In order to understand the frustration and aggression hypothesis, we must first define frustration and aggression. What does being frustrated really mean? According to Weiten, frustration is the feeling that people experience in any situation in which their pursuit of some goal is thwarted. The definition of aggression is defined as a forceful action or procedure (unprovoked attack) especially when intended to dominate or master and it is also a feeling of tension that occurs when ones goals or efforts are blocked or stopped.In the 1993 studies of Baron & Richardson, aggression was defined as “any form of behavior directed towards the goal of harming or injuring another living being who is motivated to avoid such treatment”(Eysenck, 1996). With both definitions of frustration and aggression, scientist coined to what is called frustration and aggression hypothesis. Frustration and aggression hypothesis mainly focuses on the interplay of cognitive and motivational processes in aggressive behavior.
To understand this concept, one must first know what and why this is hypothesized.Frustration can create a state of being uncomfortable or being unhappy. From discomfort and negative emotions can lead to aggression. When feelings of anger are produced, those feelings of anger can generate to feelings of aggression then can lead to aggressive behavior. Frustration and aggression hypothesis has been utilized to develop an explanation of violent behavior throughout the years. When this occurs, it can produce feelings of anger, which in turn can generate feelings of aggression and aggressive behavior.
This theory has been utilized to explain a lot of violentFrustration and Aggression Hypothesis3 behavior over time. For instance, at a school setting students are taught and encouraged to get good scores on their exams. Good scores on their exams means earning a passing grade A, B, and sometimes C. A student might turn out depressive if getting a C- or below on the exam. The anxiety that student could be facing with can turn into something more negative because he or she might have studied many hours for that difficult exam.
He or she could have sworn an excellent score and having that idea with the unwanted score can lead to having a lower grade.The student starts to feel frustrated knowing that the report card will be getting home soon and the worries that he or she will be facing about having the parents ground him or her. The frustration starts to turn into aggression and from aggression to violent at home with siblings since he or she can’t take out their aggressions at school but can act aggressively towards others. A second example is when at school, students are given procedures like an essay and the deadline of the essay is a short notice can be frustrating.The frustrated students won’t act aggressively to the teacher who has given the students that procedure; as they get home they can now act aggressive and have a bad mood, like kicking the pet dog.
In Zimbardo’s Stanford prison experiment, Eysenck described, “the mock warders became increasingly aggressive. In war, soldiers behave aggressively towards the enemy because they are under the orders to do so rather than because they are frustrated” (Eysenck, 1996). With that being stated, frustration produces aggression and many have learned to respond aggressively to frustration.Aggressive behavior does not always come from frustration. Since the frustration and aggression has been revised, it has modified that aversive or unpleasant event causes negative feelings and these negative feelings activate tendencies towards flight and aggression.
An example to this explanation is when someone walks into you and usually the Frustration and Aggression Hypothesis4 response it causes negative feelings these feelings would turn out to be aggressive and produce violence.If there was another case scenario when a person walks into you then u turn around and realize that person is blind, you don’t have negative frustration feelings since knowing that the person can’t see. These feelings turn to guilt feelings so therefore there is no frustration or aggression. A study that was performed by Barker et al. (1941) was that they experimented on young children that were separated from desirable toys by a wired screen which allowed them to see the toys but weren’t allowed to play with them.
These children waited long until then were allowed to play with the toys immediately without feeling frustration.According to the experiment, Barker et al found that the children in the frustrated group behaved more aggressive since they were smashing the toys against the floor, destroying the toy completely, and behaving destructively. (Clarke, 2003) This experiment supports the frustration and aggression hypothesis because the children who participated in the non frustrated group did not show any signs of aggressiveness. This is true because in everyday life we are very likely to observe someone mistreat an object or person that has impacted their frustration. Frustration can be the cause of aggressive behavior.
