Discuss the frustration aggression theory PDF

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Zoe Dale Discuss the frustration-aggression theory (16) Dollard et al in 1939 formulated the frustration-aggression hypothesis based on the psychodynamic concept of catharsis. This hypothesis stated that aggression always result in frustration and that aggression is a psychological drive akin to biological drives. If a person’s attempts to reach aggression was blocked then frustration would occur. Evidence from Geen in 1968 supports the frustration-aggression theory. The participants were in 3 groups and each was completing a puzzle. One group was told that the puzzle was impossible to solve, the second ran out of time because another student in the room kept interfering (confederate) and in the third group the confederate insulted the participants as they failed to solve it. They were then asked to shock confederates when they made mistakes in the next task. He found that the insulted participants gave the strongest shocks on average, then the interfered group and then the impossible task group. All 3 groups selected more intense shocks than the non-frustrated control group. These findings support the theory as when the participants are getting provoked, which then frustrates them, they became aggressive and gave shocks to the confederates. This research however could be seen to lack external validity. This study was done within a laboratory which means that it is an artificial situation as it is not in a real setting. However to contradict this, a study which gives supporting evidence from the theory is Brown et al in 2001. He surveyed holiday makers after stopping them entering France because French fishing boats blocked the French part of Calais. He found there was an increase in hostile attitudes towards the French because of passenger frustration. This supports the theory because they were blocking where the passengers wanted to go which frustrated them, leading to aggression which were seen as the hostile attitudes. This study has high ecological validity as it was done in a natural setting as the holidaymakers do it as their job therefore as the findings were from a natural setting they can be applied to real life situations therefore are generalizable. It is said that even if we are angry we might not be aggressive. This is suggesting that even when we feel angry that may not always lead to aggression or aggressive behaviours. Evidence to support this is from Berkowitz and Le Page in 1967. In this study participants were shocked by confederates which frustrated them and then were asked to shock the confederates back. In some cases weapons were presented on the table in front of the confederates whereas in other places they were not. They found that the number of shocks depended on the presence or absence of a weapon. When two guns were presented the average number of shocks was 6.07. Whereas when there was no gun present then shocks decreased to 4.67. This study supports the idea that frustration does not always lead to aggression as it says that frustration is neither necessary nor sufficient for aggression. This shows that unpleasant feelings form a negative effect in the person and it is the negative effects that causes the aggression not initial frustration. Finally, this theory cannot account for evidence from the biological approach. In Gospic’s money study he offered participants money and if they accepted then both the participant and the confederate received the money, whereas if they rejected neither received the money. He found that participants were more likely to be aggressive when high levels of testosterone were present. Showing that this theory is reductionist as it cannot account for all evidence....