Page 10A
Wednesday, October 23, 1996
Bird's EyeView
Attraction may have more to do with adrenaline rushes than sexy eyes, beautiful hair and smooth talk...
students have found that the ups and downs of a roller coaster ride may cause ups
and downs in their romantic relationships as well.
Psychological studies prove that people who become excited from scary activities tend to like the person they are with more, even if the cause of their excitement is something else.
"When we get excited or scared, we get aroused," said Kristin Schiffhauer, a psychology graduate student from Frederick, Md. "Research shows that some people are unable to attribute it to the right source. You might say 'well they are here, so I must like them.' If you go out with someone to see comedy, then you will think they're fun."
A study conducted in Canada by Donald Dutton and Arthur Aron shows sexual attraction increases under high anxiety. In their study, men rated a woman higher on attractiveness after walking across a high, unstable bridge. Since they were scared by walking across the suspension bridge, they misattributed their arousal to the woman.
The study reveals that the arousal we feel may actually be fear, anxiety or excitement, but we tend to relabel it as sexual attraction. People may be confused about their actual feelings since multiple factors are involved.
Schiffhauer said besides the bridge experiment, many other exciting events could lead us to misattributing arousal, such as riding a roller coaster, walking through a haunted house, exercising, watching a horror movie or experiencing a natural disaster.
"People who are scared together will want to take action together, so they will unite to reach a common goal," she said. "Having people around tends to calm us down."
"I've noticed this at amusement parks," she said. "You don't talk to other people before you get on the ride, but once you do, you'll start laughing and having a good time. Then when the ride is over, that's it."
On the individual level, a couple develops a stronger attraction to each other during exciting activities that cause anxiety. The degree of attraction that already exists can be increased, or a new attraction can develop.
"Doing something really exciting on a first date is probably going to be a short-lived attraction," she said. "The effects are mostly temporary. It influences our expectations of the other person.
But Schiffhauer said this could cause problems in newly formed relationships. If one person grows to expect constant excitement, it may lead to disappointment when the other person wants to just sit back and relax, and one may think the other is no longer interested in the relationship, she said.
While many students experience misattribution of arousal, few negative long-term effects influence daily lives.
"The impacts are not really large enough to be overwhelming in a relationship," she said. "It's good to do fun and exciting things in a relationship, but there's no major benefits in it."
Melissa Hoag, Bonner Springs junior, said exciting activities caused her to like someone more, but only if the activity actually posed a threat to her.
"I wouldn't think that a scary movie would make me like someone more," she said. "If it's a real scary situation, like being in the woods, that might make me attracted to someone. But
Photo Illustration by Steve Pupe / KANSAN
something like a haunted house is too fake."
Hoag said her attraction levels differed,depending on how much she liked the person before the activity.
"It depends on how attracted I was in the first place," she said. "If I liked him before, I'd probably like him more. But if I didn't like him in the first place, it wouldn't change my opinion any."
First dates are usually exciting for Hoag, and she said it was better to do exciting things if she was trying to get to know someone.
"I'd rather do something exciting right off and have fun," she said. "You have to be very comfortable with the person to be more laid back. I like to go out and do crazy things, but I also like to chill out too."
Mike Murrow, Blue Mound senior, said he did not prefer to do really exciting or adventurous things on a date, like going to an amusement park or a haunted house. He said they got in the way of getting to know someone.
"Those things are fun, but I'd rather
get to know the person first," he said. "But I do feel comfortable because it takes my mind off other things. You're so busy being scared or excited that you don't think about it, and you're not self-conscious anymore."
Murrow said he preferred to be laidback on a date because intense activities influenced human emotions, but those emotions could get in the way of a relationship.
"I went to Worlds of Fun once with a girl who I never really talked to before, but we did when we were there," he said. "We went on a lot of rides together, and I thought she was digging me. We were wound up and got all our juices going. But after that we really never talked again."
He said he experienced another situation where emotions got in the way of reality.
"I worked with horses at a summer camp, and if the horse got excited and the person fell off, it was my job to help the person up and calm down the horse," he said. "I was put in the hero role."
Critical Volume
Music reviews by Robert Moczydlowsky
rmoczudk@falcon.cc.ukans.edu.
Marilyn Manson Antichrist Superstar (Nothing/Interscope Records). Just so we don't offend anybody, let's say a few good things about the one-man controversy that
is Marilyn Manson.
