no / This study discusses the experiences of women who participated in a program for partner-violent women by understanding their views of the treatment process, outcomes and the meanings they attached to it. This study followed a Husserlian descriptive phenomenology. Interviews were conducted with seven English women who used physical intimate partner violence in heterosexual relationships. The data were analyzed using by the method developed by Colaizzi (1978). The qualitative findings suggest the women experienced the treatment as positive and meaningful and experienced personal transformations. Deeper analysis of the data, showed that there were two key areas of benefit to the women, one involving the connections and bonds formed with other women in the group and the facilitators, and the second including the skills and strategies the women learned for managing anger and negative emotions.

Anger and hostility have been attributed as early risk factors of coronary heart disease (CHD). However, many inconsistencies exist in the literature linking both of these constructs to CHD, as well as to cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) to stressors likely to give rise to CHD. A potential moderating influence discussed in the CVR literature concerns the issue of anger provocation, whereas assessment of the ability to evaluate the source of provocation may moderate the recovery process. The current study adopts a multivariate approach to assess the interactive effects of dispositional anger in predicting the CVR and recovery to mental arithmetic (MA) stress with and without harassment in 47 male undergraduate psychology students. Results revealed anger out (AO) to be associated with high vagal and low frequency power suppression in response to the MA task with harassment. Exposure to experimenter evaluation was associated with attenuated diastolic blood pressure recovery and facilitated vagal recovery in high AO subjects, whereas the opposite pattern was apparent for low AO subjects. The general findings suggest that trait anger interacts with situational influences to predict CVR and recovery to stressors. / Ph. D.

The influence of hostility on the lateralized tasks of cardiovascular regulation, verbal fluency, nonverbal fluency, and dichotic listening was assessed. Twenty-four subjects divided into two groups, high- and low-hostile men underwent physiological measurements of SBP, DBP, and HR before and after verbal and figural fluency tasks, which were used as stressors. In addition, subsequent to the administration of each fluency task, dichotic listening performance was evaluated across unfocused, focus left, and focus right trials. It was expected that high-hostile men would produce results indicative of differential right hemisphere activation when compared with low-hostile men. In addition, it was predicted that high-hostile men would display a weakness in both the performance of the right-frontal nonverbal fluency task and in their ability to maintain relative cardiovascular stability subsequent to the presentation of that stressor. As predicted, high-hostile men produced more perseverative errors than did low hostile men on this task. Further, subsequent to administration of the nonverbal fluency task, high-hostile men produced a reliable increase in blood pressure when compared to baseline and to low-hostile males. Differences in dichotic listening performance were also expected as a function of the fluency tasks. It was predicted that high-hostile men would evidence a priming effect in that a left-ear bias would be detected after the nonverbal fluency task but not the verbal fluency task. This was indeed the case. However, interestingly, the low-hostile men also displayed a priming effect at the left ear during the nonverbal fluency condition. Results are discussed within the context of the functional cerebral systems of emotion and arousal. Implications for further research are explored. / Ph. D.

Previous research showed that children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) tend to experience high levels of anxiety and anger. Some of the deficits that children with ASD experience are due their difficulty expressing and understanding their own and others' emotions. Thus, the purpose of this pilot study was to assess the feasibility and efficacy of an intervention to teach young children with high functioning autism (HFASD) to recognize their emotions and use emotion regulation strategies to self-soothe. We implemented a group therapy that emphasized children's understanding and knowledge of emotions and coping strategies related to anger and anxiety. Eleven 5-7 year-old children were randomly assigned to either an experimental or delayed-treatment control group. The Emotion Regulation Checklist, Behavior Monitoring Sheet, What Makes My Child Angry/Anxious Questionnaires, and anger- and anxiety-related emotions vignettes were used to measure children's emotion regulation abilities. Finally, maternal confidence of their own and their child's ability to regulate their emotions were measured by the Self-Confidence Rating Scale. Children in the experimental group demonstrated more knowledge of emotion regulation strategies, had fewer negative emotional responses, and showed lower frequency and intensity ratings of anger and anxiety related episodes after treatment. All mothers reported higher levels of confidence in their own and their child's ability to deal with anger and anxiety related emotions after treatment. These findings suggest that teaching young children with HFASD about emotion regulation strategies to manage anger and anxiety emotional states may increase their knowledge about emotion regulation strategies, and improve their emotion regulation abilities. Training mothers about emotion regulation strategies may increase maternal confidence in their own and their child's ability to deal with emotions related to anger and anxiety. Limitations and implications of this study will be discussed. / Master of Science

