Frustration, Conflict, and Stress

• Frustration occurs when goal achievement is blocked; Conflict is created when incompatible response tendencies are aroused.
• When a need remains unsatisfied, the individual experiences a psychological and physiological reaction known as STRESS.
• Sources of frustration can come from the physical environment which represents such obstacles as floods, typhoons or rugged mountains.
• The social environment presents such obstacles as restrictions imposed by other people and the customs and laws of the community.
• The individual him/herself are deficiencies which can cause frustrations such as being handicapped by disease, blindness, deafness or paralysis among others that can limit their activities.
• Conflicting attraction or approach-approach conflicts are when two desirable but exclusive goals are in conflict and are usually resolved by choosing one goal over the other.
• Approach-avoidance conflict is when there is an attraction to an object or state of affairs and at the same time a repulsion towards something associated with it; one which is very desirable and the other which is undesirable and disadvantageous.
• Avoidance-avoidance conflict is when there are two unpleasant alternatives and one cannot be avoided without encountering the other.
• Emotional responses to frustration include Fantasy, Repression, Fixation, Identification, and Regression.
• Compromise responses to frustration include Reaction Formation, Projection, Sublimation, and Compensation.
• Burnout – can be defined as negative change in thoughts, emotions and behavior as a result of prolonged stress or frustration
• General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS) of Stress consists of three stages: Alarm, Resistance, and Exhaustion.
• Reaction Formation is a process where one disguises their motivation and conflict by believing that their motive is the exact opposite of their motive, often seen in the phrase "I hate you but I love you".
• Projection is a process that protects a person against anxiety-producing impulses, convincing oneself or blaming other people for failure that is essentially their own, often seen in the phrase "An unfaithful husband accuses his wife of infidelity".
• Sublimation is a process where some needs where direct satisfaction is often impossible, thus an individual may resort to indirect means of obtaining gratification that is socially acceptable like participation in sports, arts, etc.
• Compensation is an attempt to disguise or cover up felt deficiencies or undesirable traits by emphasizing a desirable type of behavior.
• Rationalization is the process of intellectualizing or interpreting one’s behavior in ways more acceptable to the self by using reasoning or alibis to substitute for the causes.
• Fantasy are daydreams that can help overcome obstacles and have been called the nursery of accomplishment where thwarted or blocked wishes can be satisfied.
• Repression is the process of excluding from the consciousness a thought or feeling that causes pain, shame or guilt, however, if there is a deliberate effort to forget by turning one’s attention to other activities, this is called suppression, which is true forgetting.
• Fixation is the tendency towards repetitive and stereotyped behavior such as thumb-sucking or stuttering.
• Identification reduces anxiety through an escape into a dream world, where one takes on the characteristics of another person and thereby enhances self-esteem.
• Regression is when a frustrated individual unconsciously seeks to return to an earlier, more secure period of his/her life; reverts to old habit of adjustment to flee from painful situations, often seen in the phrase "weep, run home, display emotional tantrums".
• Multiple conflicts when there are two courses of action, each of which has both pleasant and unpleasant consequences and takes a longer time to resolve. Consider a beauty contest winner who is given a chance to start a movie career or to travel but is strongly attached to her boyfriend and family
• The individual him/herself are deficiencies which can cause frustrations such as being handicapped by disease, blindness, deafness or paralysis among others that can limit their activities.
• The social environment presents such obstacles as restrictions imposed by other people and the customs and laws of the community
• The physical environment which represents such obstacles as floods, typhoons or rugged mountains