Your imagination prevails over your skills, and you tell rather what you wish that what you know. Step on a dog’s tail and you may get nipped. Frustrate a human and you may get insulted. The frustration aggression hypothesis states that frustration tends to lead to aggression. Road age and some freeway shootings may be a reaction to the frustration of traffic congestion. The fact that automobiles provide anonymity, or a loss of personal identity, may also encourage aggressive actions that would not otherwise occur. So far you have seen that the rate of a reaction can be changed by using a catalyst (traffic) that provides an alternative pathway with a different activation energy such as frustration. There are other factors that affect the rate of reaction without changing the activation energy.  Does frustration always produce aggression? The rate of reaction can be increased by increasing the molar concentration of one or more of the reactants, or by increasing the temperature of the reactions. Although the connection is strong, a moment’s thought will show that frustration does not always lead to aggression. #RandolphHarris 1 of 5

Frustration, for instance, may lead to stereotyped responding or perhaps to learned helplessness. Also, aggression can occur in the absence of frustration. One simple and useful way to understand these effects is to realize that the activation energy for a reaction is provided principally by the molecular motion and collision of reactant molecules.  In the course of reactants being converted into products, the reactants must collide so that the electron environment around the reactant atoms is changed to yield that of the products. Or more simply, old bonds (electron pairs) must begin to break before new ones forms. Frustration probably encourages aggression because it is uncomfortable. Various aversive stimuli, which produce pain, discomfort, or displeasure can heighten hostility and aggression. Examples include insults, high temperatures, pain, and even disgusting scenes or odors. Such stimuli probably raise overall arousal levels so that we become more sensitive to aggression cues (signals that are associated with aggression). In order for products to form, the collision between reactants must be sufficiently energetic so that the collision complex is supplied with an amount of energy at least equal to the activation energy. If this is so, the collision complex is known as an activated complex. #RandolphHarris 2 of 5

Aversive stimuli also tend to activate ideas, memories, and expressions associated with anger and aggression. The activated complex is a high-energy, unstable state because the kinetic energy of the colliding reactant has been incorporated into the internal potential energy of the complex. Once formed, this excited state can fall apart to reactants, or it can go on to the product state. Some cues for aggression are internal (angry thoughts, for instance). Many are external: Certain words, actions, and gestures made by others are strongly associated with aggressive responses. A raised middle finger, for instance, is an almost universal invitation to aggression in North America. Weapons serve as particularly strong cues for aggressive behavior. The implication of this weapons  effect seems to be that the symbol and trappings of aggression encourage aggression. A prime example is the fact that murders are almost 3 times more likely to occur in houses where guns are kept. Nearly 80 percent of the victims in such houses are killed by a family member or acquaintance. Only 4 percent are murdered by strangers. #RandolphHarris 3 of 5

Some collisions are effective; that is, the complex has sufficient energy to surmount the catalyzed reaction barriers and go on to product. Personal discomfort caused by aversive (unpleasant) stimuli can make aggressive behavior more likely. There is a strong association between the temperatures at major league baseball games and the number of batters hit by a pitch during those games. When the temperature goes over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, watch out for a fastball. However, not all collisions between reactant molecules are effective. In a reaction mixture there may be many soft, low-energy collisions in which the collision complex does not have enough energy to overcome the activation barrier and simply falls back to reactants. These simple ideas about the energetics of molecular collision are sufficient to explain the effect of increased concentration and temperature on reaction rates. #RandolphHarris 4 of 5

An increase in concentration of reactants in reaction vessel means that moving reactant molecules are crowded more closely together. This leads to a greater collision frequency and therefore an increase in the probability of product formation. An analogy can be made to a game of billiards: the greater the number of billiard balls on the table, the greater the number of possible and probable collisions with a moving ball. Now let us consider the effect of temperature on reaction rate. An increase in the temperature of a reaction mixture results in an increase in the average kinetic energy of the molecules and thereby an increase in the average molecular speed. This implies that the molecules will collide more often and that each collision will be more energetic and thus have a greater chance of overcoming the activation barrier. Therefore, an increase in the temperature should yield an increase in the rate of production formation as more colliding reactant molecules reach the activated complex state. Mind and matter glide swift into the vortex of immensity. #RandolphHarris 5 of 5