A study of experimental frustration

This study is an objective investigation of the reaction of human beings to a frustrating situation. The objectives are specifically stated thus: 1. To develop a frustrating situation similar in all other respects to a previous control situation. 2. To study the change in behavior of children that is caused by this shift from the control to the frustrating situation and which supports the notion that this is a frustrating situation. 3. To determine if there are characteristic behavior patterns displayed during the frustrating situation. The method used to produce the frustrating experience was based on an unsolvable learning task. The behavior of the subjects was categorized as a result of studying the laboratory protocols of this group. Many types of data showed that the fourth day behavior for this group as a whole was quite different in quality and quantity from the behavior of the subjects on the other three days. The frustrating situation in this study led to a change in the behavior of each subject, but no one form of behavior was a typical occurrence. There were individual differences in reaction to this situation, expressed in behavior changes of a qualitative or quantitative nature, or both. The general personality adjustment of these subjects had a positive relation to the type of behavior shown during frustration. Aggression seems to be a normal, healthy form of adjustment rather than a manifestation of maladjustment, or a form of abnormal behavior. Thus, frustration may be defined in the light of this study as that condition which exists when a response toward a goal believed important and attainable by a given person suffers interference, resulting in a change in behavior characteristic for that person and situation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved)