THE INFLUENCE OF FRUSTRATION TOLERANCE LEVELS AND PERFORMANCE FEEDBACK ON LEARNING OUTCOMES

Abstract

Frustration is an emotion commonly experienced in learning; it occurs when one encounters an obstacle blocking goal attainment, or when one receives persistent negative feedback despite exerting effort. The creator of Rational-Emotive Behavioural Therapy (REBT) proposed that frustration intolerance beliefs are a source of psychological distress, which can result in maladaptive coping behaviours (Ellis, 1999a). This study aims to investigate how learning environments can be modified to promote healthier frustration tolerance beliefs in students. The present study hypothesizes that feedback valence and feedback standard may interact with one’s frustration tolerance beliefs to influence learning outcomes. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four manipulation groups – positive absolute feedback, positive comparative feedback, negative absolute feedback, negative comparative feedback. Their learning experiences and task performance were measured and analysed. It was found that individuals individual frustration tolerance beliefs only interacted with feedback characteristics and valence to influence total scores, but not any other measure of learning experience or task performance. Absolute positive feedback was found to be more beneficial for students with high frustration tolerance beliefs than comparative positive feedback. The findings have significant implications on the way performance feedback is provided to students to encourage continued motivation.