GAC029_A2 "Observing and analyzing

Students between 17-19 who suffer from

frustration have bad scholar performance.

Student’s Name: Luis Angel Martínez Romero

Student ID: —------
Teacher: Victor Hugo Toro Salazar
Due Date: 12/Oct/2023
Word Count: 1804
GAC029_ A2 Luis Angel Martínez Romero

Table of contents:
Abstract..................................................................................................................................... 3
1. Introduction...................................................................................................................... 3
2. Research methodology..................................................................................................... 4
3. Research results................................................................................................................4
4. Discussion......................................................................................................................................6
5. Conclusion and recommendations.................................................................................................6
6. Appendix....................................................................................................................................... 7
7. Reference List................................................................................................................................7
GAC029_ A2 Luis Angel Martínez Romero

Abstract
Frustration comes from insecurities, it's a response of experiencing events that are overwhelming for
people and also consist of losing rewards, frustration is related to impossibility to make things you
want to. Frustration can be controlled, but it can be related to mental illnesses, bad scholar
performance, procrastination and boredom. In this document five subjects were analyzed. These
subjects are males around 16-19 years old, the objective of this research is to identify when frustration
can affect students' performance in school, also to prove our initial statement “Students between 17-19
who suffer from frustration have bad scholar performance”. The data collection was made observing,
analyzing, and questioning the subjects during a period of exams, an interview was made to them and
the results were shown in graphs and tables for a better understanding and more simple analysis, after
the analysis the objective conclusion was that the initial statement was correct however frustration
appeared in all students in different ways, not knowing how to deal with frustration is related to bad
scholar performance.

1. Introduction

For this observation and analysis we must know how the factors to be analyzed are expressed in
humans and where it comes from. Frustration has been studied since the 30’s, it was studied only in
animal responses, but subsequently this study was moved to human conduct studies, as we know this
concept isn't new, however it keeps changing since the beginning.

From a theoretical point of view, frustration is defined as the organism's response triggered
when a subject experiences a surprising omission or devaluation in the quality or quantity of
an appetitive reinforcer, in the presence of signals previously associated with a reinforcer of
greater magnitude (Amsel , 1992).

Abram Amsel introduced the Frustration and he defines it as the way humans react to different stimuli
that decrease reinforcers, and stipulates his theory based on associative mechanisms which relate
stimulus with conduct changing.

Frustration commonly comes from uncertainty feelings or insecurities, which are principally
generated by a sensation of not being able to make things as we want to or as we desire, it's obviously
associated with rewards and missing rewards, Gray (1987) states that fear and frustration activate the
same neural mechanisms.

Frustration can be controlled but if there's no knowledge about this type of feeling it can be
transformed into depression, anger problems, violence, and also it can be related to physical illness.
The reaction to frustration depends on each individual and his mental health.

Now talking about the academic ambit, procrastination is related to students that auto evaluate
themselves in a negative way, self confidence and self esteem is less developed, and that leads to less
interest in school, boredom, and unfortunately frustration. Ellis and Knaus (1977) suggest that
frustration intolerance is the most direct cause of procrastination. A higher frustration
tolerance, a higher self esteem and less stress level is noticed on teneagers between 17-19
years old with better grades, and better decision making.
GAC029_ A2 Luis Angel Martínez Romero

2. Research methodology

The research of this document will be done the following day:

The observation of the subjects will be made from September 25th to October 7th of the
present year, between highschool students located in Mexico City. This investigation will
consist in observing and questioning students about their feelings and emotional issues
during exam periods, and studying for them, stress and frustration will be analyzed in the
mood of the subjects. Additionally a short interview made up of four questions is going to be
applied to the five subjects to make the results more precise. The observations of the cases
will be written down and analyzed in this document, results are going to be exposed in an
appendix, gráfic tables and statistics.

3. Research results

After applying our research methodology but just the observation part to five cases, a result
of three of our total cases were related with frustration and bad scholar performance, as it
was expected the two cases missing were not related to it had a better preparation and self
esteem, they felt really capable and did not have any sign of procrastination.

On the other hand, the three cases observed related to frustration had bad performance and
some signs of procrastination. They felt overwhelmed by the exams, they acted anxious,
they were sweaty and their breathing was intense, anxiety was noticed.

Case Have you ever Do you have On a scale of 1 to 5, Have you ever
felt frustrated nice studying How hard is your procrastinated?
studying? habits? stress during exams?

1 Yes No 4 Yes

2 Yes No 5 Yes

3 Yes Yes 2 No

4 Yes No 4 Yes

5 Yes Yes 3 No
Figure 1. Answer chart
 GAC029_ A2 Luis Angel Martínez Romero

In this chart, we can evaluate the results of the interview applied to the subjects. These
results show that the observation made was partially correct, despite that an answer was not
expected. For a better analysis, we have a chart below with graphics that will help.

