Step 1: Understand the Concept:
The prompt requires identification of the primary variable that the Yerkes-Dodson law correlates with performance.
Step 2: Detailed Explanation:
The Yerkes-Dodson law is a foundational psychological principle that defines the connection between arousal and performance. It posits that task performance improves with increasing physiological or mental arousal up to an optimal level. Beyond this peak, elevated arousal leads to diminished performance, visualized as an inverted U-shaped curve.
Affiliation is categorized as a social motive.
Attention is a cognitive function susceptible to arousal, but it is not the independent variable central to the law.
Affect encompasses mood or emotion, with arousal being a component; however, Arousal is the precise terminology employed by the Yerkes-Dodson law.
Step 3: Final Answer:
The Yerkes-Dodson law exclusively delineates the relationship between arousal and performance.