From the annals of history, from the creation of civilizations to the present day, human beings have been mainly characterized by aspiring to achieve success, achieving the goals that one sets for themselves and consequently pursuing new objectives to increase motivation.
The failure or non-achievement of this motivation is what leads us to frustration, a depressive or negative state that, according to Abram Amsel, can have its origins in the biological field of human beings. We’ll see now What exactly is Abram Amsel’s frustration theory? and what it says about how we behave.
Frustration is defined as a strictly unpleasant feeling in which a person previously deposits all his physical and mental efforts, attitudes, skills and time in achieving a goal that he had set for himself and the nullity of it. That is, what is usually experienced when not having successfully achieved a goal.
On the other hand, frustration can be considered a totally subjective perception or sensation, of a personal nature and whose interpretation depends on each individual. In other words, the phenomenon of frustration may or may not occur, depending on how the failure to achieve our goals is perceived.
Abram Amsel and the theory of frustration
Abram Amsel (1922-2006) was a distinguished researcher, theorist, teacher and writer in the field of human behavior and in the different branches of psychological knowledge of human behavior. He is also the author of the book “The Theory of Frustration”, published in 1992.
Broadly speaking, Abram Amsel was passionate about theories of human behavior through research into reward mechanisms, the psychological effects of non-reward and about the different psychological reactions both in the moment in which frustration is not assumed and in moments in which it is not assumed.
The frustration theory understands and addresses concepts such as secondary frustration, which is a type of learned response to frustration itself; persistence (continuing to pursue the goal even without obtaining a reward) and regression, which involves the appearance of a certain mode of behavior in the early frustration phase.
Motivation is part of frustration
Motivation is an inherent feeling of people that appears by achieving a goal, realizing a dream or by meet a certain personal need, such as studying. Being a doctor is what motivates a medical student to study.
In this sense, Individuals build priorities that depend on personal needs, whether material, immaterial or emotional, as suggested by Abraham Maslow’s theory of “Human Motivation” (1943).
For this reason, motivation turns out to be a variable dependent on frustration. In other words, depending on the expectations we create around ourselves, frustration will be less or greater, and at the same time the degree of motivation can be transformed depending on the situation.
The frustrating processes
Taking into account Abram Amsel’s theory of frustration, there are various processes of frustration that we will see below.
1. Approach-Avoidance
This type of frustration is the one that refers to two types of situations, one with a positive charge and another with a negative charge, which makes us vulnerable to make a decision out of fear of what we can lose
This situation occurs when We pursue two objectives that seem incompatible with each other For example, we want to buy a luxury car but at the same time we want it at a cheap price.
3. The wall or barrier
Frustration is conceived by the inability to achieve something because some element in the form of a barrier or obstacle (physical or not) prevents us from doing so.
Consequences
Like all human behavior, frustration has consequences that, in some cases, become serious and if not treated by a professional specialist can become very harmful.
Some of the consequences of frustration They can lead to an aggressive attitude toward others or toward oneself, reaching self-harm. Childhood behavior and regression are other common causes, although the most common complications are depression, sadness, and introversion.
Solutions
Abram Amsel’s frustration theory gives us some remedies and solutions to avoid frustration. Among these suggestions Abram Amsel recommends identifying the origin and its cause try to look for alternative objectives that give us full satisfaction and, above all, set affordable and realistic objectives.
We live in a society in which the world of work, according to Amsel, Hull and Maslow, plays a great role in frustration at a collective level, where the key to success is preconceived by standards of competence and loving is part of the glory. Therefore, rethinking this framework of relationships is also necessary.
