Arousal is a physiological and psychological state of being awake or reactive to stimuli. It involves the activation of the reticular activating system in the brain stem, the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system, leading to increased heart rate and blood pressure and a condition of sensory alertness, mobility and readiness to respond.

There are many different neural systems involved in what is collectively known as the arousal system. Four major systems originating in the brainstem, with connections extending throughout the cortex, are based on the brain's neurotransmitters, acetylcholine, norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin. When these systems are in action, the receiving neural areas become sensitive and responsive to incoming signals.

Determinants of Arousal[link]

Importance[link]

Mental state in terms of challenge level^{[clarification needed]} and skill level^{[clarification needed]}, according to Csikszentmihalyi.^[1] (Click on a fragment of the image to go to the appropriate article)

Arousal is important in regulating consciousness, attention, and information processing. It is crucial for motivating certain behaviours, such as mobility, the pursuit of nutrition, the fight-or-flight response and sexual activity (see Masters and Johnson's human sexual response cycle, where it is known as the arousal phase). It is also very important in emotion, and has been included as a part of many influential theories such as the James-Lange theory of emotion. According to Hans Eysenck, differences in baseline arousal level lead people to be either extraverts or introverts. Later research suggest it is most likely that extroverts and introverts have different arousability. Their baseline arousal level is the same, but the response to stimulation is different.^[2]

The Yerkes-Dodson Law states that there is a relationship between arousal and task performance, essentially arguing that there is an optimal level of arousal for performance, and too little or too much arousal can adversely affect task performance. One interpretation of the Yerkes-Dodson Law is the Easterbrook Cue-Utilisation hypothesis. Easterbrook states that an increase of arousal leads to a decrease in number of cues that can be utilised.^[3]

In positive psychology, arousal is described as a response to a difficult challenge for which the subject has moderate skills.^[1]

Abnormally increased behavioral arousal[link]

This is a state caused by withdrawal from alcohol or barbiturates, acute encephalitis, head trauma resulting in coma, partial seizures in epilepsy, metabolic disorders of electrolyte imbalance, Intra-cranial space- occupying lesions, Alzheimer's disease, rabies, hemispheric lesions in stroke and multiple sclerosis.^[4]

Anatomically this is a disorder of the limbic system, hypothalamus, temporal lobes, amygdala and frontal lobes.^[4] It is not to be confused with mania.

See also[link]

Look up arousal in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Low arousal approach
• Low arousal theory
• Sexual arousal

References[link]

v t e Emotions (list) Emotions Adoration Affection Agony Awe Amusement Anger Anguish Annoyance Anxiety Arousal Attraction Caring Compassion Contempt Contentment Defeat Dejection Depression Desire Despair Disappointment Disgust Ecstasy Embarrassment Empathy Enthrallment Enthusiasm Envy Euphoria Excitement Fear Frustration Grief Guilt Happiness Hatred Homesickness Hope Horror Hostility Humiliation Hysteria Infatuation Insecurity Insult Interest Irritation Isolation Jealousy Loneliness Longing Love Lust Melancholy Neglect Optimism Panic Passion Pity Pleasure Pride Rage Regret Rejection Remorse Resentment Sadness Sentimentality Shame Shock Sorrow Spite Suffering Surprise Sympathy Tenseness Thrill Revenge Wonder Worry Diligence Zest Worldviews Compatibilism Existentialism Fatalism Incompatibilism Metaphysics Nihilism Optimism Pessimism Reclusion Social justice Weltschmerz Source: Parrott, W. (2001), Emotions in Social Psychology, Psychology Press, Philadelphia.

Jon Hamm
Hamm at the Vancouver Olympics in February 2010
Born	Jonathan Daniel Hamm (1971-03-10) March 10, 1971 (age 41) St. Louis, Missouri United States
Alma mater	University of Missouri
Occupation	Actor, Director
Years active	2000–present
Partner	Jennifer Westfeldt (1997–present)

Jonathan Daniel "Jon" Hamm (born March 10, 1971) is an American actor best known for playing advertising executive Don Draper in the AMC drama series Mad Men, which premiered in July 2007. His performance on the show earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series in 2008.

