What is Anger?

Definition and Nature
• Anger is an emotional response to unmet needs and perceived threats.
Every effect has a cause if it exists it makes sense
• It serves as an attempt to build a bridge with the world, communicating needs for external assistance (e.g., respect, apology). communicate about unmet needs.
•Is an impulse to act
•Overreaction which increases survival rates.

Amygdala's Role
• The amygdala reacts to stimuli and assigns emotional meaning, especially from facial expressions.
• brain allows amygdala to take over the brain
• “Amygdala reacts to virtually all stimuli and assigns emotional meaning to them.”
• “Amygdala is particularly adept at gathering info from people’s faces
• amygdala - assigns emotional valence
from +- to indifference

Attentional Funnel
• Intense emotions narrow focus to goal-relevant events.
• This focus increases the perceived importance of these events, intensifying the emotions further.

Feedback Loop
• Emotions create a positive feedback loop, reinforcing the emotional state through physiological changes (e.g., neurotransmitter release).
Angry mind feels good, self appointed righteous
• attentional funnel, which is “a positive feedback loop that may be created when the attentional focus produced by intense feeling reduces the active goal space, which increases the apparent importance of goal-relevant events, which in turn intensifies feelings” (1967, p. 35).
exaggerated signal then comes with reinforcing chemistry