Experience Of Anger Research Articles

Comparing Attachment Style, Quality of Intimate Relationship and Anger Experience in Patients with Borderline Personality and Bipolar-II Disorders

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) might be conceptualized as belonging to the bipolar disorder spectrum. For this purpose, we compared these disorders’ attachment styles, intimate relationship, and anger experience. Objectives: Objectives of the current research were investigating of attachment style, quality of intimate relationship, and anger experience in patients with porderline personality and bipolar-II disorders and comparing these variables in these groups. Methods: The method of research was comparative. The sample consisted of 37 BPD and 41 BP-II outpatients that were selected through convenience sampling method. They were requested to answer “Attachment Style Questionnaire”, “Quality of relationship inventory” and “Multidimensional Anger Inventory”. Results: The t-test showed that there was no significant difference between BPD and bipolar disorder Type II (BP-II) groups in anxious and secure attachment styles. However, BPD patients showed higher levels of avoidant attachment styles compared to the BD-II patients. In addition, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups in the quality of intimate relationship and anger experience in general. However, BPD and BD-II patients had a significant difference in “conflict with friends”, “conflict with partner”, and “anger arousal” subscales, in a way that BPD patients had higher scores on these subscales. Conclusions: The results of our study suggest that insecure attachment style is the common underlying psychopathology of both BPD and Bipolar disorders that leads to similar intimate relationships and anger experience. These findings support the re -conceptualization of BPD in the Bipolar spectrum.

Lean back and relax: Reclined seating position buffers the effect of frustration on anger and aggression

Frustration is a powerful instigator of anger-based aggression. We hypothesized that the impact of a frustration on anger and aggressive behavior is reduced in a state of feeling relaxed, which is considered incompatible with the experience of anger. Seventy-nine participants received frustrating feedback either when sitting upright or sitting in a reclined position and were then given a chance to act aggressively toward the frustrator. Feelings of anger and relaxation were assessed before and after the frustration. Participants in the reclined position felt more relaxed than those sitting upright, which indirectly predicted less aggressive behavior via lower anger. The results are consistent with theories of incompatible states and embodiment and have implications for using body-related cues to mitigate anger-based aggression.

Age-related changes in older adults' anger and sadness: The role of perceived control.

This longitudinal study examined the experience of sadness and anger in a sample of older adults. Based on the discrete emotion theory of affective aging, it was expected that sadness, but not anger, would increase in older adulthood over time. In addition, we hypothesized that inter- and intraindividual differences in low perceptions of control would be more strongly associated with sadness than anger. The 10-year study followed 187 community-dwelling older adults (Mage = 72.25, SDage = 5.81). At each of six waves, participants' levels of sadness, anger, perceived control, and sociodemographic characteristics were assessed. Hierarchical linear modeling demonstrated that sadness, but not anger, linearly increased over time. These increases in sadness were evident only among older adults who reported low (but not high) levels of perceived control across the study period, and who experienced longitudinal declines (but not increases) in perceived control. In addition, nonlinear within-person reductions in perceived control predicted participants' sadness in the entire sample, but were associated with anger only in early, and not in advanced, old age. These findings support the discrete emotion theory of affective aging by documenting the distinctiveness of older adults' anger and sadness. These two negative emotions differ in terms of both age-related changes and predictive person-related perceptions of control. (PsycINFO Database Record

Longitudinal Links between Executive Function, Anger, and Aggression in Middle Childhood.

Previous research has indicated that executive function (EF) is negatively associated with aggressive behavior in childhood. However, there is a lack of longitudinal studies that have examined the effect of deficits in EF on aggression over time and taken into account different forms and functions of aggression at the same time. Furthermore, only few studies have analyzed the role of underlying variables that may explain the association between EF and aggression. The present study examined the prospective paths between EF and different forms (physical and relational) and functions (reactive and proactive) of aggression. The habitual experience of anger was examined as a potential underlying mechanism of the link between EF and aggression, because the tendency to get angry easily has been found to be both a consequence of deficits in EF and a predictor of aggression. The study included 1,652 children (between 6 and 11 years old at the first time point), who were followed over three time points (T1, T2, and T3) covering 3 years. At T1, a latent factor of EF comprised measures of planning, rated via teacher reports, as well as inhibition, set shifting, and working-memory updating, assessed experimentally. Habitual anger experience was assessed via parent reports at T1 and T2. The forms and functions of aggression were measured via teacher reports at all three time points. Structural equation modeling revealed that EF at T1 predicted physical, relational, and reactive aggression at T3, but was unrelated to proactive aggression at T3. Furthermore, EF at T1 was indirectly linked to physical aggression at T3, mediated through habitual anger experience at T2. The results indicate that deficits in EF influence the later occurrence of aggression in middle childhood, and the tendency to get angry easily mediates this relation.

