Frustration arises when expectations are not met.
From the Latin frustrationatĭo , frustration is the action and effect of frustrating ( to render an attempt ineffective or abortive ). It is an unpleasant feeling that occurs when a person's expectations are not satisfied due to not being able to achieve what they wanted .
For psychology , frustration is a syndrome that presents diverse symptoms. In any case, these symptoms are all linked to emotional disintegration , which is experienced at different levels and with multiple causes and consequences.
Impact of frustration
The impact of frustration on the subject varies according to personality and various variables that are difficult to control. Frustration can trigger psychological problems , when it becomes pathological and requires professional assistance.
Frustration involves a feeling of deprivation of life satisfaction . For example, a child who is an only child may feel frustrated if his mother becomes pregnant. When his brother is born, frustration transforms into jealous and aggressive behavior.
Frustration is an unpleasant feeling that can trigger different responses.
Classification according to type of response
Specifically, frustration scholars have made it clear that there are three clearly defined ways to deal with a situation of this type. Thus, in the first place there is the aggressive one, which is what leads the person who is experiencing it to bring out their anger and unleash blows on the target that causes the frustration. An example to understand this type of response is when a rally driver fails to reach the finish line as the winner and begins to insistently hit his vehicle.
Secondly we come across the so-called escape tool. As its name indicates, what the person who opts for using it as a mechanism to end their frustration does is avoid it so that it does not occur and even escape from it once it occurs.
Finally, the third way to respond to any frustrating situation is substitution. What is expressed with it is that what the person who is experiencing that situation does is change it for another that does not cause that anguish.
Once the three response modalities have been explained, it must be emphasized that among them the one that is recommended by experts is the third one since it is considered appropriate to deal with frustration. While the first and the second are not because these attitudes do not solve the problem nor make it disappear.
The frustration theory
According to the theory of frustration, a paradoxical effect occurs when the so-called extinction phase begins, which leads the subject to not reinforce the behavior and, therefore, the feeling of frustration occurs.
There are different types of frustrating processes: barrier frustration (when there is an obstacle that prevents reaching the objective), frustration due to incompatibility of two positive objectives (there is the possibility of achieving two objectives, but these are incompatible with each other), frustration due to avoidance-avoidance conflict (flight from two negative situations) and frustration due to approach-approach conflict (indecision in the face of a situation that causes positive and negative results in equal measure).