Arousal-induced self-awareness: An artifactual relationship?

Tested an alternative explanation for the arousal-self-awareness link found by D. M. Wegner and T. Giuliano (see record 1981-25503-001). It is suggested that the running-in-place manipulation used by Wegner and Giuliano may have increased self-awareness, not because of the increased arousal it engendered, but because of its "unusual" nature. 48 undergraduates were assigned to 1 of 3 conditions: fast running (both arousing and unusual), slow running (unusual but not arousing), and control (neither arousing nor unusual). Results support the unusual-behavior hypothesis. Ss in both running groups, regardless of speed and arousal, showed more self-awareness on a sentence-completion form than did Ss in the control condition. Implications for self-awareness theory are considered. (13 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).