Early life[link]

Hamm was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Daniel and Deborah Hamm. His father ran a family trucking company and his mother was a secretary.^[1][2] Hamm's parents divorced when he was two, and he lived with his mother in Creve Coeur, Missouri,^[2] until she was diagnosed with terminal abdominal cancer when he was 10.^[3] Hamm then moved in with his father,^[4] who died when Hamm was 20.

Hamm's first acting role was as Winnie-the-Pooh in first grade. At 16, he was cast as Judas in Godspell.^[5] Although he enjoyed the experience, he did not take acting seriously. Hamm attended John Burroughs School in Ladue, Missouri, where he was a member of the football, baseball, and swim teams.^[6] Following graduation in 1989, Hamm enrolled at the University of Texas,^[7] where he was a member of the Upsilon Chapter of Sigma Nu fraternity.^[8] Hamm returned home to attend the University of Missouri after his father's death.^[7] At Missouri, he auditioned for and won a role in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream.^[4] Other roles followed, including Leon Czolgosz in Assassins.

After graduating in 1993 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English,^[9] Hamm returned to his high school to teach eighth-grade acting.^[2][4][10] One of his students was Ellie Kemper, an actress best known for her role on The Office and as Hamm's co-star in Bridesmaids.^[11]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Hamm relocated to Los Angeles in 1995.^[12] He moved into a house with four other aspiring actors and began waiting tables while attending auditions.^[4]

He found employment as an actor difficult despite representation by the William Morris Endeavor.^[13] In 1998, having failed to obtain any acting jobs after three years,^[1] he was dropped by William Morris. Hamm continued working as a waiter,^[4] and briefly took a job as a set designer for a softcore pornography film.^[14] After repeatedly failing to find acting jobs, he set his thirtieth birthday as a deadline to succeed in Hollywood,^[5] observing that:

You either suck that up and find another agent, or you go home and say you gave it a shot, but that's the end of that. The last thing I wanted to be out here was one of those actors who's 45 years old, with a tenuous grasp of their own reality, and not really working much. So I gave myself five years. I said, if I can't get it going by the time I'm 30, I'm in the wrong place. And as soon as I said that, it's like I started working right away.^[4]

In 2000, Hamm was cast as firefighter Burt Ridley on NBC's drama series Providence.^[15][16] Hamm made his feature film debut in Clint Eastwood's 2000 space adventure Space Cowboys. His role consisted of one line. More substantial roles followed in the independent comedy Kissing Jessica Stein (2001)^[17] and the war film We Were Soldiers (2002).^[18] Hamm played the recurring role of police inspector Nate Basso on Lifetime's television series The Division from 2002 to 2004.^[15][16] Other television appearances included roles in What About Brian, CSI: Miami, Related, Numb3rs, The Unit, and The Sarah Silverman Program.^[15][16]

Breakthrough role[link]

Hamm's breakthrough role came in 2007 when he was chosen from more than 80 candidates^[14] to portray protagonist Don Draper in AMC's drama series Mad Men, despite initial concerns by director Alan Taylor and Mad Men creator Matthew Weiner that he was too handsome for the role. In the series, set in a fictional 1960s advertising agency, he plays a suave advertising executive with a mysterious past.^[19] Hamm recalled, "I read the script for Mad Men and I loved it. I never thought they'd cast me. I mean, I thought they'd go with one of the five guys who look like me, but are movie stars."^[20]

Hamm in November 2008

Mad Men debuted July 19, 2007, with almost 1.4 million viewers.^[21] It quickly developed a loyal audience, with both the show and Hamm receiving strong reviews. Robert Bianco of USA Today was complimentary of Hamm, noting that his interpretation of Draper was a "star-making performance".^[22] The Boston Globe's Matthew Gilbert called Hamm a "brilliant lead".^[23]

