15.3.1 The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

The Frustration-Aggression hypothesis

Dollard et al

All aggression is caused by frustration, which is when you are prevented from achieving your goals
Thus, aggression is caused by environmental factors
When people behave aggressively, they experience catharsis and their negative feelings go away Catharsis: Releasing strong emotions, therefore providing relief
When you are unable to direct aggression at what has caused the frustration, you displace your aggression onto someone or something else

Factors that increase aggression:

Proximity to the goal: The closer you are to the goal, the more likely you are to behave aggressively when prevented from achieving it.
Effectiveness of aggression: The more effective aggression is for helping you to reach a goal, the more likely you are to behave aggressively.
The justifiability of the frustrating event: People are less likely to be aggressive if the frustrating situation preventing them from achieving their goal is justified.

Evaluation:

(1)

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P: One problem with the frustration-aggression hypothesis is that there are individual differences in how people respond to aggression E: For example, some people may cry or withdraw, rather than become aggressive

E: This is a weakness as it suggests the frustration-aggression hypothesis doesn't offer a complete explanation of human aggression because there are other responses and people may react in different ways.

(2)

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P: Research support has mainly come from laboratory experiments E: Because of this, there are issues with ecological validity

E: Therefore, it is uncertain whether people would display this aggression in real-life situations

(3)

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P: Aggression doesn't always lead to catharsis E: Bushman found that being aggressive can lead to increased aggression

E: Therefore, there may potentially be other explanations, reducing the usefulness of the frustration-aggression hypothesis

(4)

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P: One problem with the frustration-aggression hypothesis is that it is difficult to test experimentally E: This is because it's unethical to deliberately create frustration in participants. Therefore, a lot of supporting evidence relies on self-report techniques and hypothetical situations which may provide invalid data due to participants not describing how they would react truthfully.

E: As a result, there is limited evidence to support the frustration-aggression hypothesis as an explanation of human aggression and so we can't be confident that it is a valid theory

The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis Simplified Revision Notes for A-Level Edexcel Psychology

15.3.1 The Frustration-Aggression Hypothesis

The Frustration-Aggression hypothesis

Factors that increase aggression:

Evaluation:

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