How to overcome frustration? [Elektronische Ressource] : the influence of frustration on motivational orientation and motivational intensity / vorgelegt von Regina Krieglmeyer

How to Overcome Frustration?
The Influence of Frustration on Motivational Orientation and
Motivational Intensity





Inaugural-Dissertation
zur Erlangung der Doktorwürde der
Philosophischen Fakultät II
der
Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg






vorgelegt von
Regina Krieglmeyer
aus Würzburg






Würzburg, 2007


Acknowledgments

While working on my thesis I was supported by many people whom I would like to
express my thanks to. First and foremost, I would like to express my gratitude to my
supervisor Fritz Strack, who greatly influenced my way of thinking about psychological
processes. You gave me the opportunity to pursue my own interests and at the same time
were always prepared to give me valuable advice. Thank you very much indeed! I would like
to express my great thankfulness to Roland Deutsch, who introduced me to psychological
science. Your support in completing this thesis by discussing numerous questions, providing
valuable suggestions, and commenting on parts of a previous draft of this dissertation was
essential. My gratitude also goes to my colleagues Katja Stork and Atilla Höfling, who
shared with me from the very beginning the ups and downs of completing a PhD. I want to
especially thank Atilla for commenting on parts of a previous draft of my dissertation. A
special thanks goes to Beate Seibt for her valuable ideas that led to study 4 of this thesis.
And I am grateful to all my other colleagues for providing helpful suggestions to my work.
My thankfulness also goes to Roland Neumann who agreed to review the final draft of my
thesis. Moreover, I am grateful to Rita Frizlen for her indispensable help in organizing the
work behind this thesis. Thank you also for your encouragement! My sincere thanks go to
my student assistants Georg Förster, Christine Linkert, Frederic Naujoks, Verena Faust,
Claudia Petersen and Susanne Köhler. Your help was essential in completing my doctoral
program! I am also thankful to Viola Rost for proofreading despite the short deadline.

My profound gratitude goes to my parents, Marianne and Fritz, and to my brother
Christoph. Your support, your affection, and your confidence created the ground structure
that I could always rely on. I am deeply grateful to Jörg. You carried me through writing this
thesis with your calmness, your warmth, and your humour.


Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION............................................................................................................... 1
THEORETICAL PART..... 3
Frustration and its Consequences...................... 3
What is Frustration? ............................................................................................................. 3
Anger and Aggressive Behavior............................ 5
Hemispherical Lateralization 6
Goal Striving ......................................................................................................................... 7
Interim Conclusion.............. 10
Approach-Avoidance Motivation..................... 11
Goal State as a Determinant for Approach -Avoidance Motivation.................................... 11
Stimulus Valence as a Determinant for Approach - ......................... 14
Interim Conclusion .............................................................................. 19
A Two-Systems Perspective on Frustration.... 19
The Reflective-Impulsive Model.......................................................... 20
Application to Frustration................................................................... 21
Hypotheses and Outlook on the Experiments. 23
EMPIRICAL PART.......................................... 25
Experiment 1 ...................................................................................... 25
Hypotheses........................................................... 26
Design.................................. 27
Method................................................................. 27
Results. 29
Discussion........................................................... 30
Experiment 2 ...................................................................................... 32
Hypotheses 32
Design.................................. 33
Method................................................................................................. 33
Results. 34
Discussion........................... 35
Experiment 3 ...................................................................................................................... 37
Hypotheses 37
Design.................................. 37
Method................................................................................................. 37
Results. 39
Discussion........................... 40
Experiment 4 ...................................................................................................................... 42
Hypotheses 42
Design.................................. 43
Method................................................................................................. 43
Results. 45
Discussion........................... 46
Experiment 5 ...................................................................................................................... 48
Hypotheses 48
Design.................................. 49
Method................................................................................................................................. 49
Results. 51
Discussion........................... 55
Experiment 6 ...................................................................................................................... 57
Hypotheses 57
Design.................................. 58
Method................................................................................................. 58
Results. 60
Discussion........................... 65
GENERAL DISCUSSION................................................................ 68
Significance of the Findings.............................................................. 68
Frustration and Motivational Orientation.......... 68
Frustration and Motivational Intensity............................................................................... 71
What is special about Frustration?..................... 72
Implications for Research on Frustration and Approach-Avoidance Motivation...... 72
Frustration........................................................................................................................... 72
Models of Approach-Avoidance Motivation........................................ 76
Implications for Research on Emotion and Motivation................. 78
Emotion............................... 78
Motivation ........................................................................................................................... 79
Summary and Conclusion................................. 80
REFERENCES.................. 82
APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................ 93 1
INTRODUCTION

Imagine a young man looking forward to his first date with a woman he fancies. He
promises to pick her up with his car and to invite her to dinner. It’s half an hour before their
date and he is leaving his apartment in order to arrive in time. He gets into his car and tries to
start the engine. But it doesn’t start. He tries again and again, but the engine only howls. He
frowns, sweats and then hits the steering wheel, while at the same time imagining the
waiting woman and wishing to get to her in time.
The described situation is an example of frustration, which is defined as the unexpected
blockage of an anticipated goal attainment (Berkowitz, 1989; Dollard, Miller, Doob,
Mowrer, & Sears, 1939). Since the early beginnings of learning theory (Hull, 1934; Pavlov,
1927), frustration has been in the center of research interest in various domains of
psychology, for example social psychology (e.g., Berkowitz, 1989), neuropsychology (e.g.,
Harmon-Jones, Sigelman, Bohlig, & Harmon-Jones, 2003), or animal research (for a review
see Papini & Dudley, 1997). The consequences of frustration and its underlying mechanisms
are to a great extent well understood. However, as the analysis of the present thesis will
reveal, there are at least two unresolved issues. The first issue concerns the motivational
1orientation elicited by frustration. While it is clear that appetitive stimuli activate an
approach orientation and aversive stimuli activate an avoidance orientation, the relationship
between frustration and motivational orientations is rather obscure. Second and related to
this point, the mechanisms by which goal striving in the face of obstacles is accomplished
are explained incompletely. In other words, it is not particularly clear how motivational
intensity changes after frustration. Two major types of positions have been advanced in
literature to answer these questions. Simply speaking, one position claims that frustration
elicits an ap