Hamm appeared in the 2008 science fiction film The Day the Earth Stood Still, a remake of the 1951 film of the same name.^[24] Although the film received negative reviews,^[25] it was financially successful, earning $230 million worldwide at the box office.^[26] Hamm hosted Saturday Night Live on October 25, 2008,^[27] as well as on January 30 and October 30, 2010.^[28][29] In 2009, Hamm appeared in three episodes of the NBC comedy 30 Rock as Dr. Drew Baird, a neighbor and love interest of Liz Lemon, portrayed by Tina Fey.^[30] For his work on the sitcom, he received an Emmy nomination as Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.^[31] On December 12, 2010, Hamm lent his voice to Fox's animated series The Simpsons, portraying an FBI supervisor.^[32]

Hamm's first leading film role was in 2009's Stolen, an independent mystery thriller in which he portrayed a father attempting to discover the circumstances surrounding his son's kidnapping.^[33][34] The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck stated that the feature never came together, and added that Hamm was unable to do much with his "underwritten role".^[35] Hamm had a voice cameo in the animated feature Shrek Forever After, released in May 2010, as an ogre named Brogan.^[36] Also in 2010, Hamm appeared opposite Ben Affleck as an FBI agent in The Town.^[37] Hamm was pleased that the film offered him a chance to play a role unlike that of Don Draper, explaining that he had received "about forty scripts that were all set in the 60s, or had me playing advertising guys."^[38] The film received generally favorable reviews^[39] and earned $144 million worldwide.^[40] Still another 2010 project found Hamm playing a defense attorney in Howl, based on Allen Ginsberg's 1956 poem of the same name.^[41] 2011 projects included roles in Zack Snyder's action-fantasy movie Sucker Punch and the independent feature Friends with Kids, directed by real-life partner Jennifer Westfeldt, which he helped co-produce.^[42]

He has a recurring role in The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret as the servant of sociopathic billionaire Dave Mountford, the role of which is later revealed to in fact be a fictionalized version of Jon Hamm, complaining that being made into Dave's servant has made him need to be written out of the first four episodes of Mad Men.

Personal life[link]

Hamm with girlfriend Jennifer Westfeldt at the 60th Primetime Emmy Awards, 2008

Hamm has been in a romantic relationship with actress and screenwriter Jennifer Westfeldt since 1997.^[3] They own homes in Los Angeles and the Upper West Side of New York.^[3][17] In an interview, Hamm stated: "We may not have a piece of paper that says we're husband and wife, but after 10 years, Jennifer is more than just a girlfriend. What we have is much deeper and we both know that. To me, people [should] get married when they're ready to have kids, which I'm not ruling out."^[43] Hamm, along with Westfeldt, has appeared in Gap advertisements.^[44] In April 2009, Hamm and Westfeldt formed their own production company, Points West Pictures.^[45][46] The couple are advocates of animal rescue and adopted a dog named Cora from the Much Love Animal Shelter in California.^[47]

Although his role as Draper requires him to smoke, Hamm gave up smoking when he was 24.^[48][49] Due to laws regulating workplace safety, he does not smoke actual cigarettes, but rather herbal cigarettes that do not contain tobacco or nicotine.^[49][50]

Hamm was named Salon.com's Sexiest Man Living in 2007,^[51] and was named one of People magazine's Sexiest Men Alive in 2008.^[52] Hamm won GQ's 'International Man' award in September 2010^[53] and was named one of Entertainment Weekly's Entertainers of the Year in 2008 and 2010.^[54]

Hamm is an avid golfer^[55] and a devoted fan of both the NHL's St. Louis Blues (going as far as appearing in two television ads for the team)^[56] and the MLB's St. Louis Cardinals.^[57] He narrated the official highlight film for the 2011 World Series in which the Cardinals won. Growing up, Hamm was a fan of the NFL's St. Louis Cardinals, who in 1988 moved to Phoenix, eventually becoming the Arizona Cardinals. Hamm states, however, that given the Cardinals' dismal performance during the 1970s, he adopted the Pittsburgh Steelers as his fallback team. Hamm cites the Steelers' success during the 1970s and his distaste for the Cowboys' prowess over the Cardinals as a reason for choosing the Steelers.^[58]

In March 2010, Hamm replaced actor Richard Thomas as the voiceover for Mercedes-Benz' S400 Hybrid ad campaign.^[59]

Filmography[link]

Hamm on the set of The Town in September 2009

Feature films[link]

Television[link]

