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Anger has an important influence upon mental life and behavior long
after the emotion itself has disappeared. The functional effect of anger
may be disclosed in a period after the emotion proper has disappeared.
Other emotions may immediately follow anger, such as pity, regret,
sorrow, joy, shame, remorse, love and fear. Feelings and tendencies are
left over which the subject is fully aware are directly related to the
previous emotion. For purposes of study, the period after the emotion
will be divided into two parts; first, that immediately after the
emotion has disappeared, and second, the more or less remote period of
indefinite time. The reaction while the emotion is present, and the way
in which the emotion disappears, are conditions which determine to a
large extent what will consciously appear after the emotion has passed
away. With the aim of finding out what mental factors follow in the wake
of anger, the subjects were instructed to keep account of any sort of
consciousness of which they were aware as referring either directly or
indirectly to the previous emotion observed.
Pity is frequently associated with anger. Mild anger may merge into pity
at the point where attention changes from the situation exciting anger
to the effects of angry behavior on the offender. Pity often follows the
imaginal humiliation of the person committing the offense. It follows
more readily when the emotion is against children, servants, dependents
or persons with whom there is close intimacy. A kind of self-pity is
sometimes associated with anger. With one subject, a mildly pleasant
self-pity would frequently follow anger at an injury. At times there is
found a curious mixture of anger and self-pity. H. observes, “At times I
would be angry, then at other times I would find myself taking a
peculiar pleasure in rehearsing my injuries and feeling rather pitiful
for one who had been mistreated like myself.” An observation from C.
will illustrate the suddenness of the transition from mild anger to
pity. Angry at a clerk for a slight offense, he observes, “As I turned
away I said to myself, ‘I wish that fellow would lose his place,’ but at
once I felt a little pity for him and said, ‘No, that would be too bad,
he has a hard time putting up with all these people.’” Subject A., angry
at a child observes, “I found myself tending to punish him, I saw his
face, it looked innocent and trusting, that restrained me, I now
thought, ‘Poor little fellow, he does not know any better,’ and I felt a
pity for him to think that such a person as myself had the correcting of
him.”
Shame may follow in the wake of anger. It arises rather suddenly in the
disappearing stage of the emotion when attention is directed to the
results of the angry behavior just finished. Both shame and pity,
following anger, are usually a condition of immunity against the
reappearance of the same emotion. After shame appears, a reaction
usually follows in the effort to compensate in some fashion. Subject C.
observes, “Becoming aware of my act and how it appeared, I now felt
ashamed and humiliated at what I had said. In a few minutes I brought it
about to offer him a favor and felt pleased when it was accepted. I had
really been trying to convince him that I was not angry, and now felt
that I was doing it.” Subject C. observes, “I noted that they saw I was
angry and at once I felt ashamed. I now began to laugh the matter off as
if trying to show I was not.” At times during mild anger when the
emotion is displayed too impulsively and the bounds of caution have been
overstepped, exposing one’s self to a too easy attack from an opponent,
an uncomfortable feeling of chagrin appears. The anger may be displayed
in too crude a fashion, consequently an advantage is given to the
opponent which was not intended. Anxiety that the opponent may take the
hostile thrust too seriously or fear of the consequence, may suddenly
displace anger. Instead of an offending person, the same person now
suddenly becomes one exciting anxiety or fear.
A fourth affective condition of the immediate after-period of anger is
an active pleasantness. Anger disappears and joy takes its place. The
condition, originally exciting anger, is no longer able to reproduce
the emotion as the subject has become the victor and the offense
is recompensed. The goal of anger from its impulsive and feeling
side is to be found in the pleasurable victorious affection in the
after-period of the emotion. Any anger possesses possibilities of
pleasantness in its after-stage. If an objective victory cannot be
had, a subjective one plays the part of a surrogate. The processes
of imagination, make-believe and disguise, as previously discussed,
become devices directly referring to the aim of pleasurable feelings in
the after-period of anger. The motivation is to avoid the unpleasant
emotions and feelings in the wake of anger and acquire the feeling
of victory. The tendency to humor and jocular behavior after anger
is sometimes observed. The subject tends to recall his feelings of
success and relive them, self-confidence and positive self-feelings are
increased.
