central fact about human behavior is that it is social: individuals form attachments to other individuals and to various features of their environment, as well as to ideas or beliefs.
