PSY307-Frustration-Aggression
From PsychWiki - A Collaborative Psychology Wiki
Section I
What is frustration? As defined in the book, Human Aggression by Baron and Richardson (2004), frustration is the blocking of ongoing, goal-directed responses. The study of frustration started over 50 years ago by colleagues, Doob, Miller, Mowrer, and Sears at Yale University, Dollard (1939). They had outlined the theory of aggression and frustration and called it the frustration-aggression hypothesis. Dollard et al. (1939) theories statements were (1) frustration always leads to some form of aggression, and (2) aggression always stems from frustration (Baron & Richardson, 2004). Since the publication of their book, “Frustration and Aggression”, many controversies have emerged regarding if their two propositions stands true.
Some researchers state that aggressive behavior reduces the instigation to aggression (Dollard et. al., 1939; Mallick and McCandless, 1966) while others have argued that a person whose anger has been aroused will tend to express it and becomes rewarded with a feeling of satisfaction by completing their task (Berkowitz, 1962; Mallick & McCandless, 1966). Berkowitz (1989) developed the Cognitive- Neoassociation Model which is a revision model to Dollard et. al. original model of Frustration- Aggression. According to the study, Berkowitz argued that the blocking of goal directed activity can create instigation to aggression in the absence of particular factors such as personal attack or the instrumental value of aggressive reactions (Berkowitz, 1989; Zillmann, 1979).
In Mallick and McCandless’ study (1966), two groups were tested; one pertained to frustration conditioned while the other represented no frustration. In this study, the conditioned group was prevented by another child, whom acted as the experimenter’s accomplice, so that the individual participant could not complete his simple tasks. When both groups were give the chance to aggress against the child (experimenter’s accomplice), the thwarted group was more aggressive (Baron and Richardson, 2004; Mallick and McCandless, 1966).
A study was done by Buss (1966) to argue that frustration does not facilitate aggression. In this experiment one condition was termed the know-how group, while two others became grade condition and finally the control group. In the know-how group, the experimenter informed the participants that the learners would be able to master the materials within 30 trials, while the grade group were also relayed the same information with one alteration in which each of the participant’s performance would be reported to their college professor, resulting with a possible grade change in their course. For the last condition, the experimenter only informed the participants to press the electric shock only if the learner is incorrect. The results in this study showed that participants of the grade condition showed more frustration than the know-how condition. The origin of this frustration was rooted to the learner’s prevention against the grade condition’s accomplishment of being effective teachers. Frustration did not appear in the conditioned group. An unexpected outcome was when the frustrated participants were given the choice to administer stronger electric shocks, they chose not to.
Frustration does not always facilitate aggression but there are mediating factors that do (Baron and Richardson, 2004). Mediating factors such as the magnitude of frustration, the presence of aggressive cues, the extent to which thwarting is arbitrary or unexpected, and the emotional and cognitive process of the frustrated potential aggressor may lead to aggression (Baron and Richardson, 2004).
Section II
For example, let’s review a situation that occurred in a Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball game. In this incident, Laker’s teammate, Derek Fisher became involved in a verbal argument with a referee. It was an intensive game between the LA Lakers and the Houston Rockets. During last minute of the fourth quarter, the Lakers had established a two points lead over the opposing team. Just as the Lakers started to play defense, a whistle sounded out of nowhere. The referee had called a foul shot on Fisher as he was guarding his opponent Ron Artest with his arms wildly in the air. from scoring. Immediately, Fisher ran to the referee and started to argue with hand gestures. The crowd blatantly disagreed against the call, as they screamed at the top of their tongues to tell the referee to take back the foul call. As the game resumed, the Rocket shot their second free throw and Derek Fisher quickly darted towards the ball to gain possession, heading towards the Laker’s court to score. Without any fair warning, Fisher elbowed a Rocket player in the head, resulting in the calling of a flagrant foul and his ejection from the game followed by a two game suspension. As defined by the NBA, a flagrant foul defined is an action that was unnecessary and/or excessive contacts.
Section III
Given the example of the Los Angeles Lakers basketball game, a demonstration of all four categories of frustration which leads to aggression has been shown. Fisher’s magnitude of frustration was large in our previous example, due to his goal of scoring and winning the game which became abruptly disrupted by the referee’s foul call. Fisher witnessed aggressive cues from the crowd provoking to act out by shouting at the referee. The unexpected foul call increased his level of frustration making it a step closer to aggressive behavior. The additional emergence of negative feelings by Fisher caused him to act out his aggressive behavior by elbowing his opponent.
Section IV
The common example is the Columbine High School Massacre that occurred on April 20, 1999. Two teenagers, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed 13 people, injured 23 others, and then killed themselves. My conclusion in reference to this example is that there were some mediating factors which might have lead to the actions conducted by these boys. The aggressive cues could have emerged from watching Adolf Hitler’s dictatorship through video clips. Although there were never any specification stating that they have had viewed any information about the Nazi, a review if Harris’ journal documented that he drew swastikas, a highky recognized Nazi symbols (Toppo, 2009), and also a possible source of trigger Harris to creaste such disaster. Klebold mentioned on his college application that he had hung out with the wrong crowd during his sophomore and junior year (Chen, 2009); where such an experience could’ve been the source to the witnessing if his aggressive cues. Harris mentioned in his journal that he hated his friends for not calling him to hang out (Toppo, 2009). He had pre-existing negative feelings which already piled up, possibly adding to more frustration and to his aggressive behaviors. The combination of negative feelings and unexpectedness of their unsuccessful bombings might have triggered their level of frustration to act out aggressively through shooting of others and the killing of themselves.
References
Baron, R. A., & Richardson, D. R. (2004). Human Aggression. New York: Plenum.
Berkowitz, L. (1989). Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis: Examination and Reformation. Psychological Bulletin , 106 (1), 59-73.
Chen, S. (2009, April 20). Debunking the myths of Columbine, 10 years later. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/04/20/columbine.myths/
Lange, F. (1971). Frustration - Aggression. A Reconsideration. European Journal of Social Psychology , 1 (1), 59-84.
Mallick, S. K., & McCandless, B. R. (1966). A Study of Catharsis of Aggression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology , 4 (6), 591-596.
Miller, N. E., Sears, R. R., Mowrer, O. H., Doob, L. W., & Dollard, J. (1941). I. The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis. Psychological Review , 48 (4), 337-342.
Toppo, G. (2009, April 14). 10 years later, the real story behind Columbine. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2009-04-13-columbine-myths_N.htm
Wikipedia (2009). Columbine High School massacre. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_High_School_massacre
Zillmann, D. (1979). Hostility and Aggression. New York: Hillsdale, N.J.: L. Erlbaum Associates.
◄ Back to How to explain aggressive behavior? page
