Personal Characteristics and Reactions to Frustration (Based on the Results of the Study of Student-Actors)

Abstract

The paper presents the results of a study of relationships between personality features and reactions to frustration among the student-actors. We tested the hypothesis about the correlation between behaviors in situations of frustration and such personal characteristics as empathy, trust, and reflexivity in relation to social behavior. Sample: 142 first-year students of a Moscow theatre college. Methods: R. Cattell’s 16 PF Questionnaire and S. Rosenzweig’s frustration picture test. Results: it is shown that projective emotional sensitivity is associated with two types of reactions — self-defense through aggression and self-defense through the acceptance of guilt. Conclusions: we revealed the important role of reactions aimed at resolving the frustrating situation through appealing to the interaction partner; this mode of behavior in a conflict situation is associated with a set of personal characteristics corresponding to the Groundedness factor in Cattell’s test, which implies attention to the specific circumstances of the action.