Systematic review of studies of mental health nurses' experience of anger and of its relationships with their attitudes and practice.

Introduction Emotional regulation is important in mental health nursing practice, but individual emotions may require different regulation strategies. There is ample evidence that nurses experience anger specifically during their work, for example when experiencing patient aggression. It is, therefore, important to consolidate what is known about how anger manifests in mental health nursing practice. We aimed to systematically identify, evaluate and synthesize results from studies about mental health nurses and anger, where anger was measured objectively. Systematic literature review based on PRISMA guidelines. We identified 12 studies. A range of validated and nonvalidated instruments was used. Mental health nurses may have lower levels of anger than normative samples, but anger is commonly reported as an issue for them. Anger was studied in relation to its links with (1) clinical management of patients, notably violence containment; and (2) employment issues more generally, notably job motivation. Anger is related to nurses' attitudes about the acceptability of coercion, but there is no evidence that it results in more coercion. Nurses should be aware of the potential influence of anger on their practice. Anger, specifically, should be considered when supporting mental health nurses, for example in clinical supervision. Emotional regulation training should target anger.

Actions, emotional reactions and cyberbullying – From the lens of bullies, victims, bully-victims and bystanders among Malaysian young adults

This paper examined the emotional reactions and actions involving cyberbullying, focusing on the cyber bullies, victims, bully-victims and bystanders. Gender analysis was conducted to examine if males and females behave and react differently. Self-administered surveys were used to gather data from a large sample of 1158 young adults, mostly university students in Malaysia (Mage = 21.0 years; SD = 2.16). Findings indicate the presence of cyberbullying perpetration after the schooling years, with 8% (N = 93) bullying, 18.6% (N = 216) victimization, 15.2% (N = 174) bullying and victimization, and 53.4% (N = 675) witnessing a cyberbullying incident in the past one year. Most of the bullies reported to be remorseful; however the majority did nothing after a perpetration. Most of the victims on the other hand, experienced anger, sadness and depression after a victimization with the majority claiming to have defended themselves (75%). The majority of the bully-victims regretted their actions, pitied the victims and felt angry after a cyberbullying perpetration/victimization. Bystanders mostly reported feeling pity for the victim and angry at the bullies, with the majority (61.5%) claiming to have defended the victims. However, 40% of them behaved indifferently out of fear retaliation. Finally, gender analysis revealed females to have significantly experienced more emotions than males whereas more males did nothing after a cyberbullying incident, both as victims and bystanders.

Prosocial consequences of third-party anger

Anger has traditionally been associated with aggression and antagonistic behavior. A series of studies revealed that experiences of third-party anger (anger experienced when observing that harm is done to someone) can also lead to prosocial behavior. More specifically, three studies, hypothetical scenarios as well as a behavioral study, revealed that third-party anger can promote compensation of the victim. The results also showed a preference for such prosocial behaviors over antagonistic behaviors. We conclude that behaviors stemming from anger, whether antagonistic or prosocial, are reactions to inequity, albeit determined by the constraints of the situation.

