In previous studies exposing persons to stressful films, uniformly unpleasant in content, we found a marked tendency toward intrusive and stimulus-repetitive thought. This study was designed to determine if pleasant but arousing films would produce similar effects. In a counterbalanced design, 29 subjects saw both pleasurable and displeasurable films on genital themes. Comparing the results with previous data on the effects of the same displeasurable film and a neutral contrast film, both arousing films were followed by higher levels of intrusive and stimulus-repetitive thought than followed the neutral film. Viewers of the pleasurable and displeasurable films differed significantly in affective responses. The results support the theory of a general tendency towards compulsive repetition of events that arouse strong emotions and ideas of whatever quality.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Mardi J. Horowitz (1973) studied this question.