The feeling of friendliness toward the offender may follow anger which
has been successfully expressed. Spinoza was right when he said, “An act
of offense may indirectly give origin to love.” It is frequently
observed in the after-period of anger, “I felt more friendly toward him
after my emotion had disappeared.” In fact an unusual friendliness with
a desire to bestow favors was often observed. We like a man better after
we have been angry at him in a successful manner. The emotional attitude
is entirely changed toward an opponent who has been overcome, if he
allows the victory. It is the unreasoning person who never becomes aware
of his defeat, against whom hate follows anger.
Feelings of unpleasant irritation usually follow anger when social or
other conditions prevent adequate expression. These feelings seem to be
the medium by which the situation exciting anger is repeatedly recalled.
The emotion which appears from the imagined situation usually does not
leave such intense unpleasant feelings, as the subject tends to attain
in his deliberate moments, to some degree, an inner victory over his
opponent, or to find an adequate excuse for his behavior. Either of
these reactions may be successful enough to exclude irritable feelings
in the after-period. Irritation after controlled anger is the medium for
the so-called transfer of the emotion from an offending to an
unoffending object, which is so often observed. In the after-period of
irritation, it is a rather common observation of the subjects, “I was
looking for something or somebody at whom I could get angry.” “I felt I
wanted to hurt somebody.” In fact irritation in the after-period becomes
an essentially affective element in a situation from which may arise a
new anger of a different type. The first anger may have arisen from a
fore-period of humiliation, while the latter is from that of irritation.
There is evidence that the affective state in the after-period of anger
has a compensating relation to the emotion that has just passed, not
unlike the compensation role played between the anger proper and the
feeling fore-stage from which it arises. The reactive stage of anger
tends to over-compensate for the unpleasant feelings of irritation and
humiliation in the fore-period of anger by either increasing the
pleasantness or diminishing unpleasantness. If the reaction is
incomplete and has not adequately met the emotional crisis of the
moment, irritation may follow with a tendency to continue further the
emotion, or if the reaction has gone too far, it is paid for by the
appearance in the after-stage of other emotions of social origin, such
as fear, shame, pity, etc. The feeling of relief occurs after the
expression has nearly restored consciousness to about the same affective
level as before the beginning of the emotion; but with active pleasure,
a higher affective level has been attained and the subject feels he was
glad to have been angry. There is a heightened effect in the affective
state following anger; a sort of over-compensation, which is a little
out of proportion to the behavior apart from the anger itself. If the
after-period is one of pleasantness, the feeling is increased far more
because of what the subject has done during the emotion, for it is
evident if the same mental processes and behavior occur without anger,
the pleasantness is less. Joy is a good example of the intensification
of the emotion in the after-period of anger which is out of proportion
to the idea stimulating it. The relation between the fore-period, the
anger proper, and the after-period is so intimate in anger that the
writer has had it repeatedly impressed upon him in making the present
study, that to solve some of the important problems of our emotional
life, this relation must be taken into account. The entire gamut of the
emotional consciousness for each emotion must be studied from the
initial feeling stage to the termination of the conscious content after
the emotion has disappeared. The emotions do not appear as separate
effective entities, but have an intimate relation which is important in
the study of their psychology.
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
difficulties of which he was not aware when the emotion was intense. An
instance from A. will illustrate. He had been intensely angry at X. and
had planned to tell him his opinion of his conduct. By the time he had
opportunity to speak, the emotion had subsided. He observes, “I had at
this point a severe struggle with myself. I wanted to tell him what I
had planned; I felt I was inconsistent if I did not. On the other hand I
was slightly apprehensive, not of X., but of making myself ludicrous. I
recognized what I had not before, that I was not fully justified, and
partially excused him for what he had done. But the tendency to do what
I had planned still persisted, and I felt I would give anything if I
could do it.” He reports further that although the emotion was now fear,
at this point “the tendency to execute the plan, formed during the
anger, persisted for about fifteen minutes of intense struggle with
myself before it disappeared.” Tendencies in the after-period of the
emotion, which refer to conclusions or resolutions reached during its
active stage, at times, when they appear are passed over lightly and
even with amusement.
