HOW EFFECTIVE IS ANGER MANAGEMENT?

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WHAT IS ANGER MANAGEMENT?The term “anger management” refers to a type of cognitive behavioural therapy which a person may undergo in order to manage their anger.

Anger management programmes can be either voluntary, (people who feel their anger is getting out of hand can self-refer themselves) or compulsory (people may be sentenced to attend anger management sessions in court or by their GP) and are usually delivered in weekly or twice weekly group sessions delivered by qualified psychologists.

Anger management consists of two elements: cognitive restructuring and skill training. Cognitive restructuring aims to change the way you think, eg. someone who experiences anger problems may lash out violently during arguments and would therefore be taught how to think logically in these situations in order to minimise violence – is violence really necessary here? Skill training aims to equip you with skills that will help to prevent anger; for example, guided imagery helps to place calm thoughts into your head, which is designed to prevent angry and violent outbursts.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS ANGER MANAGEMENT?Several studies have been conducted into the effectiveness of anger management programmes in prisons…

Watt et al (1999) investigated two groups of prisoners in a West Australian prison; one group had been regularly attending anger management sessions whilst the other group was on the waiting list.

The two group’s levels of anger were measured in a variety of categories such as prison misconduct and aggressive behaviour.

The study found that there was no difference between the levels of the anger that the two different groups showed, thus it was concluded that the anger management programme was not effective.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS ANGER MANAGEMENT?Another study that looked at the effectiveness of anger management programmes in prisons is Towl & Dexter (1994), conducted in the UK.

Towl & Dexter surveyed prisoners in nine different institutions after completion of an anger management programme. Most prisoners reported feeling less angry after the programme, however some reported an extreme reduction in anger levels and others reported no change. Overall, the programme was deemed generally successful.

An obvious problem with this study is that the data for this study was self-reported by prisoners, therefore it is questionable whether the data is valid or not, as prisoners may just be claiming to have reduced levels of anger in order to reduce their sentence.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS ANGER MANAGEMENT?Finally, Loza & Loza-Fanous (1999) conducted a study in which they studied a total of 271 Canadian male offenders. They compared groups of violent offenders (those who had committed crimes such as murder, assault and robbery) with those who had committed non-violent offences (such as fraud), and a group of rapists with a group of non-rapists.

Using several psychometric measures of anger, they concluded that there was no significant difference in the levels of anger displayed by the four groups, suggesting that anger was not the reason behind their violent offences, meaning that anger management programmes would be of no use to them. They even went as far to suggest that anger management problems could be harmful, as they could cause offenders to blame anger for their offences, instead of taking full responsibility for their actions.

WHAT ARE TOKEN ECONOMIES?Token economy programmes are an alternative way to manage anger and violent behaviours in a prison environment, where desired behaviours are rewarded with tokens (secondary reinforcers), which can then be exchanged for material objects or privileges, such as sweets, cigarettes or a phone call home (primary reinforcers).

Token economies work on the basis of operant conditioning; if a behaviour is rewarded, it will more than likely be repeated to earn another reward.

As the programme develops, regular meetings are held with the prisoners to evaluate the programme so it continues to be effective; if a prisoner is not responding to the programme, it is changed so that tokens are easier to earn and more immediate. Similarly, if a prisoner is responding well to the programme and earning lots of tokens, the programme will be changed so that the prisoner has to work harder to earn the tokens. As the prisoner’s behaviour improves, they gradually get used to not receiving tokens for good behaviour, which aims to get them used to life outside of prison, where they will not receive tokens anymore.

HOW EFFECTIVE ARE TOKEN ECONOMIES?Like anger management, several studies have been conducted into the effectiveness of token economy programmes in the prison environment, the most well known of which is Hobbs & Holt (1976), who studied the effectiveness of token economies on 125 boys in a correctional institution.

If boys followed rules, co-operated, were non-violent and did not damage property, they were rewarded with tokens by 17 members of staff, who were well trained in the programme. The tokens could be used to buy rewards such as drinks and toys, or saved up in banks for off-campus events like sports games or visits home.

The programme was found to reduce undesired behaviours, however it raised an important question - are token economies effective in improving behaviour in prisons, or do they just make the prisons easier to run?

HOW EFFECTIVE ARE TOKEN ECONOMIES?An alternative study to that is Field et al (2004), who examined the effectiveness of token economies on young people with behavioural problems. Tokens were rewarded for desired behaviours.

Whilst most responded well to the programme, some people did not respond at all. Therefore, a specialised programme was put into place for them, meaning that they could earn tokens faster and more easily than others, helping them to respond to the programme.

Overall, the programme was deemed successful.

HOW DO THE TWO PROGRAMMES COMPARE?In criminal psychology, recidivism refers to relapsing into criminal behaviour after receiving treatment or punishment for said behaviour, eg. a car theft is released from prison and begins stealing cars again upon release. Both anger management and token economy programmes can be evaluated by how likely recidivism is after completion or release from prison.

Anger management has lower recidivism rates than token economies, because the skills that the prisoner learns during anger management sessions can be easily transferred to life outside of prison. It is therefore seen as a long-term solution to anger problems.

In comparison to this, Hollin (1989) investigated recidivism rates for token economy programmes and found that whilst token economies help to delay recidivism, they do not prevent it, making it a short-term solution as prisoners often cannot continue their good behaviour outside of the prison environment when they are no longer receiving tokens.

HOW DO THE TWO PROGRAMMES COMPARE?Anger management programmes ensure that prisoners are actively involved in their own rehabilitation by getting them to reconsider how they think and act when angry. In contrast to this, token economy programmes are passive, as prisoners are having something done to them and can choose whether or not to respond to the programme by performing desired behaviours (and therefore earning tokens) or not.

Anger management programmes are also holistic, as they look at every aspect of the problem (what triggers anger, how it is responded to, etc.) to ensure that the problem is treated at the root cause and is completely solved. Token economy programmes are reductionist, as they reduce the problem and only treat the symptoms of anger such as violent behaviour, rather than focus on how to prevent the prisoner from becoming violent.

HOW DO THE TWO PROGRAMMES COMPARE?Both programmes could potentially present as unethical, as neither programme offers prisoners the right to withdraw; token economy programmes do not give the option to opt out, whereas court-ordered anger management sessions are compulsory. On top of this, token economies could be seen as unethical, if they make prisoners work for basic rights such as phone calls home and access to food.

In terms of how the programmes are measured, anger management programmes are evaluated through self-report data from the prisoners themselves, which presents a validity issue – have prisoners really been cured of their anger problems, or are they lying to reduce their sentence? Token economies are evaluated through regular meetings with prisoners to assess how the prisoner is responding to the programme, a method with an arguably higher validity than self-reported data.

HOW EFFECTIVE IS ANGER MANAGEMENT?In my opinion, anger management programmes are more effective than token economies, as cognitive behavioural therapies have been proven to provide long-term rehabilitation, proven by low recidivism rates. Anger management teaches skills that can be used outside of the prison environment; this is where difficulties arise with token economies, as prisoners may find it difficult to continue behaving well outside of prison when they are no longer receiving tokens for their behaviour.

However, as data is self-reported, problems could arise if prisoners are released after saying they feel less angry, when they are actually lying.