Anger Matters OLLI Spring 2008 University of Pittsburgh Sam Cho, Ph D.
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Transcript of 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.
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.
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.
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
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.