Head banging as a form of self-harm among inpatients within forensic mental health and intellectual disability services

Introduction: ‘Head banging’ is a common form of self-harm, linked to numerous negative outcomes including significant brain damage. However, little research has investigated head banging behaviour and its correlates in clinical populations. Method: Head banging episodes were identified from the incident records (n = 5417) of two inpatient forensic services (one intellectual disability and one mental health), using relevant search terms. Rates were compared between individual patients, by gender, diagnosis and level of security. Incident accounts were analysed qualitatively using thematic analysis. Results: Head banging incidents occurred approximately every 3 days in each service, with 229 incidents recorded in 1 year. Individual patient rates varied widely, ranging from 1 to 38 incidents within 1 year. Women, and patients in higher levels of therapeutic security, were significantly more likely to engage in head banging. Qualitative incident reports indicated that head banging was associated with mental distress, anger and psychotic experiences. Discussion: Head banging occurs frequently in forensic services, and has documented associations with traumatic brain injury in affected individuals, thus negatively impacting progress through the care pathway and treatment outcomes. Further research should investigate short- and long-term management strategies and treatment approaches, in order to minimise harm.

Learning situated emotions

From the perspective of constructivist theories, emotion results from learning assemblies of relevant perceptual, cognitive, interoceptive, and motor processes in specific situations. Across emotional experiences over time, learned assemblies of processes accumulate in memory that later underlie emotional experiences in similar situations. A neuroimaging experiment guided participants to experience (and thus learn) situated forms of emotion, and then assessed whether participants tended to experience situated forms of the emotion later. During the initial learning phase, some participants immersed themselves in vividly imagined fear and anger experiences involving physical harm, whereas other participants immersed themselves in vividly imagined fear and anger experiences involving negative social evaluation. In the subsequent testing phase, both learning groups experienced fear and anger while their neural activity was assessed with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A variety of results indicated that the physical and social learning groups incidentally learned different situated forms of a given emotion. Consistent with constructivist theories, these findings suggest that learning plays a central role in emotion, with emotion adapted to the situations in which it is experienced.

Metaphorical and literal profiling in the study of emotions

ABSTRACTThis paper focuses on the conceptualization of anger as viewed from two disciplinary perspectives: Conceptual Metaphor Theory and emotion psychology. In the first study, twenty varieties of anger lexicalized in three languages (English, Russian, and Spanish) are characterized using the Metaphorical Profile Approach, a quantitative corpus-based assessment of the meaning of emotion words in metaphorical contexts. In the second study, the same set of lexemes is analyzed using a psycholinguistic feature-rating instrument adapted to the study of near-synonyms. Our results demonstrate congruence of the two methods in unveiling the internal organization of the anger family of terms in each language, and the reasons for this organization. In particular, the metaphorical and the feature-based profiles provide consistent insight about variation in bodily heat, expressiveness, regulation, action tendencies (aggression and drive to act), regulation, and the temporal characteristics of anger experiences. To conclude, we discuss the mutual complementarity of the two profiling methodologies and their relevance for a wider research context.

Investigating the Role of Interpersonal Sensitivity, Anger, and Perfectionism in Social Anxiety.

Background:The investigation of personality characteristics and emotional experiences of the people suffering from anxiety disorders is one of the most important issues which are considered by researchers and clinicians. Perfectionism, sensitivity to interpersonal rejection, and anger are personality traits related to social anxiety. In social anxiety disorder, it has also been focused on anger as a personality characteristic and as an emotional condition. The main purpose of this work is to investigate the role of these variables in predicting social anxiety among a nonclinical group of Iranian students.Methods:In this cross-sectional study, 131 students completed the self-report version of Liebowitz Social Anxiety Scale Self-Report version (LSAS-SR), Frost Multidimensional Perfectionism Scale (FMPS), Interpersonal Sensitivity Measure (IPSM), and State and Trait Anger Expression Inventory. Multiple linear regressions were conducted to examine the concurrent associations between perfectionism, interpersonal sensitivity and quality of emotional experience, and expression of anger with severity of self-report social anxiety.Results:Greater levels of FMPS total were significantly associated with a greater level of LSAS total, fear, and avoidance of social and functional situations (P = 0.022, P = 0.024, and P = 0.006). Moreover, a significant positive correlation between IPSM total (P = 0.015) with fear and also between anger expression index (P = 0.009) with avoidance subscale were found.Conclusions:In accordance to the previous researches, we found that perfectionism, interpersonal sensitivity, anger experience, and anger expression skills are related to social anxiety. How these personality traits are related to fear and avoidance of social situations and their concurrent effects on predicting social anxiety were discussed.