Music Videos[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Rochlin, Margy. "Those Were the Good Old Days? Hardly". The New York Times. September 30, 2007. Accessed February 12, 2009.
• Alston, Joshua. "Bryan Cranston and Jon Hamm: Get 'Bad,' Get 'Mad,' And You'll Get Glad". Newsweek. December 31, 2007. Accessed June 4, 2009.
• Hainey, Michael. "The Man In The Gray (Indestructible) Suit". GQ. January 1, 2008. Accessed June 18, 2009.
• Wilson, Benji. "Jon Hamm: Why Mad Men was an instant star". The Daily Telegraph. March 14, 2008. Accessed February 12, 2009.
• Seltzer, Ian. "Jon Hamm: Suave, Successful, Mad Man". ABC News. July 14, 2008. Accessed April 28, 2009.
• Ryan, Maureen. "'Mad Men' Calvacade of Stars, Part 2: Jon Hamm". Chicago Tribune. July 15, 2008. Accessed February 12, 2009.
• Guest, Jocelyn. "Jon Hamm of 'Mad Men' on the Future of Don Draper". New York Magazine. July 24, 2008. Accessed February 12, 2009.
• Neuman, Clayton. "Q&A – Jon Hamm". AMC. October 26, 2008. Accessed February 12, 2009.
• Wolf, Jeanne. "Jon Hamm's Sudden Fame". Parade Magazine. Accessed April 27, 2009.
• Hill, Erin. "Jon Hamm: 'Everyone Deserves a Little Good-Natured Ribbing'". Parade Magazine. March 11, 2010. Accessed March 11, 2010.
• Torvalds, Linus. "Pearls before swine..". LINUS' BLOG. February 28, 2011. Accessed May 24, 2011.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jon Hamm

• Jon Hamm at the Internet Movie Database
• Jon Hamm at Emmys.com

AMCtv.com - Jon Hamm Ultimate Fan Game

Justin Pearson (born August 20, 1975) is a vocalist and bassist known for his prolific music career, playing in a number of San Diego-based noise rock, punk and grindcore bands, as well as his record label Three One G Records. Starting off in the punk outfit Struggle in 1994, ensuing projects included Swing Kids, The Locust, The Crimson Curse, Holy Molar, Head Wound City, Ground Unicorn Horn, Brain Tourniquet, All Leather, and Retox. He has collaborated with Jimmy LaValle, Gabe Serbian, Mark McCoy, Wesley Eisold, Karen O, Nick Zinner, Jordan Blilie, Cody Votolato, The Bloody Beetroots, Vegamoore and members of Bastard Noise, among others.

Pearson has been cited as an influence for his work in Swing Kids and The Locust on the genres of noise rock,^[1] powerviolence, and what has been dubbed "freak punk."^[2]

Early life[link]

Justin Pearson was born on August 20, 1975 and initially raised in Phoenix, Arizona by his parents.^[3] He was a single child^[4] and went by the nickname J.P.^[5] Pearson has stated he liked music and the aesthetics of rock music since he was little.^[3][6]

Around ten his mother's cousin let him borrow a guitar, and he eventually moved onto bass.^[3] He also began skateboarding and listening to the Thrasher skate/rock compilation tapes with bands like Septic Death, the Sex Pistols, The Misfits,^[4] and Suicidal Tendencies. He has stated he was especially drawn towards the music that touched on social politics.^[6] Pearson also got into break dancing and early rap like Run DMC and The Beastie Boys, as well as developing an interest in metal. In Phoenix he lived a couple blocks away from some of the bandmembers of Slayer.^[3]

When Pearson was twelve years old his father was murdered.^[4] Later that year in 1987, Pearson and his mother moved to San Diego, California,^[5] specifically Clairemont.^[7] His mother's new boyfriend moved with them,^[4] and Pearson has stated that the man was physically and emotionally abusive towards both of them. At his new middle school he also faced death threats and attacks from skinhead students.^[5]

Pearson continued to play guitar, taking a few lessons before teaching himself how to play the instrument with friends.^[3] At age 13 he met future collaborator Eric Allen.^[8] He met and befriended Matt Anderson of End of the Line at the age of 14.^[7]

