Response to stimulus intensity is an inverted U: too little produces indifference, too much produces aversion.
Wundt's 1874 curve predates and generalises Yerkes-Dodson. It applies to novelty in design and music as much as to stimulus intensity: too familiar bores, too strange repels.
In practice
- A menu with one unfamiliar dish sells it; the menu on which everything is unfamiliar sends diners next door.
- A brand refresh that shifts the logo slightly is barely noticed and works; the one that changes everything at once buys a fortnight of complaints.
- Standing
- Predates and generalises the Yerkes–Dodson law.
- Subject
- Psychology & Behavior
- Essay
- A century and a half of measuring the mind