Trait Frustration and Aggression in Adult Humans

Abstract

Although different individuals appear to respond differently to similar frustrating situations, there may be a tendency for a single individual to maintain a certain trait level of frustration. A preliminary trait-frustration scale was developed for examining how individuals designated as subjects high and low in frustration would differ in their aggressive responses to a frustrating situation. The scale contained eight frustrating situations and 162 subjects responded to each situation on a Likert-type scale. The scale was used to identify subjects high and low on frustration. In the frustrating situation, 20 subjects high on trait frustration gave greater responses than 20 subjects low on frustration. Subjects who reported themselves to be highly frustrated not only showed greater aggression following frustrating experiences but also greater relief following successful experiences.