There is a theoretical basis for assuming that certain forms of anger and aggression are interdependent. While attempts have been made to reduce aggression in children by other means, there is evidence to suggest that cognitive therapies might be useful in reducing aggression by enhancing anger-management. The present study was one of the first efforts to evaluate the efficacy of an adapted stress-inoculation procedure for anger-management in children using a controlled group design. Subjects were 14 boys in residential treatment with presenting problems of excessive anger or aggression. The subjects, who ranged in age from 9.8 to 14.8, were randomly assigned to an Anger-management (treatment) condition or an Attention-control condition. Subjects met with a female therapist for 18 half-hour individual sessions. In the Anger-management condition, children were exposed to education about anger, relaxation and cognitive coping statements, and opportunities to rehearse and generalize coping skills. Attention-control children had equal exposure to therapists and mode of presentation, but discussed emotions other than anger. Self-report measures were administered at pre-treatment, post-treatment, and 10-week follow-up intervals. Teacher Ratings, Unit Staff ratings, and behavioral observation were taken pre- and post-treatment. The only significant changes were on self-report measures where children in the Anger-management condition reported greater reductions in anger and aggression than children in the Attention-control condition at post-treatments. This finding was compared and contrasted to recent results in cognitive therapy research. Possible explanations for the absence of significant differences on other measures were presented, and the utility of the study as a whole was discussed. / Ph. D.

The validity of the Type A construct for children was empirically examined in the present study. The multi-trait, multi-method construct validation strategy was used to determine if the convergent, concurrent, and discriminant validities of the Type A construct would be supported. Constructs used as comparisons included anger, achievement-striving, and depression. Type of measures used included self-report, teacher-rating, and behavior observations. Subjects were 132 boys and girls in the fifth grade in elementary schools in Southwestern Virginia. Additional multiple regression analyses were employed to determine the best predictors of assessed levels of Type A behavior in children. Results indicated that different methods of measuring Type A behavior in children were significantly intercorrelated, thereby supporting the convergent validity of Type A in children. In addition, Type A was significantly and positively correlated with anger and achievement-striving, but more ambiguously related to depression. Type A did not achieve consistent discriminant validity from anger and achievement-striving, however, it was discriminantly valid when contrasted with depression. It was concluded the Type A behavior pattern for children did not achieve consistent construct validity. The implications of these findings for future research in the area of Type A behavior were discussed. / Ph. D.

Thesis (DPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2004. / Digitized at 600 dpi grayscale to pdf format (OCR), using a Bizhub 250 Konica Minolta Scanner. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: There is no scarcity of publications on the subject of anger in the Hebrew Bible. Most of these concern themselves with the theological significance of the wrath of God. In particular, its function as chastisement for sin is repeatedly accentuated while other conceptual elements as conveyed by Classical Hebrew words and expressions for anger are usually overlooked. In the majority of cases, lexicographical studies of anger terminology contend themselves with the accepted 'literal' meaning of words. The result is an impoverished appreciation of the concepts that governed the mind of the ancient Israelites and determined their use of language with respect to the conceptualisation of anger. This situation provided a good incentive for a study on anger concepts in the Hebrew Bible. The cognitive theory of language proved to be an ideal tool for analyzing Classical Hebrew lexemes and expressions relating to the concept of anger. Several figurative sayings were identified that relate directly to culturally defined concomitants of this emotion. They can be summarised in an idealised cognitive model that include the following conceptual metonymies for anger: body heat, quickened breathing, frowning, glaring, gnashing of teeth, internal pressure, redness in the face/neck, agitation, internal agitation, slaver at the mouth, lifting the hand, clapping the hands, stamping the feet and violent, frustrated behaviour. Over and above these metonymies, a number of conceptual metaphors have been identified that added a great deal of conceptual content to the idealised cognitive model of anger in the Hebrew Bible. The ANGER IS HEAT metaphor seems to have its basis in the experience of bodily heat. Environmental phenomena, such as the hot desert wind, earthquake, clouds, storms and floods also proved to be prolific source domains for metaphoric transfer. Other conceptual domains employed by the ancient Israelites to image anger are: burdens, winepresses, poison, opponents, dangerous animals, transgression, presence and bounded spaces. The data analysed in this study pointed to a clearly defined conceptual model for anger that can best be viewed as a prototype scenario with several stages. The phases follow on each other in temporal order. Anger typically follows on the occurrence of an intended offending event. Although the ideal is to control anger, this rarely happens. In the majority of cases, anger results in some violent act of retribution. In conclusion, several suggestions have been made with regard to the study of concepts, such as anger, in the Hebrew Bible. Firstly, the fact that most theological dictionaries and Hebrew lexicons to date have been dominated by the Autonomic View of language and its interest to identify the detachable 'meaning' of Classical Hebrew terms needs to be acknowledged. In order to fully appreciate the idealised cognitive model of the ancient Israelites with regard to a specific concept, a thorough diachronic study of related words and expressions needs to be undertaken in view of their humoral theories and beliefs regarding magic and spirits. Finally, some recommendations relating to the etymology of certain Classical Hebrew terms for anger were made. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die oorgrote meerderheid ondersoeke oor die emosie van woede in die Hebreeuse Bybel het as sentrale idee die teologiese implikasies van die toorn van God. Die funksie daarvan as straf vir menslike sonde word dikwels beklemtoon, terwyl nagelaat word om ook aandag te gee aan konseptuele elemente soos dit neerslag vind in die taal wat gebruik word om die emosie te beskryf. Leksikografiese studies fokus meesal op die 'letterlike' betekenis van woorde en verwaarloos so die konseptuele inhoud van uitdrukkings wat aangewend word om woede te beskryf. Dit is die agtergrond vir die besluit om 'n deeglike ondersoek te doen na konseptualisasie van woede soos dit bestaan het in die gedagtewereld van die ou Israeliete. Die kognitiewe teorie van taal bied die mees gepaste metodologie vir 'n bestudering van sodanige konsepte in die Hebreeuse Bybel. Met behulp van hierdie metodologiese raamwerk is verskeie konseptuele metonimiee geidentifiseer wat neerslag vind in 'n ideale kognitiewe model van toorn soos dit beskryf word in die Hebreeuse Bybel. Die konseptuele metonimiee vir woede sluit direk aan by verskeie liggaamlike ervarings en wyses van uitdrukking wat geassosieer word met hierdie emosie. Die volgende elemente, wat gebruik is as basis vir die metaforiese taalgebruik in die verband, is geidentifiseer: liggaamlike hitte, vinnige asemhaling, 'n frons, glurende oe, tandekners, interne druk, rooiheid in die gesig/nek, agitasie, skuim by die mond, oplig van die hand, handeklap, voete stamp en gefrustreerde gedrag. Bo en behalwe hierdie metonimiee, is daar ook verskeie konseptuele metafore onderskei wat baie help om 'n meer volledige kognitiewe model van toorn daar te stel. Die TOORN IS HITTE metafoor het waarskynlik sy oorsprong in die ervaring van liggaamshitte deur die persoon wat die emosie ervaar. 'n Hele aantal metafore blyk gemotiveer te wees deur meteorologiese en omgewingsfaktore, soos die warm woestynwind, aardbewings, wolke, storms en winde. Ander bronne vir metaforiese oordrag met betrekking tot woede is: swaar laste, wynperse, gif, opponente, gevaarlike diere, oortreding, teenwoordigheid en begrensde ruimtes. Die data wat so versamel is, dui op 'n goed-gedefinieerde konseptuele voorstelling vir woede in die Hebreeuse Bybel. Hierdie model kan gesien word as 'n prototipiese gebeurtenis waarvan die elemente kronologies op mekaar volg. In 'n tipiese geval word die emosie ontlok deur 'n doelbewuste benadeling van die subjek wat die emosie beleef. Die ideaal is dat die persoon sy woede in toom hou. Meesal is dit egter nie die geval nie en loop dit uit op gewelddadige, vergeldende optrede. Ten slotte is sekere suggesties gemaak rakende die etimologie van sekere terme vir woede in die Hebreeuse Bybel. Daar is ook aanbeveel dat in toekomstige studies van sodanige konsepte in die Hebreeuse Bybel in ag moet neem dat die oorgrote meerderheid van beskikbare teologiese woordeboeke en Hebreeuse leksika ten onregte hulself ten doel stel om die 'letterlike' betekenisse van sodanige emosie-woorde na te gaan, met verwaarlosing van die konseptuele wereld wat die uitdrukkings onderle. Derhalwe is ook 'n deeglike diakroniese studie van die konseptuele aard van dergelike woorde en uitdrukkings, met inagneming van ou Israelitiese humorale opvattings betreffende die bonatuurlike, van wesenlike belang.

A sexual minority is someone who identifies as lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB). According to the Minority Stress Model (Meyer, 2003), sexual minorities encounter significant levels of stress due to their minority group status, thus they are more likely to experience perceived stress. Our cross-sectional, correlational study aimed to explore the relationships between forgiveness, mindfulness and anger and how they are related to perceived stress in a convenience sample of ethnically diverse LGB adults. We hypothesized that: 1) anger is positively associated with perceived stress; 2) forgiveness is negatively associated with perceived stress; 3) mindfulness is negatively associated with perceived stress; and 4) anger, forgiveness and mindfulness account for a significant proportion of the variance in perceived stress. 5) The relationship between anger and perceived stress is moderated by forgiveness. 6) The relationship between anger and perceived stress is moderated by mindfulness. Among LGB adults, the extant literature does not address these four variables in conjunction and the relationships between anger, forgiveness, mindfulness and stress has yet to be explored. Various statistical analyses were conducted, including a hierarchical linear regression to test our model. We found that our overall model accounted for 36% of the total variance in perceived stress (F(5, 142) = 17.31, p <.01) with anger (β = .31, t = 3.55, p = .001) and forgiveness (β = -.21, t = -2.56, p < .05) as the significant predictors. Contrary to prediction, forgiveness and mindfulness did not moderate the relationship between anger and perceived stress in our LGB sample. Limitations, strengths, future research and implications are discussed.

The primary purpose of the present study was to examine the potential relationships that exist between anger expression, as measured by several MMPI-2 scales, and chronic pain.

The purpose of this study was to examine the role of anger/hostility on physiological and behavioral coronary heart disease risk factors. It was hypothesized that anger/hostility would contribute to the severity of CHD via consummatory behaviors such as smoking, poor diet, and excessive alcohol consumption. Some researchers suggest that negative consummatory behaviors play a direct causal role in CHD. The present study proposed that hostility predisposes an individual to these behaviors, and that these behaviors in turn, contribute to CHD. Further, it was proposed that some of the anger that exists in CHD patients may result from the individual being unable to participate in some of their previous consummatory behaviors after suffering a myocardial infarction. Also, it was hypothesized that the construct of anger/hostility would be differentially related to consummatory behaviors.