The Power of Anger: How Getting Mad Can Make You More Successful
Psych 🧠 - 369/500
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What is it?
This research paper investigates the function of anger in achieving goals, specifically in situations involving challenges.
It challenges the common perception of anger as a purely negative emotion and explores the idea that anger can be a valuable tool for overcoming obstacles and achieving desired outcomes.
Major Findings:
Anger improves goal attainment in challenging situations: Across seven studies involving different tasks and contexts, participants induced to feel anger showed greater goal attainment compared to neutral controls. This was observed in puzzle solving, a video game, political participation (voting), and financial decision-making.
Anger increases persistence and effort: Angry participants spent more time on challenging puzzles, were more likely to cheat to win prizes, had faster reaction times on a competitive task, and were more likely to vote in contentious elections and sign a petition to prevent a tuition increase.
The effect is specific to challenging situations: Anger did not improve performance on easy tasks or in situations without significant obstacles, suggesting that its function is tied to overcoming challenges.
The effect is not solely due to arousal: While anger does involve physiological arousal, the study controlled for this by comparing anger to other emotional states (amusement, sadness, desire) and a physiological arousal condition (exercise).
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What do I need to know:
Anger can be a valuable tool for achieving goals: It can motivate us to persist in the face of challenges, exert greater effort, and overcome obstacles.
The function of anger is context-dependent: It is most beneficial in challenging situations where persistence and action are needed to achieve desired outcomes.
Rethinking the role of negative emotions: This research challenges the view that all negative emotions are harmful, suggesting that even anger can serve an adaptive function in certain situations.
Source:
https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/psp-pspa0000350.pdf
Very interesting. Not only is this connection between anger and goals often present in some pop culture references or in general in everyday life situations, but also because, as you specified, it raises some reflections on the role of this particular emotion. Thanks for sharing!