Why shouldn’t she spit on his grave? Critical discourse analysis of the revenge narratives in american popular film from the developmental point of view

Abstract One of the premises of developmental psycholinguistics is that we live our life according to certain narratives that are learned through language and media. These narratives teach children to express emotions and to attribute actions in a variety of life situations; they construct the way in which the threatening feelings such as anger, injustice, or the urge of vengeance are experienced. In this paper, we present a critical analysis of the gendered discourse in popular American cinema, based on the plot analysis of 60 films featuring male or female protagonist seeking revenge. We use critical discourse analysis to decipher the patterns of the gender roles, behaviors, and emotions, which these movies intent to force upon the viewer. As the psychological research does not clearly testify to gender differences in the experience and expression of the trait anger, we would like to argue that it is a matter of the socially moderated narrative patterns, rather than inborn tendencies, that urges boys and girls to play such different roles in those situations as well as experience them in distinct ways. Our most crucial conclusion is that Western societies have developed the narrative-based mechanisms which later helped to successfully discourage women from expressing anger in the form of physical aggression, under the threat of being left out of the discourses of femininity and, in some cases, humanity.

Anger rumination in Australia and Spain: Validation of the Anger Rumination Scale

ObjectiveRumination has been empirically supported in the experience of anger. The Anger Rumination Scale (ARS) was developed to assess ruminative processes in anger. The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the ARS in Australia and Spain.MethodA large non‐clinical sample (N = 1,752) completed a battery including the ARS and measures of trait anger, anger expression and control, aggression, emotional symptoms, and emotion regulation strategies, to determine the factor structure, validity, and reliability of the ARS. Variations between the two cultural samples were also analysed.ResultsConfirmatory factor analysis verified the four‐factor structure of Angry Memories, Thoughts of Revenge, Angry Afterthoughts, and Understanding of Causes in both samples. Findings established good psychometric properties, evidence of convergent and discriminant validity, and associations in the expected direction with related variables. Males in both samples endorsed Thoughts of Revenge significantly higher. Spanish participants scored higher on Angry Memories and Understanding of Causes.ConclusionsThe ARS is a valid measure of anger rumination in Australian and Spanish populations. Further, gender and cultural variations may influence the tendency to engage in anger rumination.

Discrimination and anger control as pathways linking socioeconomic disadvantage to allostatic load in midlife

ObjectiveRecent evidence suggests that experiences of discrimination contribute to socioeconomic status health disparities. The current study examined if the experience and regulation of anger—an expected emotional response to discrimination—serves as an explanatory factor for the previously documented links between socioeconomic disadvantage (SED), discrimination, and allostatic load. MethodsData were drawn from the second wave of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study and included 909 adults who participated in the biomarkers subproject. ResultsResults revealed that perceived discrimination was associated with higher levels of allostatic load. Furthermore, we found evidence that perceived discrimination and anger control sequentially explained the relationship between SED and allostatic load, such that greater discrimination was associated with lower levels of anger control, which, in turn accounted for the effects of discrimination on allostatic load. These results remained significant after controlling for negative affect, positive affect, other forms of anger expression, as well as demographic covariates. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that low anger control may be an important psychological pathway through which experiences of discrimination influence health.

Emotions and Steroid Secretion in Aging Men: A Multi-Study Report.

Although aging increases the risk of cognitive and socioemotional deterioration, it has also been shown to be accompanied by an increase in experienced positive emotions and a decrease in negative emotions. Steroid hormones and age-related alterations in secretion patterns have been suggested to play a crucial role in these age-related changes in emotional experience. Importantly, previous studies identified effects of neuroactive hormones on age-related alterations in emotional experience, which vary by sex and depression levels. Therefore, in three independent cross-sectional studies including a total of 776 men, we examined age-related differences in emotional experience and subsequently the moderation effect of steroid hormones. Sample one consisted of 271 self-reporting healthy (SRH) men aged between 40 and 75 years, while sample two comprised 121 men in the identical age range but only including vitally exhausted (VE) men. Sample three included 384 men aged between 25 and 78 years who reported having fathered (FA) at least one child. For the SRH men, age was negatively associated with anxiety symptoms and aggression, while negative trends emerged for depressive symptoms. In VE men, age was negatively associated with depressive symptoms and positively associated with aggression and positive emotions. For FA men, anxiety symptoms and aggression were negatively associated with age. Age trends of steroid hormones and identified moderation effects are reported. However, with adjustment for multiple comparisons, most of the significant associations fade and the reported associations need to be regarded as exploratory starting points for the further investigation of age-related alterations in emotional experience and their relation to steroid secretion. Overall, the results indicate that salivary cortisol might be a moderator of the association between age and symptoms of anxiety for SRH and VE men, while salivary testosterone seems to moderate the association between age and symptoms of anxiety or depression in VE and FA men, respectively. Both hair cortisol and progesterone seem to influence age-related alterations in anger experience. Age-related alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis emerge as promising avenues to further investigate the decrease in experienced negative emotions in aging men.

