Notes

The punching bag experiment in chapters 3 and 4 is Brad Bushman, "Does venting anger feed or extinguish the flame? Catharsis, rumination, distraction, anger, and aggressive responding", Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 2002, volume 28, pages 724 to 731.

The review of 154 studies in chapters 3 and 10 is Sophie Kjærvik and Brad Bushman, "A meta-analytic review of anger management activities that increase or decrease arousal: what fuels or douses rage?", Clinical Psychology Review, 2024, volume 109, article 102414.

The film experiment in chapter 4 is James Gross, "Antecedent- and response-focused emotion regulation: divergent consequences for experience, expression, and physiology", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1998, volume 74, pages 224 to 237. The film was chosen to produce disgust and not anger, so applying the result to anger is my extension of it.

The review in chapter 6 is Stéphanie Klein Tuente, Stefan Bogaerts and Wim Veling, "Hostile attribution bias and aggression in adults: a systematic review", Aggression and Violent Behavior, 2019, volume 46, pages 66 to 81.

In chapter 7, leftover arousal is from Dolf Zillmann, "Excitation transfer in communication-mediated aggressive behavior", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1971, volume 7, pages 419 to 434. The sleep study is Zlatan Krizan and Garrett Hisler, "Sleepy anger: restricted sleep amplifies angry feelings", Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 2019, volume 148, pages 1239 to 1250. The hunger study is Viren Swami, Samantha Hochstöger, Erik Kargl and Stefan Stieger, "Hangry in the field: an experience sampling study on the impact of hunger on anger, irritability, and affect", PLOS ONE, 2022, volume 17, article e0269629. It shows a link between hunger and irritability and can't prove that one causes the other. The alcohol review is Brad Bushman and Harris Cooper, "Effects of alcohol on human aggression: an integrative research review", Psychological Bulletin, 1990, volume 107, pages 341 to 354. Its main analysis used studies of male social drinkers. The review of displaced aggression is Amy Marcus-Newhall, William Pedersen, Mike Carlson and Norman Miller, "Displaced aggression is alive and well: a meta-analytic review", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 2000, volume 78, pages 670 to 689. The two experiments on a trivial annoyance from the second person are William Pedersen, Candace Gonzales and Norman Miller, "The moderating effect of trivial triggering provocation on displaced aggression", in the same journal and year, volume 78, pages 913 to 927.

The link between shame and irritability in chapter 8 is from June Tangney, Patricia Wagner, Carey Fletcher and Richard Gramzow, "Shamed into anger? The relation of shame and guilt to anger and self-reported aggression", Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1992, volume 62, pages 669 to 675. It surveyed undergraduates and shows a link, not a cause. The idea that shame after an outburst brings the next one nearer is my interpretation.

The across-the-room technique in chapter 10 is from Dominik Mischkowski, Ethan Kross and Brad Bushman, "Flies on the wall are less aggressive: self-distancing 'in the heat of the moment' reduces aggressive thoughts, angry feelings and aggressive behavior", Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 2012, volume 48, pages 1187 to 1191. The "when X happens, I will do Y" plans are known in the research as implementation intentions. See Peter Gollwitzer and Paschal Sheeran, "Implementation intentions and goal achievement: a meta-analysis of effects and processes", Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 2006, volume 38, pages 69 to 119.

The review of anger treatments in chapter 13 is Amy Lee and Raymond DiGiuseppe, "Anger and aggression treatments: a review of meta-analyses", Current Opinion in Psychology, 2018, volume 19, pages 65 to 74.

The twenty-minute figure, the split between the point and the heat, the account of why outbursts fail to get a point heard, and the chapter on old anger are my own reasoning and interpretation. Test them against your own experience, as the exercises ask you to.

This book is general information and is no substitute for medical or psychological care.