Anger is a perfectly natural emotion that has a useful role to play in our lives. But it is an emotion we have become overly infatuated with and like anything that is out of balance, it has become a destructive force. Once caused, anger becomes a powerful motivator. It energizes us and acts as a cheerleader for aggressive behaviour. Like the power of a tornado, it is a sometimes impressive force that always leaves a wake of destruction in its path. Anger gets the job done, but usually at a cost that is higher than the job warrants. Someone ends up paying that exorbitant price. Usually it is paid by family and friends first of all, but ultimately we pay the highest price. Sigmund Freud came to believe in a death or aggressive instinct because he saw so much violence, sadism, war, and suicide. Konrad Lorenz (1966) believed that species, both animal and human, survived by having an aggressive instinct which protected their territory and young, and insured only the strongest individuals survived. The sociobiologists, noting the frequency we go to war, also suggest that we have inherited an aggressive nature, a tendency to lash out at anything that gets in our way, a need to dominate and control.
Research has shown that stimulation of certain parts of animals' brains leads to aggression. Stimulation of other parts stops aggression. We don't know how this works. In 1966, Charles Whitman killed his wife and mother because "I do not consider this world worth living in...", then climbed a tower on the University of Texas campus and fired his rifle at 38 people. He killed 14 before being killed. An autopsy revealed a large tumor in the limbic system of his brain (where the aggression "centers" are in animal brains). Although such was not the case in the two students who took so many lives at Columbine High school. In epileptic patients with implanted electrodes, in rare cases violence follows stimulation of certain parts. Abnormal EEG's have been found among repeat offenders and aggressive people. So, aggression may sometimes have a physical basis. Brain damage can be caused in many ways (Derlega and Janda, 1981).
Aggression may also have a chemical, hormonal, or genetic basis too. A large survey of adopted children has found that living with an adoptive parent who committed crimes is less risky than merely having the genes from a person who committed crimes (Mednick, Gabrielli & Hutchings, 1984). The role of genes is becoming increasingly better understood as a key factor in all our lives. Obviously, within animals certain breeds of dogs, like Pit Bulls, are more vicious than others. More aggressive breeds can be developed, e.g. rats or fighting bulls. Maybe we should develop kinder, gentler, smarter humans.
Other physiological factors seem to be involved. Examples: high testosterone (male sex hormone) is associated with more unfaithfulness, more sex, more divorce, more competitiveness, and anti-social behavior. It is also known that a viral infection, called rabies, causes violent behavior. About 90% of women report being irritable before menstruation. Furthermore, 50% of all crimes by women in prison occurred during their menstrual period or premenstrual period. By chance only 29% of crimes would have occurred during those eight days. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) increases during the premenstrual period and it causes irritability. About 3 times in a 1000 a male inherits an extra X or Y chromosome, so they are XYY or XXY, instead of XY. At one time it was thought that XYY and XXY males committed more violent crimes. Now it appears that this isn't true but these males are arrested earlier and more often. So we can't forget our inheritance. There is so much we do not know yet.
In all of these possibilities--instinct, heredity, hormones, or brain dysfunction--the aggression occurs without apparent provocation from the environment (although there is almost always a "target"). According to some of these theories, the need or urge to be aggressive is boiling within each of us and seeks opportunities to express itself. There is also clear evidence that alcohol consumption and hotter temperatures release aggression, but no one thinks there is something in alcohol or heat that generates meanness. The socialization process, i.e. becoming a mature person, involves taming these destructive, savage, self-serving urges that probably helped us humans survive one million years ago but threatens our survival today.
Anger is a symptom of a series of dramatic physiological changes. When the amygdala centre in the brain notices danger (real or imagined) it activates the hypothalamus (site of emotions in the brain) and the pituitary gland. The pituitary releases a stress hormone called Adrenocorticotropic (ACTH) into the bloodstream. ACTH in turn activates the adrenals which release either epinephrin (adrenalin) or nor-epinephrin and more than 30 other hormones into our bodies as part of an ancient "fight or flight" response. These change the body's metabolism, increasing the rate at which fats and proteins are converted into sugar, increasing the available fuel for the body in action. The heart pumps faster to speed the passage of the stress chemicals through the body's systems. Blood pressure rises and the pupils of the eye dilate to improve vision. The combines surge of hormones relaxes the bronchial tubes in order to improve breathing, builds up the blood sugar to improve energy, slows down the digestive process to improve muscular energy and shifts blood supplies so the blood can clot more easily if there is an open wound.
These are vital changes, life saving changes, for those rare times when we are in actual physical danger, allowing us, urging us, to fight or flight. They are a kind of "chemotherapy" for genuinely life threatening situations. However, just as chemotherapy is a toxin destroying both healthy as well as cancerous cells (in the hope the cancer will be killed off while enough healthy cells remain to regenerate), the physiological changes associated with anger are also toxic, raising blood pressure, threatening heart problems and lowering the bodies immune system. Anger is toxic to the body and highly corrosive to normal social relationships.
Folklore tells us angry people are "too mean to die", and that they don't suffer stress, they "give it to others". Well it is true being around angry people is highly distressing, but it is also true too much anger in a person's life is highly destructive to them as well. They have fewer and less meaningful relationships than the average person, have more frequent illnesses and shorter lives.
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(c) BER Fraser msw,rsw. (2000) Reprint only with attribution and, if on-line, with appropriate link..