Here is your short paragraph on Frustration Tolerance !

The capacity to endure frustration for a long period without making vigorous efforts to reduce the tension through maladaptive ways and unhealthy defence mechanisms is called frustration tolerance. This concept was put forward by Rosen Zweig.

Frustration tolerance seems to be a natural consequence of the process of learning (as in case of Pavlov’s dog) through which the child learns to tolerate the delay of immediate frustration. The capacity to tolerate frustration thus develops with age.

When there is less than the normal amount of frustration, insufficient frustration tolerance may develop. When there is more than the normal amount of frustration and when the frustration is quite intense the child does not learn adequate methods of overcoming them, frustration tolerance does not develop. Frustration tolerance also does not develop when learning is insufficient.

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A child shows violent reactions and a tantrum when one takes away the tape recorder from him. It is so because of his inability to tolerate the feeling of dissatisfaction arising out of the loss of a loved object. Adults on the contrary learn to tolerate frustrations and deprivations with the passage of time and through learning and socialization. He learns in the course of socialization how to tolerate the delays of immediate frustration.

If the child meets frustration and at the same time is given optimum amount of security, he learns to be self-sufficient, decisive and is kept in situations that do not overwhelm or terrify him. He gradually but steadily learns to tolerate his frustration patiently.

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It is due to the difference in the capacity to tolerate frustration that keeping other factors constant two individuals show varied reactions to the same type of frustration. For example, one may tolerate the loss of his beloved and react in a normal way, while another may take recourse to smoking or alcohol to forget the loss.

Similarly, failures in life such as in examination, in profession and in other related areas may be tolerated by some while others may try to resolve it through various maladaptive ways. Frustration tolerance is a necessity of life and one should learn to tolerate at least minor frustrations.

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