Although uncontrolled anger can be dangerous and costly, correctly channeled anger can have a more positive effect on your life than a gray-haired childhood mentor who supplies you with unconditional love and lessons. Here are six reasons why.
Although uncontrolled anger can be dangerous and costly, correctly channeled anger can have a more positive effect on your life than a gray-haired childhood mentor who supplies you with unconditional love and lessons. Here are six reasons why.
It’s a motivator
Without anger, we might still have segregation. And unlegalized weed. That’s because anger is a motivating force for positive change. When you’re angry, you feel like doing something about what’s stressing you out. In fact, one Psychological Science study called “The Art of Anger” found that anger might motivate the desire to achieve; when we see something as beneficial, we want it more when we’re angry. So when used right, constructive anger can make you feel strong enough to achieve.
It gets you what you want
A recent study by Aaron Sell et al. in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science attempted to determine the evolutionary advantage of anger and who would benefit from it most. Turns out, anger is engineered by natural selection so a person can use bargaining tactics to resolve conflicts in favor of themselves, and therefore propagate their own survival. We do so to incentivize the target of the anger to place greater weight on the needs of the angry individual, so that they get what they want.
Provides self-insight
A Russian study on self-reported anger episodes in the Journal of Social Behavior & Personality found that 55 percent of the time, people felt that getting angry led to a positive outcome. One third of the study participants also found that their anger episodes provided insight into their own faults, motivating them to make constructive self-changes. That makes sense; if we can notice what makes us angry, when we’re prone to anger and why, we can learn how to be better humans.
Acknowledges there’s a problem
Too often, people internalize and repress rage, insisting that there’s nothing wrong while they seethe with the passive-aggressive fire of a really pissy sun inside. This in itself can be damaging; a wealth of studies have found that suppressing anger can worsen the experience of pain, put stress on people’s cardiovascular systems and lead to depression and anxiety. But like our A.A. counselor always told us over a beer and a triple shot of whiskey, admitting you have a problem is the first step to recovery.
Reduces violence
Although anger often precedes physical violence, it can also be a way of reducing violence. That’s because it’s a very strong social signal that a situation needs to be resolved. When others see the signal, they are more motivated to try and placate the angry party so they don’t knock the walls down in one curiously strong Hulk-like punch. Anger is also a pit stop between rest and violence; without it, people would jump straight from feeling hunky-dory one minute to unannounced grocery store samurai attacks the next.
Helps you get the sex
With anger, you have the benefits of picking up on unconscious physical cues from your partner that they have difficulty expressing verbally, which can lead to greater understanding and empathy of a situation … or more importantly, make-up sex. Working out your anger between the sheets is a healthy and blood-pumping way to boost your sex life because it brings back that raw passion you initially felt., and reminds you that no issue is too more important than boning. The rushes of dopamine and adrenaline you get when you’re angry can also make you insanely horny, so, you’re welcome.
Facebook Poll: What makes you the angriest?
“Water chestnuts … just water chestnuts.”
“Going to dry your face on a nice fluffy towel and realize someone has used it for a specific activity and it has hardened. And now you’re wiping your face with it.”
“Steve Aoki really pisses me off.”
“Nothing pisses me off more than a poorly rolled burrito … YOU HAD ONE JOB DAMN IT!”
“People walking slow in front of me. Mini-vans in the left lane.”
“Rooster articles that just cater to entitled California rich kids that have overpopulated our state.”
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