Abstract
The notion that anger is linked to approach motivation received support from behavioral studies, which measured various motor responses to angering stimuli. However, none of these studies examined full-body motions which characterize many if not most everyday instances of anger. The authors incorporate a novel behavioral motor task that tests motivational direction by measuring the reaction times (RTs) of stepping forward and backward in response to the words “toward” and “away.” The results show that, relative to anxiety and control conditions, anger induction resulted in a steeper approach–avoidance RT gradient which was shifted in favor of approach.
Highlights
Different emotional processes involve activation of either left or right frontal areas of the brain
Greater left frontal activity is typically associated with greater positive affect, whereas relatively greater right frontal activity is associated with greater negative affect
Detailed in Table 1, reveal that, relative to baseline, participants in the anger group became more angry hostile and irritated, participants in the anxiety group became somewhat more anxious, hostile and irritated and the results for the control group did change relative to baseline
Summary
Different emotional processes involve activation of either left or right frontal areas of the brain (see Coan and Allen, 2004; HarmonJones, 2007). Anger constitutes a critical case that can help to differentiate between these two interpretations of hemispheric asymmetry. This is because anger is frequently experienced as a negatively valenced and unpleasant emotion, but is typically associated in the literature with approach behavior, i.e., approaching with the intent of removing the stimulus (e.g., Harmon-Jones, 2003; Carver, 2004; Carver and Harmon-Jones, 2009), typically associated with arousal and an urge to attack or injure (e.g., Hoeksma et al, 2007). Key behavioral aspects of anger are aggression (e.g., Kassinove, 1995; Berkowitz and Harmon-Jones, 2004) and confrontation (Parrott, 2001), and individuals may become angry when expecting situations involving these actions (Tamir et al, 2008)
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