Some evidence that Dutton and Aron almost forty years ago had shown not necessarily what they intended to show

The article by Dutton and Aron (1974), in which the authors present results of three studies, is one of the classics in the history of social psychology. According to the original interpretation, the sufficient condition of an increase in sexual attraction toward an object (attractive woman), presented shortly after or during waiting for an aversive stimulus, is an induction in male participants of a strong autonomic arousal (via crossing by the high suspended bridge or anticipating receipt of strong electric shocks). However, this interpretation seems unconvincing, and the results - inconclusive. This article presents a critical interpretation of the results obtained by Dutton & Aron (1974) through reanalysis of the original data. In addition the article presents a short review of theories concerning the arousal-attraction link. peerReviewed publishedVersion