ADJUSTMENT

in psychology, the behavioral process by which humans and other animals maintain an equilibrium among their various needs or between their needs and the obstacles of their environments. A sequence of adjustment begins when a need is felt and ends when it is satisfied. A hungry man, for example, is stimulated by his physiological state to seek food. He eats and thereby reduces the stimulating condition that impelled him to activity. He is then adjusted to this particular need. Social adjustments are similar. In most cultures people want to be recognized and approved by their fellows. When a man is criticized, that need is thwarted. In response, he may try various ways to regain approval; or he may belittle the critic or argue that someone else is to blame. The latter behaviours do not really bring approval, but they are adjustments of a sort because they tend to reduce the feeling of distress. In general, the adjustment process involves four parts: (1) a need or motive in the form of a strong persistent stimulus, (2) the thwarting or nonfulfillment of this need, (3) varied activity, or exploratory behaviour, and (4) some response that removes or at least reduces the initiating stimulus and completes the adjustment. Every person experiences some thwarting through frustration and conflict but is able to solve most problems with his own resources. A person engages in exploratory behaviour, trying one act and then another until he discovers one that overcomes the frustration, resolves the conflict, or at least reduces its intensity.