THEORY OF REGRESSION IN FRUSTRATION
by Kurt Lewin Roger Barker & Tamara
Dembo
1941
(Extract from: Frustration and Regression.
An Experiment with Young Children,
by Roger
Barker, Tamara Dembo, and Kurt Lewin.
Studies
in Topological and Vector Psychology
II,
University of Iowa Press, Iowa 1941,
pp.
216-219; page numbers referring to
this original
publication are given in square brackets
- example: [p. 217:])
Regression and Developmental Stages
[p. 216:]
Regression has been defined here as
a change
which is opposite to development. Development
includes some or all of the following
changes
(Chapter I, p. 14): increase in variety
of
behavior, increase in degree of hierarchical
organizations, extension of area of
activities
and interests including time perspective,
and increased weight of organizational
dependence
relative to simple dependence. Regression,
therefore, can be related to some or
all
of these changes in the opposite direction.
To understand how temporary regression
is
brought about by situational factors,
it
is necessary to refer to certain constructs,
for example, to those concerning degree
of
differentiation, organization, and
unity
of a whole which have been discussed
in Chapter
I (p. 22) and Appendix 1. Originally,
our
experiment was designed to test the
prediction
that tension in strong frustration
leads
to a dedifferentiation of the person
and
therefore to regression. The regression
has
been found. However, the experiments
have
shown that, aside from dedifferentiation,
other factors may enter. In other words,
there are several possibilities of
explaining
the observed regression in a situation
such
as the one studied here. We will leave
it
open which single factor or which specific
constellation of factors has caused
the results.
Probably different factors were important
for different subjects.
Dedifferentiation
One of the best symptoms for the increasing
differentiation of the life space (including
the person and the psychological environment)
during development is the increasing
variety
of behavior. [p. 217:] In the frustration
situation the richness of the play
activity
definitely decreases. Stereotypy is
increased
particularly in the case of barrier
behavior.
This indicates a narrowing down and
dedifferentiation
of the psychological environment.
If the regression is caused by dedifferentiation
of the individual, the dedifferentiation
is probably brought about by the emotional
tension (Dembo 12). We will see that
the
degree of differentiation of a whole
is inversely
related to the strength of pressure
of tension
(formula 10a, p. 242) when the tension
passes
certain limits which are determined
by the
strength of the boundaries of the natural
parts of the whole. Constructiveness
in play
also decreases with the strength (potency)
of frustration.
A decrease in the variety of behavior
must
also be expected if a part of the whole
is
kept in a fixed state. This follows
from
certain properties of a dynamic whole
(Appendix
1, p 254). The amount of decrease depends
upon the extent of the fixed areas,
their
degree of centrality, and their divergence
from the normal level. Frustration
involving
a particular goal keeps a certain area
of
the person in a state of more or less
permanent
tension. The variety of pattern should
therefore
decrease in the case of other activities.
This decrease should be greater with
the
involvement of a larger number of parts
of
the person with a higher degree of
centrality,
and with a heightened tension. The
experimental
results are well in line with these
theoretical
considerations. It has been shown that
emotionality
increases with increasing potency of
frustration.
This would indicate that a decreasing
variety
of behavior may be due to dedifferentiation
of the person as the result of emotional
tension, or to the "freezing"
of
certain parts of the person as a result
of
preoccupation.
Disorganization
One of the outstanding characteristics
of
emotionality is the increase in the
weight
of simple dependence (spreading of
tension)
relative to organizational processes
which
are in line with requirements of reality
(are adaptive in nature). If formula
(8)
is correct such a change can be viewed
as
one form of regression. Indeed, both
the
emotionality and the amount of regression
change with the potency of frustration.
In a somewhat different way the disorganization
can be derived from the overlapping
situation
between play and barrier behavior.
[p. 218:]
To be governed by two strong goals
is equivalent
to the existence of two conflicting
heads
within the organism. This should lead
to
a decrease in organizational unity
according
to our theoretical considerations (formula
(36), p. 260).
Finally, a certain disorganization
should
result from the fact that the motor
system
loses to some degree its character
of a good
medium because of these conflicting
heads.
It ceases to be in a state of near
equilibrium.
The demands on the motor system made
by one
head have to counteract the influence
of
the demands of the other head. This
is an
additional factor which hampers organizational
processes.
Lack of Time Perspective: Insecurity
The extension of the life space, particularly
in the psychological time dimension,
is one
of the essential properties of development.
We have seen that planning presupposes
time
perspective. On the average, constructiveness
is higher in the long than in the short
play
units. Therefore a decrease in the
extension
of time perspective might properly
be regarded
as a regression.
In the frustration experiment, the
experimenter
interrupted the elaborate play with
the beautiful
toys and ordered the child to move
to the
other side of the partition. In the
previous
free play situation and in prefrustration,
the child had not been interrupted.
In some
degree the child had probably become
confident
that his play would not be interfered
with,
and his security was such that he was
able
to make relatively long-range plans.
The interference at the end of the
prefrustration
situation may have shattered the belief
of
the child in the security and stability
of
his situation. If the possibility of
a superior
power, such as that of the experimenter,
interfering at any moment continued,
it might
not seem worth while to start a long-range
plan. This should lead to a weakening
of
the connection between the reality
and irreality
levels and to a narrowing of the life
space
with respect to the extension of the
level
of reality (level of expectation) into
the
psychological future. It is possible
to attribute
regression in the frustration situation
at
least partly to the lack of security.
Closely related to this aspect of the
situation
is the change in "freedom of expression."
The child's relation with the experimenter,
as well as his other symptoms indicate
that
the child in the [p. 219:] frustration
situation
feels more restricted. This is tantamount
to saying that the child feels he is
not
permitted to reconstruct his reality
level
according to the wish level or to his
more
intimate needs. We have seen that this
should
lead to a lowering of the constructiveness
level.
The decrease in time perspective during
play
can be related in part directly to
the greater
emotionality in frustration. It is
known
that a strong emotion tends to narrow
the
extension of the psychological situation.
Regression and Substitution
Freud has linked regression closely
to substitution.
It may be appropriate therefore to
relate
the results of our experiments to this
theory.
(fn 27)
We do not deny the possibility that
regression
may under certain conditions result
from
a tendency to substitution. However,
this
is hardly the cause of regression in
this
experiment. Of course, it can be maintained
that the accessible toys are a substitute
for the inaccessible toys. However,
even
if the accessible toys did have the
character
of substitute toys, there is nothing
to prevent
the children from playing on the same
constructiveness
level as before. Regression, in this
case
at least, is not an attempt to satisfy
a
need on a lower level because it cannot
be
satisfied on a higher level. It is
rather
the effect of a change of the state
of the
person resulting from tension or from
any
of the changes in the life space which
we
have discussed. (fn 28) When play with
the
accessible toys had the character of
a real
substitute for play with the inaccessible
toys the constructiveness increased;
it did
not regress to a lower level.
Notes
(27) It should be remembered that the Freudian
concept of regression includes retrogression
in addition to regression as defined here.
The two concepts have somewhat different
implications. [back to text]
(28) This view is somewhat in line with that
of McDougall (60). [back to text]
Bibliographical References in this Text
DEMBO 12: Dembo, Tamara: Der Ärger als dynamisches
Problem [Anger as a dynamic problem]. Psychol.
Forsch., 1931, 15, 1-144. [English translation
of this article in: Joseph de Rivera, Field
Theory as Human Science, New York: Gardner
Press 1976, pp. 324-422.]. McDOUGALL 60:
McDougall, William: Outline of abnormal psychology.
New York: Macmillan, 1922. Pp. 383.
Evans Experientialism 
