Why Are Some Children More Easily Frustrated Than Others? Irritability and the Brain

Abstract

Some children can handle big problems without getting upset, while other children quickly become frustrated or irritable. If we want to understand why some children become more frustrated or irritable than other children, we need to study the brain, because the brain controls behavior. To understand irritability in children, we need to learn about three things. First, we need to know how children recognize the emotions of other people, because if children are not able to understand the emotions of other children, they might get frustrated. Second, we need to learn about how it feels to get a reward, because children who expect a reward, but do not get one, can become frustrated. Finally, we can ask how we can teach children to cope better. Learning about how children’s brains work can help us to understand why some children become frustrated or irritable more quickly than other children.