Uncertainty, Importance, and Arousal as Determinants of Pre-Decisional Information Search

Abstract

Berlyne's conflict theory of “epistemic curiosity” assumes information search to be elicited by arousal resulting from response conflict, which in turn is a function of the uncertainty and “importance” of a choice. Several predictions derived from this formulation were tested using a choice task in which uncertainty (number of alternatives) and importance (value of outcomes) were manipulated and S's GSR was recorded. Results showed that (a) neither variable influenced arousal. (b) Increasing the uncertainty component of conflict increased search; increasing importance suppressed it. (c) Arousal did not increase before a search response, but Ss whose general arousal levels were high searched more.