Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-vfjqv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T14:19:31.228Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Clinicians Ought to View Anger Contextually

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 October 2014

Raymond W. Novaco
Raymond W. Novaco*
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
*
School of Social Ecology, Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California, Irvine, California, 92717-5150
Get access

Abstract

Constructions of the experiential sources of anger, both in ordinary language accounts and in scientific studies, are characterised by a proximity bias. Anger is commonly represented as being due to acute, proximate occurrences. However, anger can be alternatively understood to be a product of contextual conditions, which may involve distal or ambient determinants. The themes of embeddedness, interrelatedness, and transformationality, derived from the contextual perspective of Stokols in environmental psychology, are presented for the understanding of anger as pertinent to clinical concerns and as heuristics for anger management interventions.

Type
Research Article
Information
Behaviour Change , Volume 10 , Issue 4 , December 1993 , pp. 208 - 218
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Aiken, G. (1984). Assaults on staff in a locked ward: Prediction and consequences. Medicine, Science and the Law, 24, 199–207.Google Scholar
Averill, J.R. (1982). Anger and aggression: An essay on emotion. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barefoot, J.C., Peterson, B.L., Dahlstrom, W.G., Siegler, I.C., Anderson, N.B., & Williams, R.B. (1991). Hostility patterns and health implications: Correlates of Cook-Medley Hostility Scale scores in a national survey. Health Psychology, 10, 18–24.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R.F., Stillwell, A., & Wotman, S.R. (1990). Victim and perpetrator accounts of interpersonal conflict: Autobiographical narratives about anger. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 59, 994–1005.Google Scholar
Beers, C.W. (1908). A mind that found itself. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.Google Scholar
Ben-Zur, H., & Breznitz, S. (1991). What makes people angry: Dimensions of anger-evoking events. Journal of Research in Personality, 25, 1–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkowitz, L. (1989). Frustration-aggression hypothesis: Examination and reformulation. Psychological Bulletin, 106, 59–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brenner, H. (1976). Estimating the social costs of economic policy: Implications for mental and physical health and criminal aggression. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.Google Scholar
Cameron, N. (1943). The paranoid pseudo-community. American Journal of Sociology, 49, 32–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Campbell, J.M. (1983). Ambient stressors. Environment and Behaviour, 15, 355–380.Google Scholar
Carmel, H., & Hunter, M. (1989). Staff injuries from inpatient violence. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 40, 41–46.Google Scholar
Carmel, H., & Hunter, M. (1990). Staff injuries from patient attack: Five years' data. Paper presented at the 143rd Annual Meeting, American Psychiatric Association, New York.Google Scholar
Catalano, R., Dooley, D., Novaco, R.W., Wilson, G., & Hough, R. (1993). Using ECA survey data to examine the effect of job layoffs on violent behavior. Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 44, 874–879.Google Scholar
Cohen, S., Evans, G., Stokols, D., & Krantz, D. (1986). Behavior, health, and environmental stress. New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Conn, L.M., & Lion, J.R. (1983). Assaults in a university hospital. In Lion, J.R. & Reid, W.H., (Eds.), Assaults within psychiatric facilities (pp. 61–69). New York: Grune and Stratton.Google Scholar
deCharms, R. (1968). Personal causation. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Depp, F.C. (1976). Violent behavior patterns of psychiatric wards. Aggressive Behavior, 2, 295–306.Google Scholar
Depp, F.C. (1983). Assaults in a public mental hospital. In Lion, J.R. & Reid, W.H. (Eds.), Assaults within psychiatric facilities (pp. 21–45). New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Dollard, J., Doob, L., Miller, N., Mowrer, O., & Sears, R. (1939). Frustration and aggression. New Haven: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Drinkwater, J., & Gudjonsson, G. (1989). The nature of violence in psychiatric hospitals. In Howells, K. & Hollin, C. (Eds.), Clinical approaches to violence (pp. 287–307). London: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Edwards, J.G., & Reid, W.H. (1983). Violence in psychiatric facilities in Europe and the United States. In Lion, J.R. & Reid, W.H. (Eds.), Assaults within psychiatric facilities (pp. 131–142). New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Gentry, W.D. (1985). Relationship of anger-coping styles and blood pressure among black Americans. In Chesney, M. & Rosenman, R. (Eds.), Anger and hostility in cardiovascular and behavioral disorders (pp. 139–147). Washington, DC: Hemisphere.Google Scholar
