escalated, the less it is repressed, and the more overt and
openly hostile it becomes. Unless this escalation is stopped
or controlled, the ultimate result is war.
And so, now we have examined frustration-
caused aggression from its early appearance in infant be-
havior, through adolescence problems, unhappy marriages,
business difficulties, group protests and international rela-
tions. The list could be endless, but the categories dis-
cussed are sufficient to develop three conclusions:
( 1) Aggression always is a consequence of
frustration, and...
(2) Since frustration-caused aggression usually
is, at best, disagreeable, and, at worst, disastrous-it should
be avoided or eliminated, unless...
( 3) The existence of the specific frustration-
aggression is preferable to the consequences of avoiding
or eliminating it.
The first two conclusions should now be obvi-
ous. The third should be emphasized, lest this chapter be
interpreted as suggesting that tranquility be preserved at
any price.
Therefore, before we examine various methods
of avoiding or eliminating some of the frustrations which
cause overt or repressed aggression, let us acknowledge
that there are frustrations which we should not try to alle-
viate by submissive pennissiveness-because the conse-
quences of such pennissiveness would be far worse than the
aggressions resulting from the frustrations, themselves.
A few brief examples will suffice: