Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis.

Abstract

frustration always leads to some form of aggression" to "frustration produces instigations to a number of different types of response, one of which is an instigation to some form of aggression."One of the more recent and interesting hypotheses concerning frustration and aggression is that presented by Sargent (Paper No. 29), who also criticized the frustration-aggression hypothesis. Sargent believes that frustration involves a sequence of behavior in which there are four important aspects: a) frustration, b) emotion, c) habit or mechanism, and d) overt behavior. Furthermore, he holds that each of these stages is always influenced by two important factors, the person's past experiences and his interpretation of the present situation. Frustration-Aggression/ ""PHE frustration-aggres- X sion hypothesis is anHypothesis Neal E. Miller (with the collaboration of Robert R. Sears, O. H. Mowrer, Leonard W. Doob and John Dollard)attempt to state a relationship believed to be important in many different fields of research. It is intended to suggest to the student of human nature that when he sees aggression he should turn a suspicious eye on possibilities that the organism or group is confronted with frustration; and that when he views interference with individual or group habits, he should be on the look-out for, among other things, aggression. This hypothesis is induced from commonsense observation, from clinical case histories, from a few experimental investigations, from sociological studies and from the results of anthropological field work. The systematic formulation of this hypothesis enables one to call sharp attention to certain common characteristics in a number of observations from Abridged from the Psychological Review, 1941, 48, 337-342. Reprinted by permission of the authors and the American Psychological Association, Inc.

Bullying in the family: sibling bullying

“…Sibling rivalry stemming from a new-born baby may be conceptualised within Miller's 23 Frustration-Aggression hypothesis, that postulates that the occurrence of aggression always presupposes the existence of frustration. It is easy to see that a first child may be frustrated by the arrival of a new child in the family.…”

Toward an Understanding of the Determinants of Anger.

“…As Dollard et al (1939) and CNA clearly recognized, the afflicted persons might restrain their aggressive urges or even suppress their anger if they believe any such open display of the anger-affective aggression syndrome could be punished. The latter theoretical model notes (in accord with the frustration-aggression formulation; Miller, 1941, cited in Berkowitz, 1989) that there can be a variety of responses to an unpleasant state of affairs, some dominant over the anger-linked reaction. CNA holds that aversive events generate inclinations to both fight and flight (along with other possible action tendencies), not only one or the other, and in many circumstances these other reactions may be stronger than the anger-related ones.…”

The role of irritability in the relation between job stressors, emotional reactivity, and counterproductive work behaviour

“…Irritability is a specific aggression-related personality disposition derives from the original frustration-aggression hypothesis as revised by Miller (1941), which states that frustration produces, among other things, an instigation toward aggression that tends to dissipate over time unless appropriate aggressive responses and targets are made available. Focusing on the instigation to aggress following frustration, irritability was defined as the tendency to react with aversive, impulsive and aggressive feelings and behaviors at the slightest frustration, disagreement or hassle .…”