frustration aggression hypothesis
Summary
The frustration-aggression hypothesis says that blocking a person's goal produces frustration, which raises the urge to aggress. The original 1939 version claimed a strict link; Berkowitz's revision says frustration only makes aggression more likely, especially when situational cues are present.
Detail
Meaning: Proposed by Dollard, Miller and colleagues in 1939, the hypothesis says aggression follows frustration, the state produced when goal-directed behavior is blocked. If the true source is powerful or unavailable, aggression may be displaced onto a safer target, such as a scapegoat.
The original version claimed a strict two-way link. Berkowitz revised it: frustration produces anger and readiness to aggress, and aggression becomes likely mainly when situational cues, such as a weapon, trigger it.
On the MCAT: A passage describes a worker blocked at the job who snaps at family, or an experiment in which frustrated participants deliver more noise to another person than controls do. Predict greater aggression in the frustrated condition and name displacement or scapegoating.
Common confusion: Frustration does not guarantee aggression; people may withdraw or problem-solve instead. Nor does all aggression stem from frustration: instrumental aggression seeks a reward, and social learning theory says aggression can be learned by observing models.
Sources
- Psychology (Myers)
- Social Psychology (Aronson, Wilson, Akert)
Written for the MCAT and checked before it was published. For study reference only. Spotted an error? Let us know.