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Frustration in the Classroom: Causes and Strategies to Help Teachers Cope Productively

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Abstract

Frustration is a common emotional experience in teachers’ lives. Despite its ubiquity, frustration in the classroom has been largely ignored as a focus of study in modern emotion and motivation research. In this study, we bring together an interdisciplinary body of work to stimulate renewed interest in the study of frustration pertaining to teachers and their students. First, we discuss common sources of frustration and explain why even minor frustrations discourage goal attainment. Then, we present recommendations for ways in which teachers can reduce the occurrence of this common yet understudied emotion through empathy, simplification, and reappraisal. We conclude by discussing the personal attributes that teachers draw upon to overcome frustration and highlighting additional open questions and areas of future studies.

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  1. Department of Psychology, Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Daeun Park

  2. Department of Educational Psychology, Ball State University, Muncie, IN, USA

    Gerardo Ramirez

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Park, D., Ramirez, G. Frustration in the Classroom: Causes and Strategies to Help Teachers Cope Productively. Educ Psychol Rev 34, 1955–1983 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-022-09707-z

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