Professor Ana conducted a seminar about Quantum Theory for interested students. Then at that event, since she loves coffee she brings a cup of coffee inside the room. After drinking her coffee during her lecture, suddenly her heart starts palpitating and her hands visibly shaking. Instead of blaming the coffee for causing the physiological response, she assessed her situation of being stared at by a lot of students as a cause of her nervousness during her lecture. Thus, she misattributed her arousal.
Misattribution (not masturbation) of arousal happened when an individual misinterpreted his or her physiological response from some internal or external source as the "real" cause but actually it isn't. According to the two-factor theory, emotion has two components, physiological arousal and a label for it. We look for a situation to explain why we feel that way. We interpret that certain event as the cause of our physiological arousal, like when you are enjoying a riding trip with your friend, you associate your happiness to that partner, which is also a good thing in strengthening your friendship.
There is also this classic experiment – wavy bridge-experiment that supports the idea of misattribution. Two groups of men were tested and the first group individually stand on a low-safe bridge while the others were on a high wavy bridge. Both groups were approached by an attractive female experimenter. She gave the paper to be filled up with answers from those participants and on the corner of it was her number and told them to feel free to call her if he wanted to know the result of the study conducted. As a result, men on a high wavy bridge called her more than the men on a low safe bridge. Since the physiological symptoms (racing heart, dilated pupils, nervousness) of falling in love are the same as experiencing fear from a height or something, men misattributed their fear standing on a wavy high bridge as a feeling of attraction. This means you can manipulate someone to fall in love with you by making them feel scared perhaps by going out with them to watch a horror movie or join any scary fun activities.
Moreover, misattribution has its benefits in improving and strengthening relationships through engaging in challenging activities or anything that pumps up adrenaline but is fulfilling and enjoyable afterward. If it happens that you enjoyed it some of the arousals of joy get transferred to your romantic partner. Your brain tells you that you like that person and happy being with that person.
Hence, we form our beliefs about ourselves based on what we observed. We can feel but we did not know why so we search for answers around us. So, we actually and literally define our emotions.