The Time Course of Anger: An Experimental Investigation

Abstract

Conceptualizations of anger have suffered from a lack of research investigating the temporal dynamics of anger episodes. Furthermore, though some studies have provided valuable insights into the time course of anger, no study to date has utilized a standardized laboratory paradigm designed to mimic an interpersonal provocation. The purpose of this study was to characterize the time course of the affective, physiological, and behavioral components of anger in response to a standardized provocation. Our second aim was to assess potential effects of trait anger, trait aggression, trait hostility, and emotion regulation deficits on the time course of the different components of anger. Participants (n = 82) engaged in the Modified Taylor Aggression Paradigm (MTAP), a laboratory measure of anger/aggression in which provocation is manipulated by varying electric shocks selected for the participant by an (unbeknownst to the participant) fictitious opponent. This study utilized a modified version of the classic TAP that simulated an acute interpersonal provocation that one might encounter in the “real world.” Subjective anger, physiological arousal (as evidenced by heart rate [HR], galvanic skin response [GSR], and high-frequency heart rate variability [HF HRV]), and the behavioral expression of anger (aggression) were measured throughout the task before, during and after provocation. Consistent with previous research, results showed that the rise time to peak levels of most outcome variables was significantly faster than the return time from peak back to baseline. Additionally, results showed that the majority of the time course variables were not correlated with one another providing evidence for the idea that different components of anger have independent time courses. Contrary to our hypotheses, trait variables were largely unrelated to time course variables. The current study provides further evidence for the relationship between the rise time and return time in the time course of subjective, physiological and behavioral manifestations of anger using a standardized and ecologically valid provocation task.