Frustration eval Flashcards
Frustration eval model one
As Berkowitz (1989) said, ‘the finger pulls the trigger’. This means that ‘open carry’ in the US, where a gun is not concealed, does not cause violence in itself. Individuals are responsible for their use of weapons, even when they are frustrated. Guns are used generally when people decide to use them. If someone becomes frustrated and uses a weapon to commit violence (e.g. a mass shooting), that is still the result of an individual’s decision. We should put guns into the hands of people who are emotionally stable and unlikely to allow frustration to ‘get to them’.
However, Berkowitz also said, ‘the trigger may be pulling the finger’. Gun violence depends on the presence of cues. Even frustration does not inevitably lead to aggression. The open presence of a gun acts as a cue to aggressive behaviour, as shown by Berkowitz and LePage’s (1967) study. Just by being around and on view makes it more likely a gun will be used. This suggests that the presence of guns does not just facilitate aggression but can also stimulate it.
Therefore guns need to be controlled because their widespread availability makes aggression more likely.
Eval role of Catharis
One limitation is research showing that aggression may not be cathartic.
Brad bushman 2002 found that participants who vented their anger by repeatedly hitting a punchbag actually became more aggressive rather than less. Doing nothing was more effective at reducing aggression than venting. Bushman argues that using venting to reduce anger is like using petrol to put out a fire. IT does mot work even for people who believed in its valve in fact according to bushman the better people feel after venting the more aggressive they are.
This shows that a central assumption of the frustriuation aggression hypothesis may not be valid
Evaluation research support?
One strength is research support for a key concept of the frustration aggression hypothesis
Amy Marcus Newhall conducted a meta anyalus of 49 studies of displaced aggression. These studies investigated situation in which aggressive behaviours had to be directed against a human target other than the one who caused the frustration. The researchers concluded that displaced aggression is a reliable phenomenon. Frosted participants who were provoked but unable to relatiolate directly against the source of their frustration were significantly more likely to aggress against an innocent party than people who were not provoked. This shows that frustration can lead to aggression against a weaker or more avibale target.
Frustration aggression linke
Another limitation is that the frustration aggression link is complex. Very early reasrech into the frustrictionm aggression hypothesis it became clear that frustration does not always lead to aggression and that aggression can occur without frustration. There is nothing automatic about the link between the two. Someone who feels frustrated may behave in a range of different ways. Rather than being aggressive they may instead be helpless or determined likewise someone who behaves aggressively may do so for many reasons. This suggest that the fruition aggression hypothesis is inadequate because it only explains how aggression arises in some situation but not others.
Counterpoint eval
However Berkowitz reformulated the initial hypothesis to take account of the above criticism. His negative affect theory argued that frustration is just one of many aversive stimuli that create negative feeling other include loneliness, jeoauly and pain. Aggressive behaviours is trigged by these negative feelings generally rather than by fruition specifically. The outcome of fruition can be a range of responses only one of which is aggression for example you might feel trusted at getting a poor essay grade and become despairing anxious determined complanmct or whatever.
Therefore friction can form part of a wider explanation of what causes aggression
