Psychology and Pedagogy of AngerRichardson, Roy Franklin
Science
Psychology and Pedagogy of Anger
Richardson, Roy Franklin
Anger
Anger disappears suddenly and pleasantly if the subject can gain the
subjective end of the emotion. Subject J. observes in the case of an
anger arising from a feeling of irritation, “At this moment (the moment
of successful expression) I felt pleased, my anger now disappeared
leaving a pleasant after-effect.” A case from A. will illustrate
further. A. got on the wrong street car. The conductor refused to allow
him to get off at his corner of the street. He observes he was angry,
not because he was hindered from getting off, but because of the
insulting attitude and remark of the conductor, who said in a hostile
manner, “Why did you not pay attention to what I said, this car does not
stop, you will have to go on.” A. then became angry and demanded in
rather severe language to have the car stopped. At this point the
conductor changed his attitude and stopped with no further words. A.
observes, “As I stepped off I had a distinct feeling of pleasantness. I
felt I had been victorious. I was no longer angry. Sensations were still
present in chest, arm and leg muscles but these were now pleasant. Upon
recalling the incident, I had not the least resentment against the
conductor. On the whole, I now felt glad the incident had occurred.”
Pleasantness may appear on the observation of the offender’s failure or
humiliation. C. becoming angry at X., who was manipulating some
laboratory apparatus, observes, “I let him proceed rather hoping he
would spoil his results. When I noted he was failing and observed his
discomposure, I felt pleased. That satisfied my anger against him at
once.”
The imaginal humiliation and trouble coming to the offender, also
increases the feeling of pleasantness and diminishes for the moment the
anger. The imaginative verbal or physical attacks usually allow a
subject to come out victor. What D. observes is typical. “I imagined he
was stunned by my attack, and the result pleased me; that satisfied my
anger.”
If the offender acts friendly and accommodating, that affords a relief
to the offended person and is a condition for the rapid disappearance of
anger. F. observes, “He behaved so friendly that I thanked him and felt
relieved. My anger was now almost gone.” C. became angry at X. for what
he had interpreted as a hostile attitude. Five minutes later X. sat down
by him. C. observes, “He acted sociable and I felt relieved, my anger
was entirely gone, in fact I now felt quite friendly toward him.” It is
also commonly reported that when the offender becomes submissive, it
affords a relief to the subject and usually kills the emotion. C.
observes, “After he had submitted, my anger had disappeared and I now
felt a little repentant at what I had done.” The same subject sometimes
observes that he imagines the absent offender at whom he is angry,
smiling and acting friendly in the usual way, and the imagined friendly
attitude is a relief to the emotion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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