Aggression: Frustration-aggression hypothesis Flashcards
Frustration-aggression hypothesis
Dollard et al - formulated this. Frustration always leads to aggression + aggression is always the result of frustration. The hypothesis is based on the psychodynamic concept of catharsis (stress release) + views aggression as a psychological drive similar to bio drives (hunger). If our attempt to achieve a goal is blocked by an external factor, we experience frustration - creates an aggressive drive, leads to aggressive behaviour (violent fantasy, verbal outburst or even physical violence). It is cathartic as aggression created by frustration is satisfied, so reduces the drive + making further aggression less likely - so feel better for getting it ‘off our chest’.
The hypothesis recognises that aggression isn’t always expressed directly against the source of frustration for 3 reasons:
1. Cause of our frustration may be abstract (economic situation, government, music industry).
2. Cause may be too powerful + we risk punishment by aggressing against it (teacher who gave you a lower grade than you expected).
3. Cause may just be unavailable at the time (perhaps teacher left before you realised what grade you got).
Our aggression is deflected (or displaced) onto an alternative - one that isn’t abstract, is weaker and available (inanimate object or a younger sibling).
Research into frustration-aggression
Geen - study to investigate effects of frustration on aggression.
Procedure - Male university students given task of completing a jigsaw. Their level of frustration was experimentally manipulated in 1 of 3 ways.
Some - puzzle impossible to solve.
Others - ran out of time as another student in the room (confederate of researcher) kept interfering.
3rd group - confederate insulted them as they failed to solve the puzzle.
Next part of study - participant gave electric shocks to confederate when they made a mistake on another task.
Findings - Insulted participants gave strongest shocks on average, followed by interfered group, then the impossible task participants. All 3 groups selected more intense shocks than a (non-frustrated) control group.
Role of environmental cues
Even if we become angry, we might not behave aggressively.
Berkowitz - frustration creates a readiness for aggression, but the presence of aggressive cues in the environment make acting upon this more likely, so cues are an additional element of the frustration-aggression hypothesis.
Berkowitz + LePage - demonstrated this:
Procedure - They arranged for student participants to be given electric shocks in a lab situation, creating anger + frustration. Individual who gave shocks - confederate of researchers. Participants then had the opportunity to to turn the tables + give shocks to confederate.
Findings - Number of shocks given depended on presence or absence of weapons in lab.
One condition - 2 guns present on table next to shock machine. Avg number of shocks given - 6.07
Other condition - No guns present. Avg number of shocks - 4.67 (significantly fewer).
AO3 - Research support
Strength - Support:
Marcus-Newhall et al - meta-analysis of 49 studies of displaced aggression (key feature of the hypothesis). The studies investigated situations in which aggressive behaviour had to be directed against a target other than the one that caused frustration. They concluded that displaced aggression is a reliable phenomenon. Participants who were provoked but unable to retaliate against the source of their frustration were sig. more likely to aggress against an innocent party than people who weren’t provoked.
This is exactly the outcome predicted by the frustration-aggression hypothesis.
AO3 - Is aggression cathartic?
Limitation - May not be cathartic:
Bushman - Participants who vented their anger by repeatedly hitting a punchbag actually became more angry + aggressive rather than less. Doing nothing was more effective at reducing aggression than venting anger. Bushman says that using venting to reduce anger is like trying to put out a fire with petrol. Yet this is the advice that is commonly used by therapists to their patients.
The outcome of this study is very different from that predicted by the frustration-aggression hypothesis so it casts doubt on the validity of a central assumption of the hypothesis.
AO3 - Berkowitz’s reformulation: Negative affect theory
Limitation - Original hypothesis was insufficient:
It became clear from research that frustration doesn’t always leads to aggression + aggression can occur without frustration.
New formulation:
Berkowitz - Frustration is just one of many adverse stimuli that create negative feelings, and others include jealousy, pain or loneliness. So, aggressive behaviour is triggered by negative feelings (anger) rather than by frustration specifically. The outcome of frustration can be a range of responses, only one of which is aggression.
Frustration someone experiences at getting a low grade for an test might not necessarily lead to aggression but to despair, anxiety, helplessness or determination.
Berkowitz’s negative affect theory arose as the original hypothesis was inadequate as it could only explain how aggression arises in some situations but not in others.