Answer: Yes at 100%

Figure 2. Response graphs

The results shown after the interview were interesting, for the first question all subjects
answered yes, for the second question the results were forty percent for yes and sixty
percent no, as expected in the third question the results shown were high in the scale, and
for the last question the results shown were sixty percent yes and forty percent no.
GAC029_ A2 Luis Angel Martínez Romero

4. Discussion

Based on the results of the observation and the interviews, subjects who are confident and
have more self-esteem have a better performance and control of frustration. It can be
appreciated in the interview answers and the physical observation during and after the
exam, that these subjects have better control of the stress and less frustration during the
exam.

But there are some exceptions in the results, question number one revealed that all five
subjects have suffered frustration during study time that wasn't expected, but as it has been
mentioned these subjects have a better way to deal with this feeling. This leads to better
performance in tests that can be stressful, it should be considered that these two subjects
had better studying habits and planification.

The other part of the subjects showed that stress and frustration affect more on them, also
they showed that their studying habits are not as good as the other subjects, this can be a
factor that affects performance, when subjects were observed it was noticed that they felt
tense during test, and the way they dealt with frustration wasn't good enough.

These subjects have bad studying habits, it's known that they are more susceptible to
procrastinating. This includes boredom, existence during studying processes and probable
frustration.

5. Conclusion and recommendations

It can be concluded that students with better habits, lower tendency to procrastinate, higher
self esteem and more knowledge of their feelings, are less likely to feel frustrated during
exam periods and this leads to having better performance in the scholar ambit. Meanwhile
students who have the worst way to deal with stress and frustration are more likely to have
bad performance in school, they are susceptible to feel bored and to develop a higher habit
of procrastination. Certainly it can be concluded that frustration is part of the learning
process.

Some recommendations to make: Having more cases will help us to reach a conclusion with
a higher degree of precision, asking more questions can be crucial for understanding every
case, more time of observation will lead to better data collection for the analysis.
GAC029_ A2 Luis Angel Martínez Romero

6. Appendix

N Subject Date Notes and observation

1 Male 26/09/23 During recess the subject was questioned about

17 yo. 10:55 a.m his feeling after taking a hard exam, he was tense,
Mexico City and did not believe in his performance, he was
frustrated and sad.

2 Male 28/09/23 The subject was only analyzed by observing his

16 yo. 3:20 p.m conduct during an exam, it was previously known
Mexico City that the subject wasn't prepared enough, it was
noticed that his mood was tense, he was sweaty
and stressed.

3 Male 06/10/23 At the end of the exams period the subject was
18 yo. 6:45 p.m questioned about the stress he suffered during
Mexico City this period, the subject expressed that he never
felt stressed or anxious, he had previous
preparation and was confident of himself.

4 Male 30/09/23 The subject was analyzed only observing his

17 yo. 1:25 p.m conduct during an exam, he was frustrated,
Mexico City multiple times he breathed out noisily, it was
known that the subject hadnt had a good sleeping
time the previous day due to the frustration .

5 Male 02/10/23 At the end of an exam the subject was questioned

18 yo. 11:00 a.m about his performance in it, he seemed to be
Mexico City relaxed. We knew that the subject was a hard
working person and had a previous preparation
for the test.

7. Reference List
● Avances en Psicología Latinoamericana. (2016). Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Senora
del Rosario.

● Calidad, E., En Educación, C., & Completo, N. (n.d.). REICE. Revista

Iberoamericana sobre. Redalyc.org. Retrieved October 10, 2023, from
https://www.redalyc.org/pdf/551/55110208.pdf

● Frustración escolar: ¿qué es y cómo superarla? (n.d.). ESIBE. Retrieved October 10,
2023, from https://www.escuelaiberoamericana.com/blog/frustacion-escolar

● Jadue J, G. (2001). Algunos efectos DE la ansiedad en El rendimiento Escolar.

Estudios Pedagógicos, 27. https://doi.org/10.4067/s0718-07052001000100008
GAC029_ A2 Luis Angel Martínez Romero

● Kamenetzky, G. V., Cuenya, L., Elgier, A. M., López Seal, F., Fosacheca, S., Martin,
L., & Mustaca, A. E. (2009). Respuestas de frustración en humanos. Terapia
Psicológica, 27(2). https://doi.org/10.4067/s0718-48082009000200005

● Procrastinación Académica e Intolerancia a la Frustración en estudiantes

universitarios argentinos. (n.d.). Retrieved October 10, 2023, from
https://revistaconcienciaepg.edu.pe/ojs/EPG/Vol7Num2/3/

● Sharp, J. G., Hemmings, B., Kay, R., Murphy, B., & Elliott, S. (2017). Academic
boredom among students in higher education: A mixed-methods exploration of
characteristics, contributors and consequences. Journal of Further and Higher
Education, 41(5), 657–677. https://doi.org/10.1080/0309877x.2016.1159292

● Trabajemos en la tolerancia a la frustración. (2022, May 8). Gaceta UNAM.

https://www.gaceta.unam.mx/trabajemos-en-la-tolerancia-a-la-frustracion/

● Vista de Tolerancia a la frustración, estrés y autoestima como predictores de la

planificación y toma de decisiones en adolescentes. (n.d.). Udc.es. Retrieved October
10, 2023, from
https://revistas.udc.es/index.php/reipe/article/view/reipe.2021.8.1.7077/g7077_pdf