Cite this article as: Praveen Shrestha, “Yerkes – Dodson Law,” in Psychestudy, November 17, 2017, https://www.psychestudy.com/general/motivation-emotion/yerkes-dodson-law. The Yerkes – Dodson Law suggests that performance and arousal are directly related. In simpler terms, increase in arousal to a certain level can help to boost performance. Once the arousal crosses the optimal level, performance of the individual starts to diminish. The law was first proposed by psychologists Robert Yerkes and John Dillingham Dodson in 1908. In their experiment, they discovered that rats could be motivated to complete a maze with slight electrical shocks. But, when the shocks were of the higher degree, … Continue reading Yerkes – Dodson Law