Psychological & Emotional Impact of Anger Flashcards

Which term describes anger that is expressed indirectly through passive means such as procrastination, sarcasm, or deliberate inefficiency?

Answer: Passive-aggressive anger

Passive-aggressive anger avoids direct confrontation by channeling anger into covert behaviors that frustrate others while maintaining surface compliance.

From an evolutionary perspective, anger is adaptive primarily because it:

Answer: Mobilizes energy to overcome obstacles and defend resources

Anger evolved as a threat-response system that mobilizes physical and cognitive resources to remove obstacles, defend territory, or enforce social norms.

When a client transfers anger from its original source (e.g., a boss) onto a safer target (e.g., a family member), this is called:

Answer: Displacement

Displacement is a defense mechanism where anger is redirected from the threatening original source to a less threatening or safer substitute target.

Gender socialization most commonly affects anger expression by:

Answer: Encouraging men to express anger overtly while discouraging women from doing so

Cultural gender norms typically sanction overt anger expression in men while stigmatizing it in women, influencing both expression styles and internalization of anger.

Anger's impact on cardiovascular health is most directly linked to repeated activation of which physiological process?

Answer: Sympathoadrenal arousal and inflammatory response

Recurrent anger activates the sympathoadrenal system, raising blood pressure and heart rate and triggering inflammatory processes that damage arterial walls over time.

A therapist using mindfulness-based anger interventions primarily aims to help clients:

Answer: Observe anger sensations without automatic reactive behavior

Mindfulness interventions create a gap between the anger impulse and the response by training clients to observe the emotion with non-judgmental awareness rather than reacting automatically.

Which factor most increases the risk that anger will escalate to aggression, according to the General Aggression Model?

Answer: Prior learning history of successful aggression

The General Aggression Model (Anderson & Bushman) identifies prior reinforcement of aggressive behavior as a key input that increases the likelihood of aggression when anger is present.