Gentry, W.D., Chesney, A., Gary, H., Hall, R., & Harburg, E. (1982). Habitual anger-coping style: I. Effect on mean blood pressure and risk for essential hypertension. Psychosomatic Medicine, 44, 195–202.Google Scholar
Haller, R.M., & Deluty, R.H. (1988). Assaults on staff by psychiatric in-patients: A critical review. British Journal of Psychiatry, 152, 174–179.Google Scholar
Harburg, E., Blakelock, E., & Roeper, P. (1979). Resentful and reflective coping with arbitrary authority and blood pressure: Detroit. Psychosomatic Medicine, 41, 189–202.Google Scholar
Harburg, E., Erfurt, J., Hauenstein, L., Chape, C., Schull, W., & Shork, M. (1973). Socio-ecological stress, suppressed hostility, skin color, and black-white male blood pressure: Detroit. Psychosomatic Medicine, 35, 276–296.Google Scholar
Harris, M.B. (1993). How provoking! What makes men and women angry. Aggressive Behavior, 19, 199–211.Google Scholar
Hepworth, J., & West, S. (1988). Lynching and the economy: A time-series reanalysis of Hovland and Sears (1940). Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 55, 239–247.Google Scholar
Hokanson, J.E., & Burgess, M. (1962a). The effects of status, type of frustration, and aggression on vascular processes. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 65, 232–237.Google Scholar
Hokanson, J.E., & Burgess, M. (1962b). The effects of three types of aggression on vascular processes. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 64, 446–449.Google Scholar
Hokanson, J.E., & Shelter, S. (1961). The effects of overt aggression on physiological arousal level. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 63, 446–448.Google Scholar
Kellam, S.G., Goldberg, S.C., Schooler, N.R., Berman, A., & Shmelzer, J. (1967). Ward atmosphere and outcome of treatment of acute schizophrenia. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 5, 145–163.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kellam, S.G., Shmelzer, J.L., & Berman, A. (1966). Variation in the atmospheres of psychiatric wards. Archives of General Psychiatry, 14, 561–570.Google Scholar
Konecni, V.J. (1975a). Annoyance, type and duration of post-annoyance activity, and aggression: The “cathartic effect.” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 104, 76–102.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Konecni, V.J. (1975b). The mediation of aggressive behavior: Arousal level versus anger and cognitive labeling. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 32, 706–712.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Larkin, E., Murtagh, S., & Jones, S. (1988). A preliminary study of violent incidents in a special hospital (Rampton). British Journal of Psychiatry, 153, 226–231.Google Scholar
Lewin, K. (1935). A dynamic theory of personality. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Lion, J.R., & Reid, W.H. (1983). Assaults within psychiatric facilities. New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Madden, D., Lion, J., & Penna, M. (1976). Assaults on psychiatrists by patients. American Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 422–425.Google Scholar
Monahan, J. (1984). The prediction of violent behavior: Toward a second generation of theory and policy. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 10–15.Google Scholar
Moos, R. (1974). Evaluating treatment environments. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Moos, R., & Houts, P. (1968). Assessment of the social atmospheres of psychiatric wards. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 73, 595–604.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moos, R., & Schwartz, J. (1972). Treatment environment and treatment outcome. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 154, 264–275.Google Scholar
Moos, R., Shelton, R., & Petty, C. (1973). Perceived ward climate and treatment outcome. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 82, 291–298.Google Scholar
Novaco, R.W. (1976). The functions and regulation of the arousal of anger. American Journal of Psychiatry, 133, 1124–1128.Google Scholar
