Yerkes-Dodson law: stress and performance
The Yerkes-Dodson law says performance is best at moderate stress and falls when stress is too low or too high, giving a bell-shaped inverted U.
Remember
Moderate stress gives the best performance, and performance falls when stress is too low or too high. If stress is past the peak, reduce it, rather than adding more work or more pressure.
Memory aid
think of Goldilocks, since the best performance comes from stress that is not too little and not too much
Use it to recall that the best performance sits in the middle of the curve.
The Yerkes-Dodson law links stress (arousal, meaning how alert and activated a person is) to performance. With too little stress a person is under-aroused: drive is low and focus is poor, so performance is limited. A moderate amount raises alertness and efficiency, and performance is at its best. Beyond that point thinking is overwhelmed, concentration and recall worsen, and mistakes increase.
Drawn as a graph, this gives an inverted U, often called a bell curve. The best level of stress differs between people, so remember the shape rather than a fixed number.
Sliding too far to the right of the curve, towards high stress, risks allostatic load, the wear and tear on the body caused by prolonged stress. Stress hormones protect the body in the short run, yet in the long run they cause changes that lead to disease. This is why simply pushing through is not a sound strategy. Studying longer hours does not help when the limiting factor is the stress itself, not the time spent.
So when stress is past the peak, the aim is to lower it and move back towards the middle, not to remove all stress. Mindfulness can be used as a tool for this. It is a way of paying attention on purpose, in the present moment and without judgement.
Key facts
- Shape
- an inverted U, often drawn as a bell curve, between stress and performance
- Too little stress
- under-arousal, with low drive and poor focus
- Moderate stress
- alertness and efficiency increase, and performance is at its best
- Too much stress
- thinking is overwhelmed, with poor concentration, recall and mistakes
- Allostatic load
- the wear and tear on the body caused by prolonged stress
- Best level
- differs between people, so remember the shape rather than a fixed number
Exam traps
- A threshold model, which treats performance as stable below a critical stress level, does not fit the law, because it misses the poorer performance at low arousal and the intermediate optimum.
- Having no stress at all does not give the best performance, because a person with low arousal has little drive, and some stress is needed to reach the peak.
- Aiming for a near-zero level of arousal overshoots the optimum, because performance is poorer at very low levels and best at moderate arousal.
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