The effects of anger may extend far beyond the period immediately after
the emotion has disappeared. The more remote after-period, after the
immediate effects have passed off or been modified, have important
results in our mental life. The momentum, acquired during anger by
determined emotional outburst, may be a reenforcement to volitional
action and may allow old habits to be more quickly broken down and new
ones formed. If an error has been repeatedly made with increased
irritation, till the subject has been thoroughly aroused to anger at
himself, the tendency to repeat the error is usually successfully
forestalled by an attitude of caution and determination following the
emotion. The possible failure may be prevented by mild anger at the
imagined humiliating result, which increases volitional action to a
point insuring success, and a new momentum is acquired which may have
far reaching influences. Slight habitual mistakes, like errors in
typewriting or speaking, repeated forgetting of details, and social
blunders, are reported as cured by anger.
Mild prolonged anger which has not had a fully satisfactory expression
may leave in its wake a fighting attitude which if transferred into work
enables the subject to acquire new levels of activity. A record from C.
will illustrate. He observes, “I would not allow myself to be dejected,
but have planned to fight and dig into it like everything. These
emotions are the greatest stimuli I have. I get angry, then I want to
get down to work for all I am worth.” On the other hand, anger which has
been successfully expressed may be followed by a feeling of satisfaction
in the result and an attitude of success, which gives momentum for
increased volitional action in the future.
There is usually a residuum from intense anger which may appear long
after the anger has consciously disappeared. The recall of the situation
which had previously excited anger may have little or no feeling; merely
indifference is present. Sometimes feelings of resentment and dislike
are observed, while at other times, there is amusement. It frequently
happens that while the situation which has previously excited the
emotion may be accompanied by indifference upon its being recalled
either voluntarily or involuntarily, there follows an emotion of dislike
and hate. The incident itself may be almost forgotten, or not recalled
at all, but the result of anger is to be observed in tendencies and
emotional dispositions left in the wake of the emotion. An over-critical
attitude, with something of a gossipy tendency and hostile suspicion in
which the bounds of justice are partly ignored, may long continue to
reappear after the emotion itself has passed away and the situation has
been forgotten. It is rather probable that a single strong outburst of
anger does not leave the hostile emotional disposition in its wake. It
is usually the mild anger, preceded by much feeling of humiliation and
anger which tends to recur again and again till it has settled to a
hostile disposition toward the offender. It is reported in some
instances to refer to the offender’s way of talking, laughing, manner of
walking, his mode of dressing; in fact any chance idea of the offender’s
behavior may be sufficient to allow a feeling of dislike and disgust to
appear.
It may be said that anger which disappears in an unsatisfactory manner
leaves an emotional disposition which possesses potentialities of both
pleasant and unpleasant feelings. Some persons seem to derive much
satisfaction in picking the sores of their unhealed resentments; little
acts of revenge and retaliation are suddenly hit upon; even hate may
have its pleasures. Small acts of revenge and retaliation are observed
with an affective state which cannot be called anger, but the subject is
aware that it refers to the anger which is passed. One subject became
severely angry at his grocer and went to trade with another merchant
near by. He states that on several occasions just after the anger, when
buying at another place he felt pleased at the other man’s having lost
his trade. Once he observes, “I believe I bought several things I did
not need, I felt I was retaliating and enjoyed it.” The emotional
disposition following anger may be a source of rather intense enjoyment.
Laughter and mirth are observed with the appearance of an idea that has
humiliated the offender. In such cases the laughter is purely
spontaneous with no recall of anger. Subject J. broke out laughing when
told that X. was on unfavorable terms with Y. His laughter, he observes,
referred to a resentment a few days before against X. In fact laughter
frequently springs rather suddenly from the mental disposition which has
followed from anger. Such cases afford another instance of the close
intimacy of our emotions with each other. The residuum of potential
feelings from an emotion of anger appears in the form of less active
pleasantness.