Ostracism via virtual chat room-Effects on basic needs, anger and pain.

Ostracism is characterized by a social pain provoked by being excluded and ignored. In order to address the effects of social ostracism in virtual non-physical interactions, we developed a more realistic paradigm as an alternative to Cyberball and assessed its effects on participant’s expression of basic social needs, emotional experience and painful feeling. The chat room consisted of controlled social dialogue interactions between participants and two other (confederate) chat room partners. Exclusion was manipulated by varying the number of messages a participant received (15% and 33% in exclusion and inclusion, respectively). Analysis of participant (N = 54) responses revealed that exclusion induced a lower experience of basic-need states and greater anger, compared with included participants. In addition, excluded participants reported higher levels of two specific self-pain feelings, namely tortured and hurt. Our findings suggest that this procedure is effective in inducing social ostracism in a realistic and yet highly controlled experimental procedure.

Inside–out: the role of anger experience and expression in the development of postpartum mood disorders

Purpose: Among negative emotions, anger has not been studied in as much depth in her connection to postpartum mood disorders. The study aimed to investigate the role of anger as a potential vulnerability factor increasing the risk of Maternity Blues (MB) and Postpartum Depression (PPD).Materials and methods: Pregnant women in their third trimester of pregnancy underwent the following tests: the State Trait Anger Expression Inventory 2 – STAXI-2 (baseline visit), the Blues Questionnaire -BQ (3 and 5 days after delivery), and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) (3 and 6 months following delivery).Results: One hundred ten subjects were included in this study. The prevalence rate of mothers with MB was about 35%, whereas about 4% of women developed a PPD. Significant positive correlations were found among State anger (SANG), Trait anger (TANG), anger expression out (AXO) and in (AXI) and postpartum depressive disorders, as measured by blues questionnaire (BQ) and EPDS.Conclusions: Anger experience and expression can be considered as vulnerability factors for postpartum mood disorders onset. Particularly, the expression of angry feelings toward other persons or objects in the environment (AXO) predicts the onset of MB, whereas holding in or suppressing angry feelings (AXI) could be a risk factor for subsequent PPD.

Mental health nurses’ emotions, exposure to patient aggression, attitudes to and use of coercive measures: Cross sectional questionnaire survey

