According to violation–compensation models of cognitive conflict, experiences that violate expected associations evoke a common, biologically based syndrome of aversive arousal, which in turn motivates compensation efforts to relieve this arousal. However, while substantial research shows that people indeed respond with increased arousal to expectancy violating events, evidence for the motivating role of arousal is rarely found. In two within-subjects studies (N = 44 and N = 50), we demonstrate evidence for the motivating role of arousal in this violation–compensation process among university students. Using pupillometry and the hindsight bias phenomenon, we show that people respond with greater arousal when presented with expectancy violating information. In turn, we show that the pupillary response is positively related to the amount of hindsight bias being displayed. These findings provide further insights into the process underlying the hindsight bias and, crucially, support key predictions following from threat–compensation models.

根据认知冲突的违规补偿模型，违反预期关联的经历会引起一种常见的，基于生物学的厌恶觉醒综合症，这反过来又激发了补偿努力以减轻这种唤醒。然而，尽管大量研究表明人们确实对预期超出事件的反应引起了越来越多的觉醒，但很少发现激发觉醒起到促进作用的证据。在两项主题内研究中（N = 44和N= 50），我们证明了激发在大学生中这种违法赔偿过程中的激励作用。使用瞳孔测量法和事后偏见现象，我们显示当人们看到预期违规信息时，他们的反应会更大。反过来，我们表明瞳孔反应与所显示的事后偏见正相关。这些发现为事后偏见的潜在过程提供了进一步的见解，并且至关重要的是，它支持了来自威胁补偿模型的关键预测。