Novaco, R.W. (1986). Anger as a clinical and social problem. In Blanchard, R. & Blanchard, C. (Eds.), Advances in the study of aggression (Vol. 2, pp. 1–67). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Novaco, R.W. (1991). Aggression on roadways. In Baenninger, R. (Ed.), Targets of violence and aggression (pp. 253–326). Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Novaco, R.W. (1994). Anger as a risk factor for violence among the mentally disordered. In Monahan, J. & Steadman, H. (Eds.), Violence and mental disorder (pp. 21–59). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Novaco, R.W., Kliewer, W., & Broquet, A. (1991). Home environment consequence of commute travel impedance. American Journal of Community Psychology, 19, 881–909.Google Scholar
Novaco, R.W., Stokols, D., & Milanesi, L. (1990). Objective and subjective dimensions of travel impedance as determinants of commuting stress. American Journal of Community Psychology, 18, 231–257.Google Scholar
Novaco, R.W., & Thacker, S.W. (1993). Anger and assaultive behavior among psychiatric hospital patients. Manuscript submitted for publication.Google Scholar
Parry, M.H. (1968). Aggression on the road. London: Tavistock.Google Scholar
Patterson, G.R. (1974). Intervention for boys with conduct problems: Multiple settings, treatments, and criteria. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 42, 471–481.Google Scholar
Patterson, G.R. (1976). The aggressive child: Victim and architect of a coercive system. In Mash, E., Hamerlynck, L., & Handy, L. (Eds.), Behavior modification and families (pp. 267–316). New York: Brunner/Mazel.Google Scholar
Patterson, G.R., Littman, R.A., & Bricker, W. (1967). Assertive behavior in children: A step toward a theory of aggression. Monographs of the Society for Research in Child Development, 32(5).Google Scholar
Reid, J.B., & Kavanagh, K. (1985). A social interactional approach to child abuse: Risk, prevention, and treatment. In Chesney, M. & Rosenman, R. (Eds.), Anger and hostility in cardiovascular and behavioral disorders (pp. 241–257). Washington: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation.Google Scholar
Reid, J.B., Patterson, G.R., & Loeber, R. (1980, 10). The abused child: Victim, instigator, or innocent bystander? Paper presented at the Nebraska Symposium on Motivation, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln.Google Scholar
Rook, K.S. (1984). The negative side of social interaction: Impact on psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 46, 1097–1108.Google Scholar
Ruben, I., Wolkon, G., & Yamamoto, J. (1980). Physical attacks on psychiatric residents by patients. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 168, 243–245.Google Scholar
Ryan, J.A., & Poster, E.C. (1989). The assaulted nurse: Short-term and long term responses. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 3, 323–331.Google Scholar
Steinberg, L., Catalano, R., & Dooley, D. (1981). Economic antecedents of child abuse and neglect. Child Development, 52, 260–267.Google Scholar
Scheff, T.J. (1966). Being mentally ill: A sociological theory. Chicago: Aldine.Google Scholar
Scherer, K.R., Abeles, R.P., & Fisher, C.S. (1975). Human aggression and conflict. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Stokols, D. (1987). Conceptual strategies of environmental psychology. In Stokols, D. & Altman, I. (Eds.), Handbook of environmental psychology (pp. 41–70). New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Stokols, D. (1988). Transformational processes in people-environment relations. In McGrath, J.E. (Ed.), The social psychology of time (pp. 233–252). Newbury Park, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Stokols, D., & Novaco, R.W. (1981). Transportation and well-being: An ecological perspective. In Altman, I., Wohlwill, J., & Everett, P. (Eds.) Transportation and behavior (pp. 85–130). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
Turner, C.W., Layton, J.F., & Simons, L.S. (1975). Naturalistic studies of aggressive behavior: Aggressive stimuli, victim visibility, and horn-honking. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 31, 1098–1107.Google Scholar
Zillmann, D. (1971). Excitation transfer in communication-mediated aggressive behavior. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 7, 419–434.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zillmann, D. (1983). Arousal and aggression. In Geen, R.G. & Donnerstein, E.I. (Eds.), Aggression: Theoretical and empirical reviews (Vol. 1, pp. 75–101). New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Zillmann, D., & Bryant, J. (1974). Effect of residual excitation on the emotional response to provocation and delayed aggressive behaviour. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 30, 782–791.Google Scholar