Misattribution of arousal

Misattribution of arousal is when you feel strong emotions, like being excited or scared, but you don't know why you're feeling that way. It's like your body is feeling something but your brain doesn't know what's causing it.

For example, imagine you go to a scary movie with your friends. You start to feel scared and your heart beats really fast. But after the movie, your friend tells you a funny joke and you burst out laughing. You might actually be feeling scared but your brain is confused and thinks you're feeling happy because of the joke. This is misattribution of arousal.

This can happen in other situations too, like if you're on a rollercoaster and your body feels the rush of adrenaline, but then you see someone attractive and your brain thinks the rush is from that person instead of the rollercoaster.

Sometimes, this mistake can cause us to react differently or make different decisions than we would have if we had correctly identified the cause of our emotions.