This experiment supports the frustration and aggression hypothesis that was formulated in 1939 by Donard, Doob, Miller, Mowrer and Sears, “(1. ) Frustration always leads to some form of aggression and (2. ) Aggression always stems from frustration. ” (Clark, 2003) With that said, without exception, frustration will result in aggression of some form and aggression has no other cause but feeling frustrated.
Frustration and Aggression Hypothesis5 In a study, Lange (1971) used noxious sound and electric shock to individuals in the controlled group to test the frustration and aggression hypothesis.The results from this experiment made frustration and aggression hypothesis valid. The results were that from the use of noxious sounds and electric shock lead to aggressive behavior. The individual with high self esteem verbally attacked the frustrator compared the individuals with low self esteem who displaced aggression to the innocent non frustrator. (Lange, 1971) Irritating “things” like annoying noises and shocks made individuals frustrated which caused them to act in an aggressive manner; verbally attacking. Section 2I find it interesting that about the news article that I found which stated that after fans watching their sports team win, they are more like to be aggressive than those fans of the losing sports team.
According to BBC News, Researchers quizzed 111 supporters as they entered the stadium and 86 as they left. From what I researched, the frustration and aggression hypothesis states that when feelings of anger are produced, those feelings of anger can create feelings of aggression then it leads to aggressive behavior.In many ways, the findings are surprising because one would expect the opposite to happen - for supporters or the fans of the losing team should be more aggressive. According to Stegenga (1972), in his research Personal aggressiveness and war, he viewed and compared Freud’s Theory of Aggression and the frustration-aggression hypothesis the appeal of war is considered to be valid. That means that excitement and the feeling of belonging to a group is linked to frustration and aggression.
Losing reduced happiness, but winning did not increase it, the researchers added.Winning should make Frustration and Aggression Hypothesis6 an individual happy, not frustrated, therefore not cause any type of aggression. I’ll take the example about the student who studied many hours for her exam resulted in getting a lower grade than she thought and realizing that soon he or she will be getting a report card home and knows that parents will be disappointed to the point where he or she might be grounded. Getting good grade would be just like having the your home team win, whereas getting bad grades would be having your home team lose.The only difference is that this article states that something positive (winning) results in something negative (aggression) and in this example something positive should result in happiness. Researchers have studied the events around the world which they have seen the fans of winning teams run riot after the match.
Researcher Moore stated, "A possible explanation could be that if a supporter's team wins or draws, he can get so caught up in the match that he loses sight of the future and this loss of perspective leads to increased aggression. Section 3 The Columbine High School Massacre which occurred on April 20, 1999 is the most common example of frustration and aggression hypothesis. In a pleasant day, two high school teenagers by the name of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, killed 13 people, injured 23 others, and at last both decided to end their lives. To conclude from the Columbine High School Massacre news article, there were some factors that interceded which I believe might have lead to the actions that these young teenagers initiate the massacre.The boy’s did not have the great role models they wished they had, they had friends that influenced them in negative things, they were not popular and were bullied and/or parents were never in their attention.
Everything that I just Frustration and Aggression Hypothesis7 stated might really hard on the boys. To explain their aggressive behavior, the factors should be analyzed. To have a role model is something that is great, a person to look up to and many children and teenagers usually have a role model.Children and teens are exposed to negatively influenced friends versus the good friends but are free to choose which friends to befriend. And to be noticed in a school setting, makes a student feel good and avoid to be bullied. Every positive factor can be easily turned to negative factors.
Since the frustration and aggression hypothesis points out that frustration always leads to some form of aggression and aggression always leads to some form of violence, Harris and Klebold must have had a negative experience from these positive guessed factors.They were both either rejected from their role model and didn’t feel support; they both decided to befriend the wrong type of friends and maybe began a new sect; throughout their childhood, they never been noticed or popular which lead to having bullies. My own conclusions all have one thing in common, frustration which is the possible reason they had pre-existing negative feelings and the unexpected non successful bombings to trigger the level of frustration in which they were in and act aggressively that is why how these teenager boys turned out and killing many of their classmates, teachers and even themselves.