Pearson was soon exposed to the unique San Diego hardcore punk scene^[6] and began attending all the all-ages shows he could,^[7] discovering influential local bands such as Amenity, Heroin, Forced Down, Drive Like Jehu, and Crash Worship.^[5] He also attended metal shows at house parties, eventually discovering Che Café,^[7] an all-ages venue on the campus of UC San Diego.^[6] The Che frequently hosted underground metal and punk bands. At the venue he saw shows by Blast, Chain of Strength, Carcass, Chumbawumba, Crossed Out, Inside Out, Filth, and Sleep.^[7] Pearson befriended a number of the musicians,^[5] stating "I'd go [to the Che] and talk to all the bands. They were really down-to-earth people, but they had this art that was just mind-blowing. When they played they would turn into ax murderers on instruments."^[6]

Early music career[link]

Struggle[link]

At age fifteen he founded the band Struggle with friends he had met through high school and local concerts. The different members' taste in music was diverse, but they were all fans and friends of bands like Born Against, Downcast, Unbroken, and other hardcore punk groups.^[7] The band went on its first tour that year in 1991, and Pearson has since described how he saw his bandmates as his adopted family.^[4]

At the age of 16,^[4] his home situation escalated to Pearson having to fight back against his mother's boyfriend, and he was kicked out of the house. He stayed in school and graduated, living off social security checks from his father's death. When not in school he also continued to tour with Struggle,^[5] and while touring they met bands such as Filrth and Rorschach, and Blatz.^[5] Struggle released recordings on Undertow Records, Ebullition Records, and Bloodlink Records, and disbanded in 1994.^[8]

Swing Kids[link]

After the dissolution of Struggle in 1994, Pearson co-founded the band Swing Kings, an early San Diego hardcore and noise rock group. He formed the band along with Eric Allen of Unbroken, Jimmy LaValle of The Album Leaf, Jose Palafox, John Brady, and Michelle Maskovich. Pearson served as vocalist and sole lyricist, and has described the themes as largely influenced by social political issues.^[8] Their music was characterized by Pearson's spoken/screamed vocals and their melodic/chaotic rhythms and song structures. The group disbanded in 1997.

Swing Kids are also credited with the unintentional creation of the fad "Spock Rock" during the mid 1990s; largely due to many of their fans emulating Pearson's fashion sense and hair style. Pearson has expressed dislike of the term.^[5]

Three One G[link]

Also in 1994^[9] Pearson founded the independent label Three One G, or 31G Records. The first album released on the new label was the 1994 single "And / Fall On Proverb" by San Diego metalcore band Unbroken. The second release was a reissue of the recent debut album from Swing Kids.^[10] He funded the label with the financial aid he was receiving from the community college he was attending,^[7] and has stated he was partly inspired to start 31G by Vinyl Communications and Gravity Records.^[5] In 1998 Allysia Edwards joined with Pearson as a partner at the label, and their annual output began to increase.^[10]

The Locust[link]

Starting in 1994, he became bassist and joint vocalist for the new band The Locust,^[11] formed with musicians such as Gabe Serbian and Joey Karam. The Locust was initially a powerviolence project whose first release was a split with genre pioneers Man Is the Bastard. Later releases incorporated synthesizers and became increasingly theatrical.^[12] The band regularly played shows in all-ages punk clubs in Los Angeles and San Diego,^[6] usually donning insect costumes.^[12]

Pearson performing with The Locust

The Locust is Pearson's best-known work, and became known for their unique mix of grindcore speed and aggression,^[13] mathcore complexity, and new wave weirdness. According to Pearson, "I just want to change the way people look at music or maybe just destroy it in general."^[12] Stylus described the band's sound as "Relentless blitzkriegs of high velocity noise, skinny tie keyboards and bloody screaming that often last less than a minute, Locust songs are tightly-wound, dynamic and bizarre expressions of frustration and hatred whose intensity and creativity are currently unparalleled in punk rock."^[13] The band has also been praised by Dave Lombardo of Slayer, who said "There's a band called The Locust, and their music hits me now like D.R.I. hit me in the early '80s".^[14]

