Intrinsic motivation and psychological stress.

“Three issues were explored experimentally in this study…. the proposition that the arousal of a state of stress depends upon intrinsic motive states in the individual as well as the nature of the stressor conditions…. The proposal… that stress would tend to improve sensory-motor output and impair conceptual performance on the basis of different amounts of interference… the importance of the S's past history of success or failure in a particular motivational direction in determining whether a stress state would be aroused.” 15 refs. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved)