Reappraisal May Be Key to Anger Management

Anger management, often a focus of clinical attention, is easier when people reappraise anger-evoking events, rather than ruminate.

Anger evoked by accidents, incompetence, or malice of others is common in everyday life. Different ways of thinking about anger-evoking events can change their emotional, physiological, and social outcomes. Rumination keeps negative events in mind, maintains negative emotions, and has been associated with depression. Reappraisal also keeps negative events in mind but changes their interpretation. Few studies have compared the effects of rumination and reappraisal. The current report concerns two studies of these approaches to anger, one evaluating psychological effects and the other combined physiological and psychological effects.

A total of 199 female college students were asked to recall a recent anger-evoking event and were randomly assi…

Reviewing Author

M. Katherine Shear, MD