While with The Locust the band and Pearson organized a number of "gender-baiting incidents," including Pearson and drummer Gabe Serbian staging a fake same-sex marriage while on tour in Hawaii.^[6] At one point in 2003, Scott Beiben, the owner of the record label Bloodlink, called up The Jerry Springer Show and orchestrated a hoax^[8] for Pearson to appear on the show as a "rock-star slut." Pearson wore a T-shirt for The Locust during the appearance, which culminated in a kiss with Beiben.^[6] Pearson later stated "I was beat up during a commercial break by one of the 'security guards' pretty bad for blowing snot on the carpet."^[8]

Crimson Curse[link]

Founded in 1998,^[8] The Crimson Curse was Pearson's first group to include keyboards and elements of deathrock. According to Pearson the band was an attempt to return a sense of lunacy and excitement to the hardcore punk scene, which had begun to appear dry and pedantic to Pearson. Pearson says he modeled the group on the Dead Boys.^[8] The band also included Jimmy LaValle of The Album Leaf and Jesse F Keeler of Death from Above 1979/ MSTRKRFT. Pearson has stated "we got all these fucked up kids together. Made some punk music. That was it. But as a band we didn't get very far." A review of the band's first demo stated "The recording was horrible, but was enough for me to realize that they sounded godlike."^[8]

Later career[link]

The Holy Molar

Pearson began to frequently collaborate with other musicians on Three One G, joining as bassist for the band Holy Molar from 2001 to 2007; in addition to Locust members Pearson, Gabe Serbian, and Bobby Bray, the group included Ron Avila (formerly of Antioch Arrow) and Mark McCoy (formerly of Charles Bronson and Das Oath).

Some Girls

Some Girls, founded in 2002, was another Three One G supergroup that played in a hybrid of mathcore, grindcore with Justin again on bass and vocals.^[15] and noise rock. They released several albums, including in 2005 the The DNA Will Have Its Say EP. Pearson played bass, and Karen O of the band Yeah Yeah Yeahs performed guest vocals on the title track. The band's breakup was announced in a Punknews article, published October 23, 2007.^[16]

Head Wound City

From 2002 to 2005 he played bass in Head Wound City. Along with Pearson, consists of Jordan Blilie and Cody Votolato of The Blood Brothers, Nick Zinner from Yeah Yeah Yeahs, and Gabe Serbian, of The Locust and Holy Molar.^[11]

Bastard Noise

Bastard Noise is a noise music group that Pearson was a part of in 2008. They recorded the full-length Rogue Astronaut with Bobby Bray and Justin Pearson providing vocals on "Tyranny Beyond Earth Eplilogue."

Current projects[link]

All Leather[link]

All Leather, his current band, was founded in 2008. It consists of Pearson on vocals, Nathan Joyner on guitar, Jung Sing on drums, and Eric Livingston on synthesizers.They released their debut EP Hung Like A Horse on Dim Mak Records. In August 2009 they released a remix album entitled Hung Like a Donut, also on Dim Mak. On September 12, 2010, All Leather won the San Diego Music Awards "Best Hard Rock Album" category for their album When I Grow Up, I Wanna Fuck Like a Girl.

Others[link]

From 2008 he also been a member of Leg Lifters, which consists of Pearson and Nathan Joyner of All Leather. Leg Lifters is considered a production team. They produce a radio show with Vestal Radio, web video episodes, and remixes.

Pearson was featured on the Vegamoore song "They Keep on Fucking" www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uxm87hUsn6M, Designer Drugs song "Dead Meat." Pearson is a featured vocalist on a song, "Romborama" from The Bloody Beetroots debut LP, Romborama. He toured in Australia with The Bloody Beetroots in 2009.

By 2011 Pearson had co-founded and was touring with the band Retox,^[1] a band with Gabe Serbian of the Locust, Mike Crain from The Festival of Dead Deer, and Thor Dickey. In late 2011 Retox has toured again changing Gabe Serbian with Brian Evans as drummer giving also a show with Vegamoore in Italy featured Justin Pearson at the vocals and Brian Evans at the drums www.youtube.com/watch?v=_j8Z6x98hUA. ^[17]

References[link]