There is a relation between the immediate after-period of anger and the
more remote one that is important. If anger is immediately followed by
such emotions as pity, shame, regret or fear, any positive tendency left
over in the remote after-period from the emotion itself is apparently
lacking. There is, however, a negative effect. The subject is immune to
re-experience the same emotion from the same emotional situation again,
but anger which has disappeared with unpleasant feelings may tend to
recur in a rather prolonged after-period and may finally settle into an
emotional disposition and mental attitude which play an important role
in behavior and later feelings. It seems to be true, that when anger
disappears consciously in such a manner that the subject is aware that
his wishes have not been satisfied and the disappearance is followed by
unpleasant feelings, the immediate after-period is rather barren as
compared with the out-cropping which appears in a more remote period
after the emotion. In anger, when sudden control is required, the
subject is forced to attend to something else or react contrary to the
emotional tendency to save himself a later humiliation. The immediate
after-period is usually one of unpleasantness and tension. Under such
circumstances, the tendency to recur again and again is characteristic
and if, in some later recurrence or expression through the imaginative
process, it does not end satisfactorily, it may settle down to an
emotional disposition and mental attitude.
Anger that arises from a fore-period of irritation in which the subject
suddenly bursts out with emotion may have an immediate after-period
of irritation, but it leaves little in the remote after-period; the
subject is aware that the emotion is finished. Anger which ends with
active pleasantness of victory leaves an attitude of confidence and
success toward the situation which has excited the emotion. There
is little tendency for the emotion, disappearing in this fashion,
to reappear except in its pleasant stage. With a consciousness of
complete victory in the immediate after-period, there is established
an attitude of positive self-feeling and confidence toward the
situation exciting the emotion so that a practical immunity against the
reappearance of anger in its unpleasant stage is reached as a negative
result of the emotion. There are wide individual differences in the
ability of the subjects studied to allow anger to disappear, leaving
a pleasant after-period. C. reports but few instances in which his
anger disappeared with a fully satisfactory result. He consequently
has a wealth of emotional dispositions and mental attitudes following
anger. On the other hand F. and E., whose anger emotions are less
intense, are early able either to attain an inner victory or to react
contrary to the emotion and leave an after-period of immunity against
its reappearance from the same mental situation. Hence the tendencies
and dispositions left over in the after-period of their anger are less.
E.’s dislikes are short lived. It is probable that some subjects have
acquired the habit of shortening their emotions of anger, short-cutting
the unpleasant period of restraint and early acquiring the after-period
of relief, humor or it may be indifference, before the emotion has
developed far.
_Classifications._ Anger might be classified according to a number of
schemes that would serve the purpose of emphasizing its characteristics.
From the standpoint of feeling, anger might be classed as pleasant or
unpleasant. Some emotions of anger are observed to be almost entirely
pleasant from their early beginning including their final ending. Other
cases have fluctuating pleasant and unpleasant stages. There are few
instances of anger that have no flash of pleasantness anywhere, in some
degree before the emotion is finally completed. The unsatisfactorily
expressed emotion is almost entirely unpleasant. Even anger of this kind
usually shows some flash of pleasantness or relief at the moment of the
angry outburst.
Secondly, anger might be classified as exciting or calm. The exciting
anger has greater tension during the period of the emotion proper. There
is usually less co-ordination and greater intensity of feeling which may
be either pleasant or unpleasant. The motor reactions are more prominent
than the mental reactions. On the other hand, calm anger usually has a
longer observable fore and after-period of the emotion. Mental processes
are intensified, the motor expression is correspondingly less.
Anger may be classified according to its function. The emotion may be
merely an end in itself. It relieves the tension of unpleasant feelings.
It is purgative in its effect in removing an unpleasant mental
situation. The underlying purpose of such anger is not to increase
volitional action, in fact, it may disturb co-ordination to any
purposive end. This type serves primarily to remove the tension of
unpleasant accumulations of feelings in some act of expression. If
successful in its purpose, it may have an indirect hygienic effect on
mental action. Further, anger may be of a kind which intensifies
volitional action, accomplishes work, and serves the end of survival. A
residuum in mental attitude and emotional disposition follows, which has
possibilities either of morbidity or a source of energy which is
sublimated into work.
