Psychology and Pedagogy of AngerRichardson, Roy Franklin
Science
Psychology and Pedagogy of Anger
Richardson, Roy Franklin
Anger
Mild anger may leave the subject in a state of curiosity. A feeling of
doubt as to the motivation of the offender may appear, and curiosity
follows with an awareness of a tendency for anger to reappear if the
occasion should arise. After the emotion has passed, the subject is
aware of tendencies or attitudes, referring directly to the mental
behavior, which were present during the emotion. An attitude of
indifference toward the offender and offending situation follows what
has been called the indifferent type of reaction. The emotion of anger
may leave the subject in a state of confidence toward himself, positive
self-feelings have been reached as a result of the entire experience. On
the other hand, slightly reduced self-feelings may follow if the
reaction to anger has been unsuccessful. It may leave the subject in
either a heightened or a lowered opinion of the offender. A previously
friendly interest in the person committing the offense may be increased
or otherwise. A feeling of amusement at one’s behavior when recalling it
after the emotion has disappeared, is often reported. The subject stands
off, as it were, and views his own response to anger as if he were a
spectator rather than a partaker of his emotion. What the subject did
when angry seems so incongruous with his mental state after the emotion
has disappeared, that it strikes him as ludicrous. Laughter and
amusement frequently appear in the recall of the emotional situation.
An attitude of caution often follows. After a period of stressed
inhibition, in which the evil consequences of a too impulsive behavior
have been pre-perceived, there is assumed an attitude of control and at
the same time a readiness to respond to a suitable stimulus. Anger may
leave in its place an attitude of greater determination to make one’s
point, or if the emotion has been entirely satisfactory, the subject
takes the attitude that the score has been settled. An attitude of
belief or conviction as to a future course of action toward a like
offense may follow in the period after anger, which is a direct result
of the conclusion reached when the emotion was present. Mild anger may
have changed the feeling tone but little, but leaves the subject primed
and ready to respond more quickly to another offense. The result of
anger may be purely a practical attitude as to what should be done in
such cases with little marked feeling accompanying it. The subject is
left not in a fighting attitude, but in one of preparedness to prevent
the offense recurring. It is usually necessary in the after-period to
reconstruct or modify the revengeful plans or conclusions which were
formed when the emotion was intense. What seemed so justifiable during
the emotion proper, after it has disappeared becomes strikingly
inopportune. If the emotion has disappeared unsuccessfully and resentful
feelings still linger, the subject wishes to execute the plans
previously formed; but in the act of doing it, he usually finds
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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