Category: Emotion

Anger and being really mad tend to be seen as wild, negative emotions, but research finds that anger also has its positive side.

There are all sorts of good sensible, civilised reasons to avoid getting angry.

Not only is it linked to poor health, but it also makes you feel bad, do stupid things without noticing the risks and can be self-destructive.

As a result, civilised people do their best to suppress, redirect and mask their anger.

Most of us treat being really mad as though it’s unreasonable, unshowable and unmentionable.

But, like all emotions, being really mad has its purposes, which can be used to good effect.

1. How to use anger as motivation

You sometimes hear people talking about using anger as a motivating force by ‘turning anger into positive energy’.

In fact being really mad itself is a kind of positive energy that has its advantages and can be a powerful motivating force.

Research has shown that anger can make us push on towards our goals in the face of problems and barriers.

In one study, participants were shown objects they associated with a reward.

Some, though, were first exposed to angry faces.

Those shown the angry faces were more likely to want objects they were subsequently exposed to (Aarts et al., 2010).

When we see something as beneficial, we want it more when we’re angry.

So, when used right, constructive anger can make you feel strong and powerful and help push you on to get what you want.

2. Really mad people are more optimistic

It may sound like an odd thing to say, but angry people have something in common with happy people.

That’s because both tend to be more optimistic.

Take one study of fear of terrorism carried out in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

In this study those experiencing anger expected fewer attacks in the future (Lerner et al., 2003).

In contrast, those experiencing more fear were more pessimistic about the future and expected further attacks.

3. Anger can benefit relationships

Being really mad is a natural reaction to being wronged by someone else and it’s a way of communicating that sense of injustice.

But society tells us anger is dangerous and we should hide it.

What does this do to our personal relationships?

Oddly enough research has shown that hiding anger in intimate relationships can be detrimental (Baumeister et al., 1990).

The problem is that when you hide your anger, your partner doesn’t know they’ve done something wrong.

And so they keep doing it.

And that doesn’t do your relationship any good.

The expression of anger, if justifiable and aimed at finding a solution rather than just venting, can actually benefit and strengthen relationships.

4. Anger provides self-insight

Being really mad can also provide insight into ourselves, if we allow it.

A sample of Americans and Russians were asked about how recent outbursts of anger had affected them (Kassinove et al., 1997).

55 percent claimed that getting really mad had let to a positive outcome.

One top of this one-third said that anger provided an insight into their own faults.

If we can notice when we get really mad and why, then we can learn what to do to improve our lives.

Anger can motivate self-change.

5. Getting really mad reduces violence

Although anger often precedes physical violence, it can also be a way of reducing violence.

That’s because being really mad is a very strong social signal that a situation needs to be resolved.

When others see the signal they are more motivated to try and placate the angry party.

If you’re still not convinced that being really mad might reduce violence, imagine a world without anger where people had no method for showing how they felt about injustice.

Might they jump straight to violence?

6. Anger as negotiation strategy

Being really mad can be a legitimate way to get what you want.

In one study of negotiation participants made larger concessions and fewer demands of an angry person than one who was happy (Van Kleef et al., 2002).

So there’s some evidence that anger can be used as a negotiation strategy, but it’s more complicated than that.

You can’t just lose your rag and expect to win everything you want.

Anger is likely to work best when it’s justified, if you appear powerful and when the other side’s options are limited (Sinaceur & Tiedens, 2006; Van Kleef et al., 2007).

In the right circumstances, then, it’s possible to both get mad and get even.

7. Angry music is calming

Extreme music — like punk, heavy metal, death metal, emo and screamo — can actually have a positive, calming effect on anger (Sharman & Dingle, 2015).

The findings may surprise those who are not regular head-bangers.

Instead of becoming aggressive, listening to really mad, chaotic music actually calmed and inspired most regular listeners to the music.

Ms Leah Sharman, the study’s first author, said:

“We found the music regulated sadness and enhanced positive emotions.

When experiencing anger, extreme music fans liked to listen to music that could match their anger.

The music helped them explore the full gamut of emotion they felt, but also left them feeling more active and inspired.

Results showed levels of hostility, irritability and stress decreased after music was introduced, and the most significant change reported was the level of inspiration they felt.”

When being really mad is constructive

Anger can reduce violence, benefit relationships, promote optimism and be a useful motivating force, but it can just as easily be destructive.

That’s the wonder of human emotions: happy isn’t always good and angry isn’t always bad (although it may feel that way).

An unhappy person is also more likely to spot mistakes and an angry person is highly motivated to act.

We need reminding that even scary and dangerous emotions have their upsides, as long as they are used for the correct purpose.

The likely features of constructive anger are:

• that the person who caused the anger is present,
• that it is justified and proportionate to the wrongdoing,
• and it is expressed as the first step in trying to solve a problem rather than just venting bad feeling.

People seem to unconsciously understand the benefits of anger.

One study found participants who were about to play a game requiring them to be confrontational were more likely to listen to angry music beforehand or think back to things that have made them angry (Tamir et al, 2008).

They then went on to perform better in the task because they felt more angry.

Used right, anger can be a handy tool.

But use with caution as people find anger the most difficult of all the emotions to control.

.

The painkiller is found in 600 different drugs.

Acetaminophen — known as Tylenol in the US and paracetamol elsewhere — makes people take bigger risks, research finds.

Taking the popular painkiller makes people view risky activities as less so.

