Downregulation of Anger by Mental Contrasting With Implementation Intentions (MCII).

Maik Bieleke,Miguel A Alonso,Inge Schweiger Gallo,Gabriele Oettingen,Peter M Gollwitzer

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2018.01838

Abstract

As anger can lead to aggressive behavior aiming at intentionally hurting somebody, the prevention of its destructive consequences with effective emotion regulation strategies is crucial. Two studies tested the idea that mental contrasting with implementation intentions (MCII) interventions would be effective in down-regulating anger. In Study 1, participants who adopted the self-regulation strategy of MCII showed significantly less anger-related negative affect after the anger induction than participants in a control condition, with positive affect staying unaffected. Results from a second study with a control condition plus three self-regulation conditions – a reappraisal, a MCII, and a reappraisal + MCII condition – suggest that participants using MCII were effective in down-regulating anger, irrespective of whether it was supplemented by reappraisal or not. The present research contributes to emotion regulation research by introducing MCII as an effective strategy that can be tailored to satisfy individual emotion regulation demands, such as dealing with experienced anger.

Highlights

Most of the literature on anger focuses on its problematic consequences
We found an MCII intervention to be effective in down-regulating acutely induced anger
As compared to other anger treatment approaches, which may extend over several sessions, MCII can be taught and applied in a cost- and time effective way

Summary

Introduction

Most of the literature on anger focuses on its problematic consequences. The experience of anger affects the individual (e.g., higher levels of stress and poorer health; Diong et al, 2005), and the individual’s social environment (e.g., in terms of social functioning; Lench, 2004). Few studies have addressed anger regulation (Szasz et al, 2011). Anger might have sometimes adaptive functions (Ein-Dor and Hirschberger, 2018; e.g., expressing anger in response to negative evaluations; Celik et al, 2016), we focused in this paper on the negative consequences of anger and on those situations where one might want to down-regulate anger (e.g., because it might predispose an individual to verbal aggression).

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion