Anger Matters

OLLI Spring 2008

University of Pittsburgh

Sam Cho, Ph D

An Overview

A Brief look at the history of anger Anger as phenomenonological experience Historical accounts, oral traditions and

recorded examples

What is Anger? The feeling of anger is a phenomenological

or subjective or internal experience that rests on the emotional state.

In literature anger is described as feeling or emotion, interchangeably

Subjective Experience

Anger is associated with specific perceptual event. Perception is a response to a stimulus or a set of stimuli. The stimulus may be endogenous or exogenous. For example, you can get angry by recalling some past indignities you experienced, or by someone insulting you for no cause.

Shaping of experience

Perception may be culturally determined. Even within a culture a set of stimuli may elicit different perceptions.

Misappraisal

Misperception is interchangeably used as cognitive distortions. MFor example, you may misread some event: you may misinterpret someone’s statement (this happens frequently in personality disorders)

Cognition as modifier

Cognitive distortions or automatic misappraisals are significant contributors to useless or even harmful experience of anger. Later on we will look at some examples of cognitive distortions.

Coloring perception

How we perceive a set of stimuli may depend on our current state of being. Whether we are at peace, agitated, depressed, anxious, happy, etc.

More modifiers

How we perceive or think may also depend on our past experience, interpretative tools and agents, values, etc.

Quantification

If we were to quantify anger, we can point to the variations in frequency, intensity, and duration.

Variation in responses

Some people seem to get angry most of the time while others rarely feel it.

Intensity and duration

Anger may be experienced as annoyance to full blown rage.

Anger may be transient or eternally held grudge.

Behavior

Angry behavior: Behavioral manifestation of anger or anger expression varies widely within a culture as well as across cultures. Some examples are: withdrawal, sulking, pouting, glaring, yelling, sarcasm, etc.

How old is anger?

Video clip

Kubrick’s 2001: Space Odyssey. Opening scenes.

From Archeology

Richard Leaky. Origins. Hunters, tools, weapons, farmers, communities.

Gathering of things and the need to protect the holdings.

From the Bible

In Exodus Moses expresses anger by shattering the tablets on which the Lord (YWH)’s finger inscribed the Ten Commandments. […Moses’ anger burned hot and he threw the Tablets from his hand and broke them at the foot of the mountain. Ex. 32:39] So the First Edition of the Ten Commandments was destroyed. Later God again gave the Covenant and the Ten Commandments to Moses.

Antiquity

In The Republic Plato proposes interconnecting tripartite soul: reason, the appetite and the passion. He argued that these parts are interactive. In Plato’s scheme, passion includes a wide range of emotions, including love/lust. In Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis (1592?), we see exquisite account of love/lust/eroticism.

Darwin

Charles Darwin’s The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) provides very detailed descriptions of various emotions.

Anger as survival tool

Anger properly managed is a vital survival mechanism. The very early formulation of anger appears to have been a response to a threat. A deviation from allostasis.

Threat to survival

When our system is about to be pushed outside the normal optimal range of operation by an external agent (predator is about to make supper out of you), your instantaneous reaction is to fight, flight, and/or to fear--be fearful.

Adaptive responses

Puff up (make yourself look bigger), or make yourself look very small (cowering so the predator will ignore you). Take a submissive posture. Diminution.

Anger

(Middle Ages. Norse origin, and current usage). More recorded accounts.

Origin is Middle English : from Old Norse angr ‘grief,’ angra ‘vex.’ The original use was in the Old Norse senses; current senses date from Late Middle English

Anger as Noun

his face was livid with anger rage, vexation, exasperation, displeasure, crossness, irritation, irritability, indignation, pique; annoyance, fury, wrath, ire, outrage, irascibility, ill temper/humor; informal slow burn, aggravation; literary choler. antonym pleasure, good humor.

Anger as Verb she was angered by his terse reply

infuriate, irritate, exasperate, irk, vex, peeve, madden, put out; enrage, incense, annoy; rub the wrong way; informal make someone's blood boil, get someone's back up, make someone see red, get someone's dander up, rattle someone's cage, make someone's hackles rise; aggravate, get someone, rile, tick off, tee off, burn up. antonym pacify, placate.

More recently Paul Ekman’s Emotions Revealed (2003)

provides an updated research of emotional expressions across cultures.

Ekman also wrote Telling Lies

Anger and aggression

Aggression can be assault or battery (these are criminal acts).

If the victim has been actually touched by the person committing the crime, then battery has occurred. If the victim has not actually been touched, but only threatened, then the crime is considered to be assault.

Most aggression ignited by anger fall short of criminal acts.

Or the victims do not press charges (i.e., domestic assault and battery)

Yet, aggression is cause for serious concern. Aggression is normally goal directed. (against someone). Some form of aggression is culturally sanctioned (as in certain sports).

Aggression and anger are closely related.

Anger does not necessarily result in aggression. Anger can be a “stand alone” state. Pervasive, chronic anger (grudge) colors one’s ‘temperament.’

Even though long lasting, frequent and intense anger is as harmful as anxiety, depression, panic disorder, etc., it is not yet classified under the official APA diagnostic scheme. The only exception is the Intermittent Explosive Disorder (312.34).

The main feature of the Intermittent Explosive Disorder is the failure to inhibit impulse to commit aggressive act, and the act is grossly out of proportion to the agency.

We are in dire need of more systematic research.