frustration-aggression hypothesis

• Social psychological explanations of aggression 


  Any theory that argues aggression is the result of an interaction between an individual's characteristics and features of the situations in which behaviour occurs.
• Frustration-aggression hypothesis

  A social psychological theory that argues that anger, hostility and even violence are always the outcome when we are prevented from achieving our goals (i.e. frustration).
• The original hypothesis - Dollard et al. (1939)

  Frustration always leads to aggression, and aggression is always the result of frustration.
• The Original Hypothesis

  Aggression is a psychological drive akin to biological drives such as hunger. We experience frustration when our attempts to reach a goal are blocked by some external factor. This creates an aggressive drive, which leads to aggressive thoughts/behaviour.
• The Original Hypothesis

  Aggressive behaviour then removes the negative emotion (catharsis). The aggression created by the frustration is satisfied, thereby reducing the drive and making further aggression less likely. The aggressive behaviour is cathartic and we feel better.
• The F-A hypothesis recognises that aggression is not always expressed

  directly against the source of frustration, for three reasons:

  • The cause of our frustration may be abstract, such as the economic situation, the government, or the music industry
  • The cause may be too powerful and we risk punishment by aggressing against it, e.g. the teacher who gave you a lower grade than you expected
  • The cause may just be unavailable at the time, e.g. perhaps your teacher left the room before you realised what grade you got
• When aggression cannot be expressed directly against the source of frustration it is deflected (or displaced) onto an alternative - one that is not abstract, is weaker and is available (an inanimate object, pet, or younger sibling).
• Even if we become angry, we still might not behave aggressively. According to Berkowitz (1989), frustration merely creates a readiness for aggression. But the presence of aggressive cues in the environment make acting upon this much more likely.
• The weapon effect (Berkowitz and LePage 1967)

  • Berkowitz demonstrated the so-called weapon effect in a lab study
  • Participants were given real electric shocks by a confederate, creating anger and frustration
  • The participants later had the opportunity to give fake shocks to the confederate
  • The number of shocks was greater when there were two guns on a table compared to other conditions where there were no guns average was 6.07 vs 4.67
• The weapon effect study supports Berkowitz's contention that the presence of aggressive environmental cues stimulates aggression.
• Research on frustration-aggression by Green (1968) - procedure

  • Male university students completed a jigsaw puzzle
  • Their level of frustration was experimentally manipulated in one of three ways
  • Either the puzzle was impossible to solve, they ran out of time because another student in the room (a confederate) kept interfering or the confederate insulted the participant as they failed to solve the puzzle
  • All participants later had the opportunity to give the confederate electric shocks
• Research on frustration-aggression by Green (1968) - findings

  1. Strongest shocks on average = the insulted participants
  2. Medium intensity shocks = the interfered group
  3. Least intense shocks = the impossible task participants
  4. All three groups selected more intense shocks than a (non-frustrated) control group