The Psychophysiology of Emotion, Arousal, and Personality: Methods and Models

Th e term psychophysiology refers to the measurement of physiological phenomena as they relate to behavior in the broadest sense (Andreassi, 2000). A basic assumption in psychophysiology is that behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and social phenomena all have concomitant physiological processes (Hugdahl, 1995). Psychophysiological measures are not only a complement to introspective (subjective) and behavioral measures (e.g., movements); they have the unique advantage of constituting measures of the underlying psychological processes that cannot be faked, because psychophysiological responses are normally not under voluntary control.