Regression is defined as a return to more primitive modes of behaviour, that is, to modes of behavior characterizing a younger age.

There are two interpretations of regression. One is that in the midst of insecurity the individual attempts to return to a period of past security. The older child seeks the love and affection bestowed upon him in childhood by behaving again as he did when younger: crying, seeking parental caresses, and so on. This type of regression is called retrogressive behavior, a return to behavior once engaged in.

The second interpretation of regression is that the childish behaviour following frustration is simply a more primitive kind of behavior, not actually a return to earlier behavior. This kind of regression, in contrast to retrogression, is called primitivation. Thus, the adult accustomed to the restraints of civilized behavior may become so upset by frustration as to lose control and start a fistfight, even though, he did no fistifighting as a child.

Both forms of regression may, of course, occur together. In the toy experiment discussed earlier, regression was shown through decrease in the constructiveness of play. We consider that this decreased constructiveness is a form of primitivation rather than retrogression because, we do not ask whether the child returns to a mode of play characteristics of him at an earlier Age.

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Without careful case studies we have no way of being sure, however, that the behavior was not in fact retrogressive. It is a sate conjecture that it was in some instances. By means of a rating scale, each child’s play in both the free and the frustrating situation was appraised as to its degree of constructiveness-that is, (1) according to its likeness to the well-thought-out and systematic play of older children or (2) according to its similarity to the fragmentary play of younger children.

As a consequence of frustration the play tended to deteriorate. Drawing became scribbling; instead of pretending to iron clothes on the ironing board, children would knock the board down. In this experiment the total loss in maturity shown amounted to about 18 months of mental age; that is, the play of these children became like that of children about a year and a half younger.