ANGER AND HOSTILITY

Anger is the subjective emotional & mental state that activates in us when we perceive that someone is acting or speaking in ways that are against our needs.

It’s function is to help us protect ourselves against negative (for our needs) interpersonal interference by pushing us towards proactive hostile (most-often) interpersonal interaction.

The trait of human nature called “Angry Hostility”, describes the tendency of a person to act in a hostile manner

How does it all actually work?

• As a result of interpersonal communication, the information about the situation is perceived through the senses.

• The amygdala (one of the emotional centers in the brain) responds to outside stimuli, processes incoming information, and coordinates the release of different neurotransmitters and hormones, including Dopamine, Norepinephrine, and Epinephrine.

• These cause a person to feel a burst of energy preparing him for physical action, contributing to the fight-or-flight response.

• Moreover, the focus of that person narrows on the challenging factors coming from the other person and at the same time disregards the bigger picture (which usually includes the reasons why the other person had done the things he had and therefore makes the needed understanding for resolving the problem peacefully a much harder task)

• The overall effect is total bodily and mental mobilization for facing a potential challenge. (Which in this case is another person).

• In such scenarios, the only thing preventing a full-blown violent reaction

  is the ability of that person (that is in the mentioned state) to start actively using his or her prefrontal cortex to control their judgment instead of acting on impulse (in a primal way such as aggression for example)

Depending on the degree to which a person tends to experience such internal reactions and to use his or her prefrontal cortex to exercise self-control we can observe different decision-making and behavioral manifestations.

What are the consequences of anger and hostility as a trait of human nature for people’s lives, depending on where on the scale of “Angry Hostility” they are:

Low Scorers:

Pros: Perceived by others as non-aggressive and peaceful. Described as people who would rather retreat than enter into a sharp confrontation which is described as being a good soul and harmless (in a good way). Others do not perceive them as a “threat”, but rather as accepting and empathetic (even though it might not be true). It looks like they agree even if they do not completely agree which makes them desired interlocutors (people to talk to).

Cons: Have no chance in a highly aggressive environment; They could hardly be “Alpha” in one group; They can easily be “pressed” to back down; Often interpreted as soft;

High Scorers:

Pros: Described as people who do not allow to be insulted; They do not allow anyone to push them around and are ready to show it, if necessary, in an aggressive way; Do not avoid confrontations and “fights”; They do not agree with everything said, and this is in practice the ability to provide direct feedback; Fast to react to injustices;

Cons: On the flip side, their behavior is perceived as hostile; People avoid “serving” them bad news and thus deprive them of information; People around them perceive them as aggressive, and often “dangerous” physically; They argue, and they are always “upside down”; This tendency makes them more susceptible to negative emotions from other people and often spiteful; They often spoil the “atmosphere” in the group, and therefore the group isolates them over time;

Desired scores (for optimal functioning in the nowadays social world) – between the 25^th and 50^th percentile. If the person shows different results (after psychological profiling) there is potential for a developmental process.

Please note, that the mentioned optimal results (25%-50%) are in cases of normal everyday functioning within a non-hostile environment and good overall levels of life satisfaction.

If this is not the case (meaning the person is in hostile environment, that person will be better suited with levels of Angry-Hostility between 50% and 75%. Again – that is a potential for a developmental process.

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