Many researches had hitherto been done regarding the physiological effects of frustration, some of them dealing with the effects of failure. However, most of these studies were not concerned exclusively with failure but took into account the after-effects of past conflict or physical punishment. In the present study, we have left such factors out of consideration and are concerned solely with the physiological effects of failure as manifested in and measured by changes in galvanic skin conductance and in respiration. 49 subjects, all delinquent children in Yokohama Juvenile Classification Office, were divided into groups A, B, C ; D and E. The children were then made to undertake 18 short-time mental work assignments, the success or failure of which were controlled by the experimenter. (Table. 1)
Those subjects who have made successive failures manifested special facial expressions and some physiological changes. The statistical analysis showgd that : 1) Increase of conductance during work tends to be suppressed. 2) The normal decrease of conductance during rest periods is often replaced by an increase of conductance (Fig. 1, Table 2). 3) Deepened respiration is frequently observed during rest periods. 4) Other respiratory disturbances are also frequently observed, which are retarded, deep, of small I-fraction and sometimes followed by respiratory pause, as seen in Fig. 2 (Table 3). 5) These various physiological changes have been found to be related to one another, 6) and also with special facial expressions such as tears. 7) Some of these changes, both physiological and facial, are also observed during questioning the subjects of their life history. 8) and it is concluded that the special facial expressions described (probably manifesting sorrow) can in general be expressed in physiological terms by frequent GSR, deepend respiration, as well as the other respiratory disturbances shown in Fig. 2. (Table 4). 9) With the exception of the facial expressions described, we may conclude that, in general, as a result of failure, conductance tends to decrease during both work and rest, and respiration tends to some extent to be retarded, deep and of small I-fraction.
It is probable that the facts described are manifestations of depression and disappointment which tends to decrease physiological activity, while conflict, on the other hand, as several investigators have observed, tends to increase such activity. When subjects become saddened, it would seem that there is greater decrease in respiratory activity and increase of GSR. The weakened incentive to work resulting from failure also seems to produce physiological changes during work. 10) There is no appreciable correlation between the facts described above and with I. Q. or the degree of delinquency (Table 5), so that it would seem that such effects of failure are not peculiar to or characteristic of delinquent children, but are common to all human subjects. 11) However, the rate of conductance decrease during work tends to vary directly with the degree of delinquency in children. This shows that this experiment provides a useful test of frustration tolerance.