Anger, Antipathy, and Aggression

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Chapter 13

• Anger, Antipathy, and Aggression

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Introduction The Nature of Anger

• Anger is one of our primary emotions and a
  natural aspect of social interaction.
• Anger may be defined as a feeling or an emotion
  that is a learned means of avoiding the anxiety
  that arises in response to an interpersonal
  threat.
• In contemporary society, the open display of
  anger is not typically encouraged.

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Your Viewpoint

• Do you think that anger needs to be expressed?

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The Nature of Anger, continued

• Unexpressed anger does not disappear rather, it
  gets redirected or displaced as
• Resentment
• Antipathy
• Hostility
• Sarcasm
• Aggression
• Passive Aggression

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A Case for Getting Hot Under the Collar

• Anger provides feedback to others and us as to
  how things are going.
• Anger can be an effective form of communication.
• Anger serves as a warning sign that something
  needs to be attended to.
• Anger supplies the energy and motivation to
  change a bad situation.
• When we ignore our anger, we are not allowing
  ourselves to be directed towards a more
  beneficial situation.
• Anger expression avoids the buildup of
  unexpressed emotions.

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Guidelines for Controlling Anger Expression

• The constructive use of anger requires a certain
  degree of self-control.
• Take a time out
• Focus on the positive
• Try to relax
• One way to accomplish this is to become familiar
  with ones own anger signals and those of our
  significant others.
• Anger is best expressed in a direct manner, with
  a specific issue addressed, and a means provided
  to remedy the situation.

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Guidelines for Controlling Anger Expression,
continued

• The purpose of an argument should be to gain
  better understanding
• Rules for a good fight
• Keep your comments clean.
• Avoid blaming and shaming the other person.
• Handicap any heavyweights.

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Guidelines for Controlling Anger Expression,
continued

• Rules for a good fight
• Think before you act
• Engage in active listening
• Humanistic view of anger expression
• Healthy people can trust their anger, and need
  not fear it. Healthy people generally will only
  act upon their aggressive feelings when it is
  necessary.

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Existential Concerns and Aggression

• Two existential concerns relate to aggressive
  acts
• The need for excitation and stimulation
• The denial of death
• Erich Fromm considered the need for stimulation
  to be a basic characteristic of healthy human
  functioning
• Simple stimulus
• Activating stimulus
• Destructive behavior
• Destructive behavior is one of the ways human
  beings satisfy their need for excitement.
• Having projects and interests that satisfy our
  need for meaning in life removes the temptation
  to have an impact through destructive routes.

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Existential Concerns and Aggression, continued

• Ernest Becker maintained that aggression is a
  form of death denial
• Killing another may give the perpetrator a
  feeling of invulnerability and mastery or power
  over death
• People are less prone to such violent acts when
  they feel valued and significant

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Your Turn!

• Which of the following is NOT one of the rules
  for a good fight discussed in the text?
• A. Use I messages and avoid criticism.
• B. Avoid blaming and shaming the other person.
• C. Handicap the heavyweights.
• D. Say whatever comes to mind, as long as you do
  so in a sincere manner.
• E. Engage in active listening.

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Your Turn!

• Which of the following reflects Fromms position
  on how the need for excitation and stimulation is
  satisfied?
• A. Those of us who live in a modern culture
  have been able to satisfy this need through
  technology.
• B. Our society provides many simple stimuli that
  foster passivity and boredom.
• C. Its up to each individual to make his or her
  excitement.
• D. Citizens of modern culture are becoming more
  and more invested in their work.
• E. None of the above

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A Case for Keeping a Cool Head The Road Not Taken

• There are risks involved in expressing anger.
• Others are likely to respond negatively.
• The angry individual may have difficulty thinking
  clearly.
• Pay attention to our own warning signals
• take time to become familiar with feelings to
  avoid reaching the breaking point.

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Theories of Anger Expression

• Behavioral
• People learn to be aggressive, because that kind
  of behavior is rewarded.
• Behaviorists contend that aggressive behavior is
  a learned reaction to anger, not an instinctive
  one.
• Anger as a strategy for winning (helplessness,
  suffering, anger)

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Theories of Anger Expression

• Psychoanalytic
• Adler viewed a persons level of anxiety,
  cheerfulness, sadness or anger as relating to
  their lifestyle.
• Freud proposed that human aggression comes from
  our inborn aggressive drives
• Catharsis (venting anger)

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Theories of Anger Expression

• Cognitive Behavioral
• The meaning we attach to events is what
  precipitates our emotional reactions.
• Direct offenses
• Indirect offenses
• Hypothetical offenses

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Assertiveness

• Aggression vs. Assertiveness
• When we are aggressive, we lash out verbally or
  physically in an attempt to belittle or overpower
  others, or to put them down.
• Assertion refers to the expression of ones
  rights without interfering with the rights of
  others.
• Assertiveness involves asking for what we want
• The assertive person is willing to risk that his
  or her request will be rejected, and is able to
  recognize that rejection of a request is not
  necessarily a personal rejection.

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Assertive Rights

• You have the right to
• judge your own behaviors, thoughts, emotions
• to choose not to offer reasons or excuses to
  justify your behavior
• to judge whether you are responsible for finding
  solutions to others problems
• to change your mind
• to make mistakes

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Assertive Rights, continued

• You have the right to
• to say I dont know
• to be independent of the goodwill of others
• to be illogical in making decisions
• to say I dont understand
• to say I dont care

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Reducing Aggression

• One method of curbing violence is by reducing
  factors that evoke aggression.
• Positive/negative reinforcement
• Modeling nonaggression and pro-social attitudes

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Reducing Aggression, continued

• Empathy
• The human capacity to experience empathy, to
  perceive the perspective and feelings of another,
  may be one mechanism that helps restrain an
  aggressor from continuing an attack
• Relaxation
• People in a hurry are not likely to be helpful,
  whereas people who are relaxed and in a good mood
  are likely to offer help.

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Your Turn!

• What does it mean to be assertive?
• A. It is the expression of ones rights without
  interfering with the rights of others.
• B. It is a strategy for getting ones way by
  persuading others to go along with ones wishes.
• C. It is a feeling that is a learned means of
  neutralizing the anxiety that arises in response
  to an interpersonal threat.
• D. It is another name for being passive
  aggressive.
• E. It means being aggressive, but in a positive
  way, without hurting someone.

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Chapter 13 Review

• 1. How is anger defined according to the text?
• 2. What are the consequences of unexpressed
  anger?
• 3. How can anger expression be beneficial?
• 4. What are some guidelines for controlling anger
  expression?

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Chapter 13 Review

• 5. Which two existential concerns related to
  aggressive acts did we consider?
• 6. What is assertion? How does it differ from
  submission and aggression?
• 7. What are some ways to reduce aggression?