Anger is a useful tool for overcoming obstacles, so don’t ignore it.

Many people believe that anger is a bad feeling that has to be controlled. However, motivation may be boosted by this strong emotion. An American research found that feeling angry might actually motivate people to pursue their aspirations. It might serve as inspiration for conquering challenges and completing demanding assignments. This study, which was conducted on more than 1,000 participants in several trials, was conducted by Texas A&M University researchers and published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The objective was to evaluate the function of rage and other emotions under particular circumstances. For instance, in the first experiment, 233 college students were allocated at random to one of five emotional states: neutral, amusement, melancholy, wrath, or desire. The researchers presented the subjects a sequence of 15 photos, each exhibited for five seconds, in order to generate these feelings. Images of insults against the university football team, for instance, were displayed to those who were assigned rage. After then, participants had to solve a number of anagrams. According to the findings, pupils who were furious solved 39% more problems than those who were indifferent. In general, pupils who were assigned furious sentiments were able to finish more anagrams than any other participant. The study found that those who were furious solved problems more persistently.

Superior Accomplishers

In a different experiment, participants had to beat the hard and easy modes in a video game about skiing in order to get a high score. Once more, those allocated to the anger group performed better than those assigned to the neutral or sad sentiments. However, they fared as well as those who were allocated pleasure and desire.

In every trial, anger outperformed a neutral condition in helping participants accomplish their objectives in a range of difficult circumstances. It was connected, in certain instances, to higher scores or faster reaction times. According to the news release that accompanies the study, in one trial, it also boosted cheating in order to obtain a better result. But in other tests, people were also able to accomplish their goals through fun and desire.

“Previous research suggests that a mix of emotions, including negative emotions like anger, result in the best outcomes, but the view that positive emotion is ideal for mental health and well-being has been prominent in lay theories and psychological accounts of emotion.”