Frustration
In psychology, frustration is a typical emotional response to opposition, related to anger, annoyance , and disappointment. Frustration arises from the perceived resistance to fulfilling an individual's will or goal and is likely to increase when that will or goal is denied or blocked. There are two types of frustration: internal and external. Internal frustration may arise from challenges in achieving personal goals, desires, instinctual drives, and needs, or in dealing with perceived deficiencies such as a lack of confidence or fear of social situations. Conflict, such as when one has competing goals that interfere with one another, can also be an internal source of frustration or annoyance and can create cognitive dissonance. External causes of frustration involve conditions outside an individual's control, such as a physical roadblock, a difficult task, or the perception of wasting time. Individuals cope with frustration in various ways, such as through passive–aggressive behavior, anger, or violence, although frustration may also propel positive processes by motivating enhanced effort and striving. This broad range of potential outcomes makes it difficult to identify the original cause(s) of frustration, as the responses may be indirect. However, a more direct and typical response is a propensity towards aggression.
Causes
Frustration originates from feelings of uncertainty and insecurity that stem from a sense of inability to fulfill needs. If an individual's needs are blocked, uneasiness and frustration are more likely to occur. When these needs are consistently ignored or unmet, anger, depression, loss of self-confidence, annoyance , aggression, and sometimes violence are likely to follow. Needs can be blocked in two different ways: internally and externally. Internal blocking occurs within an individual's mind due to a lack of ability, confidence, conflicting goals and desires, and/or fears. External blocking happens to an individual outside their control, such as physical roadblocks, difficult tasks, or perceived waste of time, especially when those roadblocks or challenges are unexpected, or when the individual expected the goal to be easy to accomplish. Frustration is usually less when an individual expects, or knows beforehand, that the goal will be "challenging."
Some people are predisposed towards feelings of frustration, measured by childhood temperament and adult neuroticism.
Frustration can be classified as a mental health problem and a behavioral response, and it can have several effects depending on the individual's mental health. In positive cases, this frustration builds to a level that is too great for the individual to contain or tolerate, thus prompting action aimed at solving the inherent problem in a manner that does not cause social or physical harm. In negative cases, however, the individual may perceive the source of frustration as being outside their control, leading to a continued buildup of frustration, which eventually results in further problematic behavior (e.g., violent reactions against perceived oppressors or enemies).
Stubbornly refusing to respond to new conditions affecting the goal, such as the removal or modification of the barrier, sometimes occurs. As pointed out by J.A.C. Brown, severe punishment may cause individuals to continue non-adaptive behavior blindly: "Either it may have an effect opposite to that of reward and as such, discourage the repetition of the act, or, by functioning as a frustrating agent, it may lead to fixation and the other symptoms of frustration as well. It follows that punishment is a dangerous tool, since it often has effects which are entirely the opposite of those desired".
Frustration tolerance
Frustration tolerance is the ability to resist becoming frustrated when facing complex tasks. A low frustration tolerance is associated with trait anger, while a higher level of frustration tolerance correlates with lower levels of anger and more remarkable persistence on challenging tasks. For example, a child with high frustration tolerance may be able to manage repeated challenges and failures without experiencing significant frustration. In contrast, a child with low frustration tolerance may become frustrated quickly when asked to perform tasks of moderate difficulty.
See also [ Plutchik's Wheel of Emotions ]
External links
- More information is available at [ Wikipedia:Frustration ]
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