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Frustration Tolerance | |
| Have you ever seen someone get angry at a computer when it
froze and would not function? How did they behave? Every new technology seems to bring
with it a certain amount of frustration, particularly for those with low frustration
tolerance. Frustration tolerance refers to the quality of a person's performance on a task or during information processing when frustration occurs. When a person becomes very frustrated, the frustration can interfere with the performance of the task. Those with high tolerance are not as easily frustrated. Frustration tolerance can be measured with the Picture-Frustration Study by Rosenzweig. Little research has been done on this trait. It has been found that high frustration students have difficulty with trial and error situations in which they receive little guidance from the instructor. One approach is to start out by giving the learner easy problems to solve and providing lots of feedback, and then once success occurs, gradually increasing the difficulty level and reducing the guidance. The technology involved in distance learning may be frustrating to students at first, especially when the technology does not work the way it's supposed to. By helping students to troubleshoot and solve the problem, you can reduce their frustration levels. Another tactic is to discuss at the first class how the technology works, what might go wrong, and what to do if something goes wrong. When students know what to expect or understand why something is happening, their frustration will diminish. The delayed response involved in asynchronous communication may also lead to frustration if students are waiting a long time for feedback. Distance learning students who succeed have been shown in some studies to be both self-confident and persistent. It is possible that they also have a high tolerance for frustration. |