How to push someone's buttons: A comparison of four anger-induction methods

This study compared the effects of four ways of inducing anger: film, stress interview, punishment, and harassment. Sixty-four healthy participants were randomly assigned to one of these conditions. Effects were examined by means of self-report and physiological measures (blood pressure, heart rate, skin conductance level, and skin conductance response). All four methods produced comparable levels of self-reported anger, while harassment and interview produced the largest cardiovascular effects, and electrodermal activity increased more in reaction to harassment, interview, and punishment conditions compared to film. Thus, physiological reactivity was especially increased by anger-induction methods that included personal contact (harassment and interview). Regarding specificity of self-reported emotions, fear and frustration were the only emotions out of nine non-target emotions that increased in comparable degree to anger following film, interview, and punishment, while harassment produced more self-reported anger than fear. Possible explanations and further recommendations are discussed.

[1]  D. Carroll,et al.  Psychology and social issues : a tutorial test , 1991 .

[2]  R. Levenson.  Autonomic Nervous System Differences among Emotions , 1992 .

[3]  P. Philippot.  Inducing and assessing differentiated emotion-feeling states in the laboratory. , 1993, Cognition & emotion.

[4]  R. Post,et al.  Regional brain activity during transient self-induced anxiety and anger in healthy adults , 1999, Biological Psychiatry.

[5]  L. F. Barrett,et al.  Handbook of Emotions , 1993 .

[6]  B. Shepard,et al.  Type A behavior pattern and emotion expression in younger and older adults. , 1992, Psychology and aging.

[7]  B. C. Lacey,et al.  Verification and extension of the principle of autonomic response-stereotypy. , 1958, The American journal of psychology.

[8]  Jan De Houwer,et al.  The Extrinsic Affective Simon Task. , 2003 .

[9]  Jaime Gallego Vila,et al.  Relative effects of harassment, frustration, and task characteristics on cardiovascular reactivity. , 2003, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[10]  J Douglas Bremner,et al.  Psychophysiological reactivity to traumatic and abandonment scripts in borderline personality and posttraumatic stress disorders: a preliminary report , 2004, Psychiatry Research.

[11]  P. Pauli,et al.  Measurement of Motivation for Drug Use With Emphasis on Startle Tests , 2006 .

[12]  O. Parsons,et al.  Cardiovascular differentiation of emotions. , 1992, Psychosomatic medicine.

[13]  J. Cacioppo,et al.  The psychophysiology of emotion. , 1993 .

[14]  Rajita Sinha,et al.  Multivariate Response Patterning of Fear and Anger , 1996 .

[15]  J. Singer,et al.  Cardiovascular Differentiation of Happiness, Sadness, Anger, and Fear Following Imagery and Exercise1 , 1981, Psychosomatic medicine.

[16]  R. J. Roberts,et al.  Cardiovascular Responding during Anger and Fear Imagery , 1982, Psychological reports.

[17]  G. Stemmler.  Selective activation of traits: Boundary conditions for the activation of anger , 1997 .

[18]  S. Bruehl,et al.  Emotion induction moderates effects of anger management style on acute pain sensitivity , 2003, Pain.

[19]  L. Barsalou,et al.  Embodiment in the acquisition and use of emotion knowledge , 2005 .

[20]  Leonard Berkowitz,et al.  Toward an understanding of the determinants of anger. , 2004, Emotion.

[21]  L. F. Barrett,et al.  Handbook of emotions, 2nd ed. , 2000 .

[22]  P. Ekman,et al.  Autonomic nervous system activity distinguishes among emotions. , 1983, Science.

[23]  Wolfgang Linden,et al.  The importance of examining blood pressure reactivity and recovery in anger provocation research. , 2005, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[24]  Jacob Cohen,et al.  A power primer. , 1992, Psychological bulletin.

[25]  P. Philippot,et al.  Selective attention and executive functions deficits among criminal psychopaths , 2003 .

[26]  Percy H. Tannenbaum,et al.  Emotional experiences in everyday life: A survey approach , 1986 .

[27]  John Cohen.  Frustration and Aggression , 1944, Nature.

[28]  L. Jäncke,et al.  Facial EMG in an anger-provoking situation: individual differences in directing anger outwards or inwards. , 1996, International journal of psychophysiology : official journal of the International Organization of Psychophysiology.

[29]  Maryanne Martin.  On the induction of mood , 1990 .

[30]  M. Kornitzer,et al.  Type A Behavior Pattern , 1985 .

[31]  G. Gendolla,et al.  The informational impact of mood on effort mobilization: a study of cardiovascular and electrodermal responses. , 2001, Emotion.

[32]  J. Dimsdale,et al.  The stress interview as a tool for examining physiological reactivity. , 1988, Psychosomatic medicine.

[33]  E. Harmon-Jones,et al.  Anger, coping, and frontal cortical activity: The effect of coping potential on anger-induced left frontal activity , 2003, Cognition & emotion.

[34]  J. de Houwer.  The Extrinsic Affective Simon Task. , 2003, Experimental psychology.

[35]  J. Dovidio,et al.  Implicit and Explicit Attitudes: Examination of the Relationship between Measures of Intergroup Bias , 2008 .

[36]  G. Gendolla,et al.  The joint effect of informational mood impact and performance-contingent consequences on effort-related cardiovascular response. , 2002, Journal of personality and social psychology.

[37]  J. Kevin Thompson,et al.  Winning or Losing Against an Opposite-Sex Peer on a Gender-Based Competitive Task , 1999 .

[38]  N. Frijda,et al.  The premenstrual phase and reactions to aversive events: A study of hormonal influences on emotionality , 1996, Psychoneuroendocrinology.

[39]  A. Sirota,et al.  A simple laboratory method for inducing anger: a preliminary investigation. , 1999, Journal of psychosomatic research.

[40]  J. Gross,et al.  Emotion elicitation using films , 1995 .