Frustration functions as an adaptive alarm signal motivating diagnosis of blocked goals.

Evidence

Attribution theory (e.g., Kelley, 1967) posits that people seek to understand the causes of events, especially negative ones. This makes adaptive sense: when bad events happen, people try to diagnose why they occurred, which may indicate how to correct the problem. When goals are blocked, frustration energizes the individual to diagnose and overcome obstacles. Like physical pain, frustration is an aversive state that indicates something is amiss and motivates the individual to attend to the problem. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1579

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 1579