BackgroundMental health nurses are exposed to patient aggression, and required to manage and de-escalate aggressive incidents; coercive measures such as restraint and seclusion should only be used as a last resort. An improved understanding of links between nurses’ exposure to aggression, attitudes to, and actual involvement in, coercive measures, and their emotions (anger, guilt, fear, fatigue, sadness), could inform preparation and education for prevention and management of violence. ObjectivesTo identify relationships between mental health nurses’ exposure to patient aggression, their emotions, their attitudes towards coercive containment measures, and their involvement in incidents involving seclusion and restraint. DesignCross-sectional, correlational, observational study. SettingsLow and medium secure wards for men and women with mental disorder in three secure mental health hospitals in England. ParticipantsN=Sixty eight mental health nurses who were designated keyworkers for patients enrolled into a related study. MethodsParticipants completed a questionnaire battery comprising measures of their exposure to various types of aggression, their attitudes towards seclusion and restraint, and their emotions. Information about their involvement in restraint and/or restraint plus seclusion incidents was gathered for the three-month period pre- and post- their participation. Linear and logistic regression analyses were performed to test study hypotheses. ResultsNurses who reported greater exposure to a related set of aggressive behaviours, mostly verbal in nature, which seemed personally derogatory, targeted, or humiliating, also reported higher levels of anger-related provocation. Exposure to mild and severe physical aggression was unrelated to nurses’ emotions. Nurses’ reported anger was significantly positively correlated with their endorsement of restraint as a management technique, but not with their actual involvement in restraint episodes. Significant differences in scores related to anger and fatigue, and to fatigue and guilt, between those involved/not involved in physical restraint and in physical restraint plus seclusion respectively were detected. In regression analyses, models comprising significant variables, but not the variables themselves, predicted involvement/non-involvement in coercive measures. ConclusionsVerbal aggression which appears targeted, demeaning or humiliating is associated with higher experienced anger provocation. Nurses may benefit from interventions which aim to improve their skills and coping strategies for dealing with this specific aggressive behaviour. Nurse-reported anger predicted approval of coercive violence management interventions; this may have implications for staff deployment and support. However, anger did not predict actual involvement in such incidents. Possible explanations are that nurses experiencing anger are sufficiently self-aware to avoid involvement or that teams are successful in supporting colleagues who they perceive to be ‘at risk’. Future research priorities are considered.

Anger Can Help: A Transactional Model and Three Pathways of the Experience and Expression of Anger.

Anger is a significant human emotion with far-reaching implications for individuals and relationships. We propose a transactional model of anger that highlights its relational relevance and potentially positive function, in addition to problematic malformations. By evolutionary design, physical, self-concept, or attachment threats all similarly trigger diffuse physiological arousal, psychologically experienced as anger-emotion. Anger is first a signaling and motivational system. Anger is then formed to affirming, productive use or malformed to destructive ends. A functional, prosocial approach to anger organizes it for protective and corrective personal and relational adaptation. In our model, threat perception interacts with a person's view of self in relation to other to produce helpful or harmful anger. Inflated or collapsed views of self in relation to other produce distinct manifestations of destructive anger that are harmful to self, other, and relationship. Conversely, a balanced view of self in relation to other promotes constructive anger and catalyzes self, other, and relationship healing. Clinical use of the model to shape healing personal and relational contact with anger is explored.

German taxi drivers' experiences and expressions of driving anger: Are the driving anger scale and the driving anger expression inventory valid measures?

ABSTRACTObjective: The objective of this article was 2-fold: firstly, we wanted to examine whether the original Driving Anger Scale (DAS) and the original Driving Anger Expression Inventory (DAX) apply to German professional taxi drivers because these scales have previously been given to professional and particularly to nonprofessional drivers in different countries. Secondly, we wanted to examine possible differences in driving anger experience and expression between professional German taxi drivers and nonprofessional German drivers.Methods: We applied German versions of the DAS, the DAX, and the State–Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI) to a sample of 138 professional German taxi drivers. We then compared their ratings to the ratings of a sample of 1,136 nonprofessional German drivers (Oehl and Brandenburg n.d.).Results: Regarding our first objective, confirmatory factor analysis shows that the model fit of the DAS is better for nonprofessional drivers than for professional drivers. The DAX applies neither to professional nor to nonprofessional German drivers properly. Consequently, we suggest modified shorter versions of both scales for professional drivers. The STAXI applies to both professional and nonprofessional drivers. With respect to our second objective, we show that professional drivers experience significantly less driving anger than nonprofessional drivers, but they express more driving anger.Conclusions: We conclude that the STAXI can be applied to professional German taxi drivers. In contrast, for the DAS and the DAX we found particular shorter versions for professional taxi drivers. Especially for the DAX, most statements were too strong for German drivers to agree to. They do not show behaviors related to driving anger expression as they are described in the DAX. These problems with the original American DAX items are in line with several other studies in different countries. Future investigations should examine whether (professional) drivers from further countries express their anger as proposed by the DAX. In addition, professional drivers experience less driving anger (DAS) and less general trait anger (STAXI) than nonprofessional drivers, but they report more driving anger expression (DAX) and more current general state anger (STAXI). Subsequent studies should therefore focus on different types of anger within the group of professional drivers.