First and foremost, we need to recognize that this guy is talented. He is a master showman, a shocking and intelligent performance artist, and a budding star with a truly unique style.
But he is not a musician. And that's were a lot of confusion starts.
Granted, Manson does his best to cover up his lack of musical ability. His new album was co-produced by Trent Reznor, and a new guitarist has been added to the band to fill out the live sound on the current tour.
But that's all still just window dressing. Manson himself writes almost exclusively lyrics, contributing to the music on just three songs in the album's credits. As a guitarist he is adequate at best; more often than not opting for forgo guitar playing altogether during a performance.
He is, quite honestly, a better financed, higher profile G.W.A.R imitation.
If you're not familiar with G.W.A.R. and its fake blood and obnoxious stage show, you are definitely missing out. G.W.A.R.
invented shock rock in the middle 80's, and they still do it better than anybody.
As far as the new Marilyn
Manson record is concerned, it all bolls down to whether you've seen the live show. If you have, you'll probably enjoy the record for what it's worth - background music to an elaborate rock freak show. If you buy this alburn for the music, what you'll find is quite different.
It's a middle of the road industrial album that not even the genius of Trent Reznor could
Overall, out of 10:5.
Phish Billy Breathes (Elektra). Still grieving the death of Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia?
No worries, man. Just pop the new Phish record into your cd player, strike up a smoke and relax. That'll do the trick, right?
Wrong. Say hello to Billy Breates, the new Phish album that says goodbye to all of those tired Grateful Dead comparisons.
This record is by far the best this band has released, and for the first time, these four thirty-something roots-rockers from Vermont have made a record that doesn't sound like any other band but their own. One can tell immediately from the album-opening
his week Robert uncovers the Marilyn Manson controversy, cheers on as Phish matures, grieves with Weezer and brings the Lemonheads' Evan Dando down to earth.
looseness of Free that this album was made by a much more settled, comfortable band. There are
This record ought to be mandatory listening for every independent label singer/songwriter who is caught up in the current low-fi, do it yourself recording fad. This album shows the benefits of both the recording studio and the inventiveness of do-it yourself recording, without the annoying, cheap sounding results.
no vacuum cleaner solos or cheap sound effects gimmicks on this record. In fact, on close listening, one can tell that Phish and producer Steve Lillywintentionally kept the overdubs to a minimum to create a warm, live in the studio feel.
Overall, including the penalties for playing the entire Beatles' White Album at an annual Halloween show in Atlanta: 7.
The Lemonheads Car Button Cloth (Tag/Atlantic Records). Evan Dando is one of the most ridiculous modern music sex symbols around.
Yes, he's a better than average songwriter and he can definitely play a decent guitar. But he is
not the all-important voice of alternative rock that some of the modern music media make him out to be.
Hopefully this new album won't be quite as big a hit as it's expected to be, and then maybe the media will back off the boy wonder for a while and let him do what he does best, which is write pop music.
But that's not likely to happen.
And really, how can it? This is the same guy who said that attention to his good looks was embarrassing to him, and then modeled for Calvin Klein, saying later that he "had a lot of fun with it."
Yeah, well...that's rock'n' roll for you.
Yeah, well..that's rock'n roll for you. The Lemonheads will be at the Bottleneck on Nov. 8. Call for ticket information.
or better yet, a record that chronicles the
Overall: 6.
And with the a couple of excep
Weezer Pinkerton (DGC Records). How can you not like a record that starts with a song entitled *Tired of Sex*?
Either way, that Rivers Cuomo is one sick puppy. For his band's follow-up to their 1994 platinum debut, he wrote ten songs chronicling his breakup with a longtime girlfriend.
tter yet, a record that chronicles the break up of two people over the course of ten guitar and keyboard pop gems, stopping only here and there for a quick breathe of air.
And while this record doesn't have the same polished feel of the previous album, that's understandable. Afterall, Weezer has been on hiatus while Cuomo attended college and bassist Matt Rentals recorded and toured with the Rentals.
tions, the songs appear on the record as a twisted sort of timeline through Cuomo's heartache. The songs are tight, catchy, and often hilarious.
But this record's lack of polish is more than made up for with pure rock n' roll emotion and smart aleck attitude. As far as guitar non bands too, Weezer is one of the best.
1
Afterall, lines like "goddamn you half-Japanese girls" are kind of hard to miss.
It's just really hard to imagine what Cuomo's ex-giftfriend thinks of this record.
Overall: 8
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