Psychology Chapter: Frustration, Conflict, Stress, and Adjustment

Study Notes

Frustration, Conflict, Stress, and Adjustment

Frustration occurs when an individual seeks to attain a goal and finds that their way to the goal is blocked by a barrier.
Barriers to goal attainment can be classified into:
- Physical barriers (environmental obstacles): external barriers in the environment that prevent progress toward a goal.
- Biological barriers (personal obstacles): limitations within the individual himself, such as physical unattractiveness, handicaps, intellectual limitations, and lack of strength, energy, and skill.
- Psychological barriers: feelings of guilt that make it impossible for some men and women to do the things they would like to do.
- Socio-cultural barriers: restrictions imposed by other people in the social environment and the customs of social living.

Conflict

Conflict refers to a situation or condition where two or more incompatible needs, goals, or courses of action compete.
Types of conflicts:
- Approach-approach conflict: occurs when two positive goals are presented at the same time, making it difficult to choose between them.
- Avoidance-avoidance conflict: occurs when an individual must choose between two undesirable alternatives.
- Approach-avoidance conflict: occurs when an individual is both attracted and repelled by the same goal object.
- Double approach-avoidance conflict: occurs when there are two goals involved, each with both positive and negative valences.

Stress

Stress is a state of tension or distress caused by a mentally or emotionally disruptive or disquieting influence.
Sources of stress:
- Biological deprivation: extreme hunger, for example, can cause deep physical and emotional disturbances.
- Danger (real or imagined): such as "combat exhaustion" which is a breakdown in behavior resulting from danger experiences.
- Threats to self-esteem: often affected by age and personality factors.
- Overload: too much stimulation, which can lead to stress.
- Crises and stress that accompany normal social and personal development.

Coping and Defense Mechanisms

Coping is an active effort to eliminate or get rid of stress.
Defense mechanisms are behavior patterns that protect an individual from pain, shame, or guilt.
Types of defense mechanisms:
- Withdrawal reactions:
  - Fantasy: defensive behavior used to escape from frustrations by retreating into a world of fantasy or make-believe.
  - Nomadism: continually wandering from place to place or situation to avoid a frustrating condition.
  - Repression: a defense mechanism in which certain painful thoughts or feelings are unconsciously withdrawn from awareness.
  - Regression: a form of defense coping strategy whereby a person confronts threat or anxiety by returning to an earlier stage of behavior.
  - Reaction formation: an individual adopts an attitude that is the opposite of his true feelings.
  - Apathy: a consequence of frustration characterized by listlessness, inattention, withdrawal, or indifference.
- Aggressive reactions:
  - Direct aggression: the individual expresses hostility by an overt display of anger toward the object or person that causes the frustration.
  - Displaced aggression: involves a transfer of hostility so that a person or object other than the source of frustration bears the brunt of the individual's hostility.
  - Scapegoating: blaming another person or object directly for one's own fault or failure.
  - Free-floating anger: a prolonged reaction of extreme anger in which the hostility becomes so generalized that even neutral conditions or situations are regarded as hostile.
- Compromise reactions:
  - Sublimation: a defense mechanism characterized by the redirection or rechanneling of urges (most libidinal or sexual) toward more socially acceptable forms of expression.
  - Compensation: a defense mechanism whereby a person endeavors to make up for a weakness in one function or area by excelling in another.

Dealing with Stress

Direct approach: aimed at dealing with stress on the basis of reality.
Learn to:
- Talk it out
- Escape for a while
- Work off your anger
- Give in occasionally
- Do something for others
- Take one thing at a time
- Shun the superman urge
- Go easy with criticism
- Give the other fellow a break
- Make yourself available

Description

This quiz covers the concepts of frustration, conflict, stress, and adjustment in psychology. It tests your understanding of the differences between frustration and conflict, types of conflict, sources of stress, and more.