Anger's Good Side

by Alex A. Kecskes

Everyone is always telling you to control your anger. Or that those who can't should go to anger management. But anger has a good side. It activates an area on the left side of the brain that motivates us to act—specifically to go after what we want. In other words, it's a huge motivator.

Researchers found that people who are angry pay more attention to rewards than to threats. They discovered that people become angrier when confrontation is needed to complete a task, and that anger can actually enhance one's performance. In fact, for confrontational situations, people actually preferred recalling people or events that made them angry. However, angry people do not perform better than others in non-confrontational tasks.

Additional anger research revealed that younger people experience more frequent anger than older adults. Researchers attributed this to the fact that younger people are more often victims of economic hardship and workplace conflicts. Younger people must also contend with children in the household. Education influenced anger as well. Less educated people were more likely to experience anger and less likely to use proactive methods like talking and conflict resolution to address a problem. And predictably, those who experienced more financial strain tended to experience higher levels of anger.

The old saying, "get mad enough to do something about it." has motivated many an important change in people's lives. I believe that, properly channeled, anger can be a motivator for positive change.

For an additional perspective, check out this video:

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