Editing Content theory (section)

==Reversal Theory==
{{main|Reversal theory}}
[[Reversal theory]],<ref>Apter, M. J. (Ed.). (2001). Motivational Styles in Everyday Life: A Guide to Reversal Theory (1st ed.). Amer Psychological Assn.</ref> first introduced by Dr. [[Michael Apter]] and Dr. Ken Smith in the 1970s, is a structural, phenomenological explanation of psychological states and their dynamic interplay. The theory contributes to an understanding of [[emotions]] and [[personality]] in which endogenous (cognitive) and exogenous (environmental) implications are considered. 

The theory proposes eight meta-motivational states arranged into four pairs that drive and respond to all human experience. When a state is interrupted or satiated, one "reverses" to the other state in the pair (domain). Unlike many theories related to [[personality]], [[reversal theory]] proposes that human behavior is better understood by studying dynamic states than by the average of behavior over time [[trait theory]]. 

Another distinction of reversal theory is its direct contrast with the Hebbian version of the [[Yerkes–Dodson law]] of [[arousal]], which can be found in many forms of [[psychotherapy]]. Optimal arousal theory<ref>{{cite web |title=Principle of Optimal Arousal |url=https://dictionary.apa.org/principle-of-optimal-stimulation |website=APA Dictionary of Psychology |publisher=American Psychological Association |access-date=22 January 2021}}</ref> proposes that the most comfortable or desirable arousal level is not too high or too low. Reversal theory proposes in its principle of [[Reversal_theory#Bistability|bistability]] that any level of arousal or stimulation may be found either desirable or undesirable depending on the [[Reversal_theory#States|meta-motivational state]] one is in.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Apter |first1=Michael |title=Dangerous Edge: The Psychology of Excitement |date=1992 |publisher=Free Press |isbn=978-0-02-900765-5 |page=222 |edition=1}}</ref>     

Reversal theory has been academically supported and put to practical use in more than 30 fields (e.g., [[sports psychology]], [[business]], [[medical care]], [[addiction]], and [[Psychological stress|stress]]) and in over 30 countries.