science

Low frustration tolerance

Low frustration tolerance is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Low frustration tolerance rather than just read about it. In short: Low frustration tolerance (LFT) is a concept used to describe the inability to tolerate unpleasant feelings or stressful situations. It stems from the feeling that reality should be as wished, and that any frustration should be resolved quickly and easily.

Key takeaways

Low frustration tolerance belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Low frustration tolerance to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Low frustration tolerance from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Low frustration tolerance (LFT) is a concept used to describe the inability to tolerate unpleasant feelings or stressful situations. It stems from the feeling that reality should be as wished, and that any frustration should be resolved quickly and easily. People with low frustration tolerance experience emotional disturbance when frustrations are not quickly resolved. Behaviors are then directed towards avoiding frustrating events which, paradoxically, leads to increased frustration and even greater mental stress. LFT is used in Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy

Overview Ellis alternatively described low frustration tolerance (LFT) as discomfort anxiety. He said it was the main irrational belief that young children probably develop. He said it could be helped by a form of exposure therapy (staying with the discomfort). Some REBT writers characterise LFT as "I can't stand it", arising from intolerance of discomfort, and resulting in effects such as procrastination and short-range hedonism. They contrast it with High Frustration Tolerance (HFT), characterised by accepting (although not necessarily liking) a situation and choosing to persevere in it.

History The concept was originally developed by psychologist Albert Ellis who theorized that low frustration tolerance is an evaluative component in dysfunctional and irrational beliefs. His theory of REBT proposes that irrational beliefs and the avoidance of stressful situations is the origin of behavioral and emotional problems. As humans, we tend to seek for instant gratification to avoid pain, ignoring the fact that evading a situation now, will make it more problematic later.

Types of hedonism Inferential hedonism: People's desires are regarding their own hedonic states of pleasure and pain. Reinforcement Hedonism: The content of a person's desire, is reinforced because of the pleasure that imagining the specific desire brings.

Stress According to REBT, the way we perceive stressful situations plays a role in how we experience stress. Stress exists as part of the nervous system of humans, and it affects humans' well-being when the degree of stress exceeds their capacity of managing the situation either temporarily or permanently.

Implications LFT has been suggested as a main cause of procrastination. According to Dr. Sarah Edelman, LFT causes us to avoid difficult to endure situations and sometimes to avoid them altogether. This can be a problem because 'achieving many of the things that are important and worthwhile requires us to take actions that involve some discomfort.' Avoiding difficult situations and tasks can also prevent us from dealing constructively with problems, such as ending unpleasant relationships, improving unhealthy lifestyles, and moving on from dissatisfying jobs. Moreover, tasks perceived as boring, difficult or demanding of greater effort, are said to make a person more likely to procrastinate.

Reducing LFT In REBT, reducing irrational beliefs and increasing rational beliefs can reduce LFT. This cognitive restructuring allows a modification of dysfunctional thinking and acting, and allows people to change thoughts of great distress like:

"Existing conditions must be changed to give me what I like, otherwise I can't stand it and I can't be happy at all!" "I must have immediate gratification and have to have it, or else I can't stand it and my life is awful" "I can't stand hassles" Into more rational and less exaggerated thoughts like:

"I don't like existing conditions" "I would like immediate gratification" "I find hassles and frustrations inconvenient"

LFT Scale The frustration discomfort scale (FDS), a multidimensional measure for LFT, was developed using REBT theories. These dimensions were labelled in four categories:

Emotional intolerance, involving intolerance of emotional distress. Entitlement, involving intolerance of unfairness and frustrated gratification. Discomfort intolerance, involving intolerance of difficulties and hassles. Achievement, involving intolerance of frustrated achievement goals.

Increasing tolerance Ellis said the path to tolerance consisted of many roads, including unconditional self-acceptance, unconditional other-acceptance and unconditional life-acceptance.

See also Frustration–aggression hypothesis

References

External links REBT Network -- Albert Ellis and Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy The Albert Ellis Institute

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Low frustration tolerance

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Low frustration tolerance claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Low frustration tolerance before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Low frustration tolerance ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Low frustration tolerance

In research: Low frustration tolerance appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Low frustration tolerance in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Low frustration tolerance is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Hedonism, Symptoms and signs of mental disorders, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Low frustration tolerance outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Low frustration tolerance” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Low frustration tolerance in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Low frustration tolerance means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Low frustration tolerance out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Low frustration tolerance in simple terms?

Why does Low frustration tolerance matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Low frustration tolerance?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Low frustration tolerance.