Anger may be classified genetically on the basis of sentiments which are
violated in its origin. Anger which springs from a thwarting of desires
is primary in its origin. This is the usual type of anger of young
children and animals. Anger which has its source in the self-feelings,
such as the sentiments of honor and self respect and in social feelings,
of injustice, of fairness, are genetically later in their development.
_Types._ Three rather definite types appear. First is anger which rises
from a fore-period of irritable feelings. It develops by a cumulative
process of irascible feelings, through a series of stimuli till the
point of anger is suddenly reached. An idea is present at the point of
anger which serves as a vehicle of expression. It may be an idea not
directly associated with the situation exciting the emotion. In fact an
apparently irrelevant idea may break the crust of unpleasant feeling
tension and serve as an objective reference for the emotion. Anger of
this type is scattered. It is not necessary that the emotion be referred
to the actual thwarting idea, it frequently refers to inanimate objects
and often arises from the irritation accompanying pain. The active
period of this type of emotion is mostly voco-motor tension and reaction
of larger muscles. The immediate after-period may be a feeling of
relief, irascible irritation, or other emotions such as pity, shame,
regret and fear. Its increased volitional action may establish a mental
attitude of caution and determination against a future thwarting when it
is finished. A new emotion may arise however from the same background of
irritation. The after effects of an emotion of this type are shallow and
easily forgotten. It does not leave hate or dislike in its wake, there
is nothing left over for revengeful behavior.
A second type of anger is predetermined by another sort of mental
disposition. Self-feelings are its source. An idea excites negative
self-feeling and anger follows as a reaction with the purpose of
restoring positive feelings of self. It usually has a greater proportion
of pleasantness than the type described above. Its end is to attain
pleasantness in some form of positive self-feeling, and when that is
successfully reached the emotion disappears. Any idea from a subjective
or objective source which intensifies positive feelings of self, tends
to diminish emotion of this type. The thwarting of a desire, due to the
damage and inconvenience done, is insignificant as compared with the
thrust that one’s pride and self-respect have received. In the type
above, there is thwarting of desire; while in this type, there is
humiliation. In fact in the latter type, serious inconvenience may be
suffered in the effort to heal a wounded self respect. Anger of this
type is not so indefinite in its objective reference. It has direct
reference to an offender before the point of anger has been reached, and
another person or object cannot be substituted with any degree of
satisfaction. Anger of this type leaves an important residuum after the
emotion has disappeared in the form of other affective processes, in
tendencies, mental attitudes and dispositions, some of which have
possibilities of morbidity, others mere pleasantness or sublimation into
work.
A third type of anger is that which springs from social sentiments
involving justice and fairness. It has little unpleasant fore-period and
arises suddenly without the initial cumulative feeling development which
is usual with the other types described. The point of anger is more
readily reached; the emotion is nearer the surface as if it were ready
for a sudden rise. The origin of anger of this type is not unlike anger
which springs rather suddenly from an emotional disposition left over
from the second type described above. The expression of the emotion in
this type is less restrained, it is usually reported as pleasant
throughout. While anger of this type is sensitive to justice and
fairness, the two types above may grossly disregard these sentiments. In
its wake is often observed the tendency to reappear. The after-period
has not the possibilities of so intense pleasure as the second type
above, nor of morbidity, nor of a disposition capable of being
sublimated into work.
The three types above may occur in a rather pure form but frequently
they are mixed. When desire has been thwarted or pride has been wounded,
a sense of miscarried justice or fairness with reference to self,
intensifies the emotion. In addition to lowered self-feeling, the social
sentiment of justice and fairness may re-enforce the irascible feelings
or negative feelings of self. At times make-believe of offended fairness
is assumed to justify the angry behavior, and consequently increases the
intensity and allows pleasurable expression when the subject is vaguely
aware that the real cause is his own selfish pride which has been
wounded.
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