Anger

Anger is an emotion related to one's psychological interpretation of having been offended, wronged or denied and a tendency to react through retaliation. Shiela Videbeck describes anger as a normal emotion that involves a strong uncomfortable and emotional response to a perceived provocation. Raymond Novaco of UC Irvine, who since 1975 has published a plethora of literature on the subject, stratified anger into three modalities: cognitive (appraisals), somatic-affective (tension and agitations) and behavioral (withdrawal and antagonism). William DeFoore, an anger-management writer, described anger as a pressure cooker: we can only apply pressure against our anger for a certain amount of time until it explodes. Anger may have physical correlates such as increased heart rate, blood pressure, and levels of adrenaline and noradrenaline. Some view anger as part of the fight or flight brain response to the perceived threat of harm. Anger becomes the predominant feeling behaviorally, cognitively, and physiologically when a person makes the conscious choice to take action to immediately stop the threatening behavior of another outside force. The English term originally comes from the term anger of Old Norse language. Anger can have many physical and mental consequences.

Famous quotes containing the word anger:

“Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.”
—Bible: Hebrew Ecclesiastes 7:9.

“Then, anger
was a crease in the brow
and silence
a catastrophe.
Then, making up
was a mutual smile
and a glance
a gift.
Now, just look at this mess
that you’ve made of that love.
You grovel at my feet
and I berate you
and can’t let my anger go.”
—Amaru (c. seventh century A.D.)