Understanding Anger
In the last issue of Sherwood, I decided to instead share some insights into understanding stress and its impacts, in hopes that it might help others through this painful time by seeing how stress might be affecting them or others around them.
Similarly, this week, I thought I’d explore some research relating to anger because it seems to be in the air lately.
Understanding Anger
First, there’s a difference between trait anger—someone who is always stewing about something, they’re quick to fly off the handle—and state anger, which is anger in response to something. Usually, some sort of provocation.
And anger does not have to equal blind rage. Nor is anger synonymous with aggression. The vast majority of us are able to control our anger, most of the time.
So what is this state anger? It’s much less studied, compared to other emotions or other psychological conditions.
Therefore, there are a number of theories for anger (e.g., it’s about status seeking, restoring or recalibrating attention). My favorite explanation remains the theory that anger is a response when you perceive that an obstacle has been placed between you and your goal. And, worse yet, the obstacle was put there unjustly.
Anger therefore is an action emotion. It drives you forward to do something, so the target of your anger will remove that obstacle. (Picture your favorite movie tough guy snarling to a lowlife, “You’re going to move that, or I’ll move it for you.”)
Crucially, even though you may not be able to articulate it, at the core, your anger is driven by a belief that your response matters. Someone—or you—will do something because you’re angry, and things will get better. Order will be restored. In this light, at its core, anger is about the desire to solve a problem.
If you believed that the obstacle was unsurmountable—nothing you would do is going to make a difference—that doesn’t lead to anger. That leads to despair.
Quick Shots
Furrowing of one’s brow, clenching of the jaw—these are universally recognized expressions of anger. Babies do these facial expressions of anger by six months. Congenitally blind kids do them, too.
In an analysis of 959 appearances by public company CEOs on the CNBC show Mad Money, only 4 percent of the CEOs demonstrated visible anger during their interviews on the show. Market returns for their companies dropped 1.8 percent following their displays of anger.
In a 2022 study of emergency medical technicians (EMTs), those who slept poorly were 35 percent angrier during the workday than their more well-rested colleagues.
Why I Oughta…!: Anger’s Impact on Decision Making
Angry people may want to solve a problem, so the angry are doing things that feel like they’re addressing the problem. (E.g., social media trolls may revel in dishing out online harassment. That doesn’t mean they’re right, or that their approach is productive for them or their targets.)
On the contrary, anger catalyzes physiological responses and engages areas of the brain that hurt one’s ability to make smart decisions.
In some ways, anger is similar to fear, since both emotions impact our ability to systematically review the alternatives. Both anger and fear lead us to narrow our attention and make us less able to see the Big Picture.
However, fear leads to a more hurried, scattershot response, and, we reduce risk-taking, as we narrow our attention to the biggest visible threat.
By contrast, anger pushes us to perceive things as a stereotypical scenario.
When we’re angry, we aren’t necessarily faster to make a decision, but we are less strategic when doing so. We skip steps in the decision making process. We narrow our attention to information that confirms our heuristic assessment. Now angry and confident that we’re in the right, we’re willing to take that risk in response. (I mean, c’mon, now. We already know how all this is going to play out, don’t we?)
Anger and Leadership
The connection between anger and leadership is complicated, and the findings relating to it are inconsistent. I don’t think there’s enough certainty to say if anger hurts or helps a leader lead. But there’s enough to give leaders food for thought.
First, there’s the above research, which suggests that angry leaders may not be making as sophisticated, strategic decisions as they would be, otherwise.
In some cases, leaders who get angry are considered more competent as they take control of a situation. But other scholarship suggests that leaders are less respected after a demonstration of anger. (A number of studies have found that female leaders look bad when they get angry, while, for men, it may be that they usually look bad but not always.)
My hunch is that the research will eventually show that anger’s impact on leaders and followers depends on experience, contexts, cultural norms, and more we don’t know yet. (For example, one team of scholars has suggested that anger within a team dynamic has more impact because the baseline expectations of a team are there will be cooperation and congeniality. So inter-team anger is surprising and a gut punch.)
Some leaders believe that getting angry is an effective way to improve their status and change subordinates’ behavior. While there’s evidence this is true, these leaders fail to recognize the cost that often comes with that compliance. Subordinates may reduce their trust and engagement in the leaders, and they may direct their own anger toward others in the organization.
Typically, subordinates don’t express anger at superiors because they fear the cost. If they are willing to demonstrate anger, they’re trying to tell the leaders there’s an issue that needs fixing. And it’s a sign that they trust their leader to fix it rather than punish them for speaking out.
In Your Sight
There’s a lot of overlap in the brain regions involved in being angry and wanting to punish someone.
In a study of negotiations, being angry at someone’s offer got you more money. Being angry at the offeror did not.
And in other studies, while anger did get someone more during a first negotiation, the other side was less willing to participate with them in future negotiations.
Research suggests that anger leads to positive outcomes about 40-60 percent of the time.
Of course, that also means it has negative outcomes about half the time….
Be a problem-solver.