People report being more likely to speak their mind on an unpopular issue at work, change career in their 30s or even take up skydiving.

Acetaminophen is a painkiller that is used in at least 600 different medicines.

Most people are not aware of the wide range of psychological side-effects the drug has.

Previous studies have shown that acetaminophen reduces both positive and negative emotions, the ability to empathise and changes how the brain processes information.

Dr Baldwin Way, the study’s first author, said:

“Acetaminophen seems to make people feel less negative emotion when they consider risky activities — they just don’t feel as scared.

With nearly 25 percent of the population in the U.S. taking acetaminophen each week, reduced risk perceptions and increased risk-taking could have important effects on society.”

For one of the studies in the research, some participants took a standard 1,000 mg dose of acetaminophen.

Then all the participants started pumping up a balloon, for which they were offered a greater reward for each pump they put in.

Dr Way explained how the experiment worked:

“As you’re pumping the balloon, it is getting bigger and bigger on your computer screen, and you’re earning more money with each pump.

But as it gets bigger you have this decision to make: Should I keep pumping and see if I can make more money, knowing that if it bursts I lose the money I had made with that balloon?”

People who had taken acetaminophen carried on pumping and were more likely to burst the balloon.

Dr Way said:

“If you’re risk-averse, you may pump a few times and then decide to cash out because you don’t want the balloon to burst and lose your money.

But for those who are on acetaminophen, as the balloon gets bigger, we believe they have less anxiety and less negative emotion about how big the balloon is getting and the possibility of it bursting.”

Dr Way thinks the results have some topical implications, since people are told to take acetaminophen for initial COVID symptoms:

“Perhaps someone with mild COVID-19 symptoms may not think it is as risky to leave their house and meet with people if they’re taking acetaminophen.”

The study was published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (Keaveney et al., 2020).

Curiosity can help people make healthier choices and change their behaviour.

Curiosity is a powerful way to motivate people, research finds.

It can even help people make healthier choices.

Across four experiments, researchers found that people’s curiosity encouraged them to take the stairs and eat more healthily.

Dr Evan Polman, the study’s first author, said:

“Our research shows that piquing people’s curiosity can influence their choices by steering them away from tempting desires, like unhealthy foods or taking the elevator, and toward less tempting, but healthier options, such as buying more fresh produce or taking the stairs.”

For example, in one experiment 200 people were given a choice between two cookies.

One of them was plain, but they were told it was a ‘fortune cookie’ that contained some personal information about them.

The other cookie held no such intriguing information, but was covered with chocolate and sprinkles.

Still, 71 percent of people chose the fortune cookie, preferring some personal information to mere chocolate and sprinkles.

(Incidentally, the fortune cookies all contained the same, extremely disappointing line for everyone: “You are not illiterate”.)

Dr Polman said:

“By telling people if they choose the ordinary cookie they’ll learn something about themselves via the fortune inside of it, it piqued their curiosity, and therefore they were more likely to pick the plain cookie over the more tempting chocolate-dipped option.”

In a second experiment, researchers promised to reveal the secret to a magic trick — this also strongly motivated people’s behaviour.

In a third experiment, people were encouraged to use the stairs rather than the lift by the posting of trivia questions at the bottom, with the answers in the stairwell.

Dr Polman said:

“Evidently, people really have a need for closure when something has piqued their curiosity.

They want the information that fills the curiosity gap, and they will go to great lengths to get it.”

The effect — sometimes known as the ‘curiosity gap’ — was surprisingly powerful, and can be put to good use, said Dr Polman:

“Our results suggest that using interventions based on curiosity gaps has the potential to increase participation in desired behaviors for which people often lack motivation.

It also provides new evidence that curiosity-based interventions come at an incredibly small cost and could help steer people toward a variety of positive actions.”

The study was presented at the annual convention of the American Psychological Association, 2016 (Polman et al., 2016).

Most people are quick to see the good in others and slow to condemn.

Most people are quick to forgive others who have behaved badly in the past, research suggests.

The majority tend to give others the benefit of the doubt, offering forgiveness even in the face of bad behaviour.

In other words, most are quick to see the good in others — indeed, want to see it — and are slow to condemn.

It might help explain why some people stay in bad relationships.

Dr Molly Crockett, study co-author, said:

“The brain forms social impressions in a way that can enable forgiveness.

Because people sometimes behave badly by accident, we need to be able to update bad impressions that turn out to be mistaken.

Otherwise, we might end relationships prematurely and miss out on the many benefits of social connection.”

The research included over 1,500 people in a series of experiments.

They observed strangers who had to make a decision in a moral dilemma.

Should they inflict electrical shocks to gain money?

‘Good’ strangers were seen to mostly refuse to shock others, while ‘bad’ strangers were observed often going ahead with it.

The observers were asked about the moral character of the strangers.

The results revealed that people were relatively quick to forgive bad behaviour and avoided condemning people as ‘truly bad’.

However, people were confident that the ‘good’ strangers were ‘truly good’.

Dr Crockett said:

“We think our findings reveal a basic predisposition towards giving others, even strangers, the benefit of the doubt.

The human mind is built for maintaining social relationships, even when partners sometimes behave badly.”

Ms  Jenifer Siegel, the study’s first author, said:

“The ability to accurately form impressions of others’ character is crucial for the development and maintenance of healthy relationships.

We have developed new tools for measuring impression formation, which could help improve our understanding of relational dysfunction.”

The study was published in the journal Nature Human Behaviour (Siegel et al., 2018).