Individual differences in patterns of appraisal and anger experience

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to identify and account for individual differences in the contextual experience of anger and its appraisals and in the associations between both. Participants (N 0/832) engaged in a directed imagery task of descriptions of unpleasant situations and reported on their appraisal and anger experience. Additionally, they filled out several dispositional questionnaires. The results demonstrated that at the basis of the experience of anger lies an externally induced disadvantage, which for many people elicits frustration. For some individuals, the latter is sufficient for becoming angered. Yet, for others, the thwarting has to be characterised by norm violation and has to be appraised as unfair and deliberate in order for them to experience anger. Individuals also differed as to whether threat to self-esteem was experienced along with frustration in situations that involved negative evaluative self-relevant information. Combined, the findings demonstrated that anger can occur in combination with different patterns of appraisals, varying as a function of situation and person characteristics.

Appraisal-emotion relationships in daily life.

“…Parkinson (1999) found that appraisal profiles for anger and guilt varied as a function of the extent to which the emotion was rational or not. Similarly, Kuppens, Van Mechelen, Smits, De Boeck, and Ceulemans (2007) found individual differences in relationships between appraisals and anger. Although suggestive, this research is not extensive enough to answer broader questions about individual differences in appraisal-emotion relationships.…”

Hindrances are not threats: Advancing the multidimensionality of work stress.

“…This prediction has been supported in numerous studies, including one by Skinner and Brewer (2002) which also found threat appraisal to be negatively associated with activated positive affect. In addition, it has been suggested that the experience of personal threat can stimulate anger as part of a defensive reaction (e.g., Beck, 1976;Kuppens, Van Mechelen, Smits, De Boeck, & Ceulemans, 2007). Finally, as threat appraisal may deplete energetic resources mobilized from an evolutionary survival instinct (e.g., Selye, 1982;Melamed, Ugarten, Shirom, Kahana, Lerman, & Froom, 1999), threat appraisal is likely to enhance fatigue.…”

Individual differences in emotion components and dynamics: Introduction to the Special Issue

“…According to this view, emotion components may proceed relatively independently from one another yet sometimes can combine to form the experience of, for instance, what one person would label ''anger'' under certain circumstances (e.g., Barrett et al, 2007). In other words, the 1252 KUPPENS, STOUTEN, MESQUITA antecedents and configurations that make up the experience of certain emotions can differ across individuals, reflecting the simple fact that the situations that elicit my anger may be different from those that elicit your anger, and that my anger may be composed of different elements than your anger (e.g., Kuppens, Van Mechelen, Smits, De Boeck, & Ceulemans, 2007;Stouten, De Cremer, & Van Dijk, 2005). In essence, such combinations can occur in an infinite number of ways to produce finely nuanced emotional experiences and responses (Ellsworth & Scherer, 2003), going far beyond the combinations of a number of basic emotions.…”