Symposia
Anger
Thomas DiBlasi, Ph.D. (he/him/his)
St. Joseph's University
Merrick, New York
Liron Sinn, B.A. (she/her/hers)
Research Assistant
St. Joseph's University
patchogue, New York
Background: Anger is associated with several adverse outcomes, including verbal and motor aggression, impulsive behavior, seeking revenge, road rage, and increased rates of substance use. As a result, it is important to find effective interventions to manage anger. One limitation to finding such interventions is a lack of effective approaches to evoke anger in a lab setting. This could explain why treatments for dysfunctional anger are not as effective as treatments for anxiety or depression. One potential option for evoking state anger in a lab setting is the autobiographical essay memory task (AEMT). Mills and D’Mello (2004) found that the AEMT was effective in evoking state anger. This study aimed to replicate the findings on AEMT and test self-help Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and progressive muscle relaxation (PMR) as effective interventions for reducing state anger.
Method: A sample of 157 participants were recruited from Amazon’s MTurk. Using a four (intervention) by three (state anger) mixed design, participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions: control group, rumination, self-help REBT, or progressive muscle relaxation PMR. All participants were instructed to write an anger-evoking memory for ten minutes. Following this, participants were then asked to partake in their respective interventions. Using the State Anger Scale from the State-Trait Anger Expression-2, state anger was measured at baseline, after writing about the anger-evoking memory, and post-intervention.
Results: As expected, there was a significant difference across the three time points, p < .001, η2 = .30. Participants indicated higher levels of state anger upon completing the AEMT than baseline, p < .001. Once the AEMT was completed, participants received an intervention. Participants indicated lower levels of state anger post-intervention compared to post-AEMT, p < .001; however, participants post-intervention still reported higher levels of state anger compared to baseline, p < .001. Using the LSD post-hoc test, participants in the rumination condition reported higher levels of state anger post-intervention compared to participants who engaged in PMR (p < .001), self-help REBT (p = .04), and the control condition (p < .001). No significant differences were noted between PMR, self-help REBT, and the control conditions post-intervention.
Conclusion: The AEMT is an effective tool to evoke state anger in a lab setting. Additionally, self-help REBT and PMR are effective tools to decrease state anger.