Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T01:01:05.963Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Trait Anger Symptoms and Emotion Regulation: The Effectiveness of Reappraisal, Acceptance and Suppression Strategies in Regulating Anger

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 March 2015

Carmen L. Germain  and
Maria Kangas
Carmen L. Germain
Affiliation:
Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Maria Kangas*
Affiliation:
Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
*
Address for correspondence: Dr Maria Kangas, Macquarie University, Centre for Emotional Health, Department of Psychology, Sydney, NSW, 2109, Australia. Email: maria.kangas@mq.edu.au
Get access

Abstract

Objective: The aim of the current study was to compare the effects of instructed cognitive reappraisal, acceptance and emotional suppression on state anger after provocation among individuals with high trait anger. The moderating effects of trait emotion regulation (ER) styles were also examined. Method: Adults (N = 102) with elevated levels of trait anger were randomised to one of three ER conditions. Participants in both the reappraisal and emotional suppression conditions reported a decline in state anger and systolic blood pressure (SBP) post-anger provocation, whereas participants in the acceptance group did not experience a substantial decline in state anger or SBP post-anger provocation. Trait suppression was further found to enhance the effects of instructed suppression, while trait tolerance augmented the effects of instructed reappraisal. Conclusions: Support was found for the use of reappraisal and emotional suppression as adaptive strategies to cope with anger arousal in the short term after provocation.

Keywords

angeremotion-regulationreappraisalacceptanceemotion suppression
Type
Standard Papers
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 32 , Issue 1 , April 2015 , pp. 35 - 45
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aldao, A., & Nolen-Hoeksema, S. (2012). The influence of context on the implementation of adaptive emotion regulation strategies. Behaviour and Research Therapy, 50, 493–501. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2012.04.004CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Anderson, S.F., & Lawler, K.A. (1995). The anger recall interview and cardiovascular reactivity in women: An examination of context and experience. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 39, 335–343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Baron, K.G., Smith, T.W., Butner, J., Nealey-Moore, J., Hawkins, M.W., & Uchino, B.N. (2007). Hostility, anger, and martial adjustment: Concurrent and prospective associations with psychosocial vulnerability. Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 30, 1–10.Google Scholar
Beck, A.T., Steer, R.A., & Brown, G.K. (1996). Manual for the Beck Depression Inventory-II. San Antonio, TX: Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Bonanno, G.A., Papa, A., Lalande, K., Westphal, M., & Coifman, K. (2004). The importance of being flexible: The ability to both enhance and suppress emotional expression predicts long-term adjustment. Psychological Science, 15, 482–487.Google Scholar
Burns, J.W., Quartana, P., & Bruchl, S. (2011). Anger suppression and subsequent pain behaviors among chronic low back pain patients: Moderating effects of anger regulation style. Annual Behavioral Medicine, 42, 42–54. doi:10.1007/s12160-0119270-4Google Scholar
Campbell-Sills, L., Barlow, D.H., Brown, T.A., & Hofmann, S.G. (2006). Effects of suppression and acceptance on emotion responses of individuals with anxiety and mood disorders. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 44, 1251–1263. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2005.10.001Google Scholar
Denson, T.F., Moulds, M.L., & Grisham, J.R. (2012). The effects of analytical rumination, reappraisal, and distraction on anger experience. Behavior Therapy, 43, 355–364. doi:10.1016/j.beth.2011.08.001CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Dunn, B.D., Billotti, D., Murphy, V., & Dalgleish, T. (2009). The consequences of effortful emotion regulation when processing distressing material: A comparison of suppression and acceptance. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47, 761–773.Google Scholar
Eifert, G.H., & Forsyth, J.P. (2011). The application of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to problem anger. Cognitive and Behavioral Practice, 18, 241–250.Google Scholar
Engebretson, T.O., Matthews, K.A., & Scheier, M.F. (1989). Relationships between anger expression and cardiovascular reactivity: Reconciling inconsistent findings through a matching hypothesis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 513–521.Google Scholar
Gross, J.J. (1998). Antecedent- and response-focused emotion regulation: divergent consequences for experience, expression and physiology. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74, 224–237.Google Scholar
Gross, J.J. (2001). Emotion regulation in adulthood: Timing is everything. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 10, 214–219.Google Scholar
Hofmann, S.G., & Kashdan, T.B. (2010). The Affective Style Questionnaire: Development and psychometric properties. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 32, 255–263. doi: 10.1007/s10862-009-9142-4CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Horowitz, M., Wilner, N., & Alvarez, W. (1979). Impact of event scale: a measure of subjective stress. Psychosomatic Medicine, 41, 209–218.Google Scholar
John, O.P., & Gross, J.J. (2004). Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and life span development. Journal of Personality, 72, 1301–1333.Google Scholar
Lang, P.J., Bradley, M.M., & Cuthbert, B.N. (1997). International Affective Picture System (IAPS): Instruction manual and affective ratings (Technical Report A-5). Gainesville, FL: The Centre for Research in Psychophysiology, University of Florida.Google Scholar
Liverant, G.I., Brown, T.A., Barlow, D.H., & Roemer, L. (2008). Emotion regulation in unipolar depression: the effects of acceptance and suppression of subjective emotional experience on the intensity and duration of sadness and negative affect. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 46, 1201–1209.Google Scholar
Lovibond, S.H., & Lovibond, P.F. (1995). Manual for the Depression Anxiety Stress Scales (2nd ed.). Sydney, Australia: Psychology Foundation.Google Scholar
Mauss, I.B., Cook, C.L., Cheng, J.Y.J., & Gross, J.J. (2007). Individual differences in cognitive reappraisal: Experimental and physiological responses to an anger provocation. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 66, 116–124.Google Scholar
Memedovic, S., Grisham, J.R., Denson, T.F., & Moulds, M.L. (2010). The effects of trait reappraisal and suppression on anger and blood pressure. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, 540–543.Google Scholar
National Institute of Clinical Excellence. (2005). Achieving optimal control of blood pressure. Evidence-Practice Gaps Report, Volume 2. London: National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health.Google Scholar
Saini, M. (2009) A meta-analysis of the psychological treatment of anger: Developing guidelines for evidence-based practice. Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law Online, 37, 473–488.Google Scholar
Seery, M.D., Silver, R.C., Holman, E.A., Ence, W.A., & Chu, T.Q. (2008). Expressing thoughts and feelings following a collective trauma: Immediate responses to 9/11 predict negative outcomes in a national sample. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 657–667. doi:10.1037/0022-006X.76.4.657Google Scholar
Spielberger, C.D. (1999). State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory — 2. Odessa, Fl: Psychological Assessment Resources Inc.Google Scholar
Szasz, P.L., Szentagotai, A., & Hofmann, S.G. (2011). The effect of emotion regulation strategies on anger. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 114–119. doi:10.1016/j.brat.2010.11.011Google Scholar
Wolgast, M., Lundh, L., & Viborg, G. (2011). Cognitive reappraisal and acceptance: An experimental comparison of two emotion regulation strategies. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 49, 858–866.Google Scholar