CSAM Anger Management Theories & Techniques 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which theoretical model views anger as arising from a mismatch between what a person expects and what actually occurs?
- Attribution theory
- Frustration-aggression hypothesis
- Expectancy violation theory (Correct answer)
- Social learning theory
Correct answer: Expectancy violation theory
Expectancy violation theory posits that anger emerges when real outcomes deviate significantly from anticipated ones.
Question 2: In dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), which skill module most directly targets anger regulation?
- Mindfulness
- Distress tolerance
- Emotion regulation (Correct answer)
- Interpersonal effectiveness
Correct answer: Emotion regulation
The emotion regulation module in DBT teaches clients to identify, understand, and change intense emotional responses including anger.
Question 3: A client repeatedly interprets neutral facial expressions as hostile. This illustrates which cognitive concept?
- Catastrophizing
- Hostile attribution bias (Correct answer)
- Selective abstraction
- Emotional reasoning
Correct answer: Hostile attribution bias
Hostile attribution bias is the tendency to perceive ambiguous cues as threatening or aggressive, a core cognitive driver of chronic anger.
Question 4: Which physiological technique works by activating the parasympathetic nervous system to counteract anger arousal?
- Progressive muscle relaxation (Correct answer)
- Thought stopping
- Time projection
- Rational emotive imagery
Correct answer: Progressive muscle relaxation
Progressive muscle relaxation reduces sympathetic nervous system activation and promotes parasympathetic dominance, lowering anger-related arousal.
Question 5: According to Aaron Beck's cognitive model, what is the term for automatic negative thoughts that fuel anger?
- Core beliefs
- Intermediate beliefs
- Hot cognitions (Correct answer)
- Cognitive schemas
Correct answer: Hot cognitions
Hot cognitions are rapid, emotion-laden automatic thoughts that Beck identified as immediately preceding and intensifying anger responses.
Question 6: Which anger management approach focuses on changing the meaning a person assigns to a provocative event rather than the event itself?
- Behavioral activation
- Cognitive reappraisal (Correct answer)
- Systematic desensitization
- Exposure therapy
Correct answer: Cognitive reappraisal
Cognitive reappraisal involves reinterpreting the significance or meaning of a triggering event to alter the emotional response it produces.
Question 7: The 'stress inoculation' component of Novaco's anger treatment involves which sequence?
- Identify triggers → avoid situations → monitor outcomes
- Cognitive preparation → skill acquisition → application practice (Correct answer)
- Relax first → confront stressor → debrief
- Assess anger → medicate → reevaluate
Correct answer: Cognitive preparation → skill acquisition → application practice
Novaco's stress inoculation follows cognitive preparation, skill building, and graduated application to real or imagined provocations.
CSAM Anger Management Theories & Techniques 2
Which theoretical model views anger as arising from a mismatch between what a person expects and what actually occurs?