“Why did I lose? I have to do it more tenaciously.” The power of anger that calls for a strong mentality[최고야의 심심(心深)토크]

Anger, the ‘double-edged sword’, used constructively

It deals with stories about the deep things in the heart. If you have any questions about life such as, “Why is it like this?” or “Why can’t my heart do what I want?”, please let me know by e-mail ([email protected]). Let’s think about it together.

Anger that mobilizes a lot of energy in an instant can sometimes be the driving force to achieve a goal. A scene from the drama ‘Big Thing’ starring actor Cha In-pyo, who is famous for his ‘anger memes’. SBS screen capture

‘I wish I’d made you angry earlier.’

Max Perutz, a British biochemist who won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his discovery of the molecular structure of hemoglobin, published a collection of scientific essays with an interesting title. The origin of the title goes back to a Saturday morning about 70 years ago. Perutz, frustrated by the lack of progress in his research, was shocked when he read a newly published paper. This was because his rival researchers had already published papers on the research problems he was struggling with.

Perutz spent the weekend in a state of rage, trying to figure out how to make up for it. Then, on Monday morning, he stormed into the office of his then boss at the research institute, renowned physicist Lawrence Bragg, and poured out his incredible research ideas. When Bragg asked how he came up with these ideas, Perutz replied, “It started with anger at not having come up with the ideas of my rivals first.” Bragg then said, “I wish I had made you angry earlier.”

Cover of a book of science essays by Max Perutz, published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

Sometimes anger can be a driving force for achievement. Behind anger is a competitive spirit, etc. Motivation Because it also has positive aspects that give you energy and boost your mood. That is why Aristotle also said, “Anger is often a weapon of morality and courage.” In this way, the various emotions we feel function like ‘MacGyver’s knife.’ Just as different tools are needed depending on the situation, there are situations in life where anger can be useful.

However, anger is always labeled as a ‘bad emotion’. This is largely because it has a strong image of being extreme and negative, like intermittent explosive disorder (intermittent explosive disorder) or hwabyung, where anger is expressed too excessively or insufficiently. Rather than suppressing anger or letting it out indiscriminately, let’s look at how to ‘moderately’ control it and use it as energy for life.

● When you get angry, your concentration and perseverance become stronger

Anger is an emotion that is essential to survival. Being angry is a signal that something is threatening my physical and social survival. Therefore, when I get angry, I have a strong motivation to ‘get rid of’ that object. The way angry Perutz eliminates his rival researchers is by producing greater research results. Eliminating a target requires high concentration, quick thinking, and quick movements. Surprisingly, when we get angry, our bodies actually react like this.

A research team led by Professor Heather Wrench of the Department of Psychology and Brain Science at Texas A&M University conducted an experiment to see what emotional states increase work efficiency. They gathered 233 participants and divided them into 5 groups. Group 4 was shown 15 pictures that induced specific emotions, such as anger, joy, sadness, and desire (appetite), for 5 seconds each. The anger group was shown pictures of child abuse, and the desire group was shown pictures of delicious cakes. One group was instructed to maintain a calm state without any emotional agitation.

To induce anger in the experimental participants, photographs reminiscent of child abuse were used. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

After showing them the pictures, they were given a fairly difficult verbal intelligence test. The results showed that the angry group performed the best. You might think that they would solve the problems better when they were calm, but that wasn’t the case. In fact, the angry group scored about 40% higher than these people. They also had a strong persistence in solving difficult problems until the end. This is because they suddenly developed the power to roll up their sleeves and persistently challenge themselves until they succeed.

The graph highlighted in blue shows that angry participants solved more problems than those in other emotional states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology

The same was true when the type of test changed. Again, angry participants performed better than others on other tests that required concentration and quick reaction speed. However, there was no difference in performance between groups on easy problems. The researchers explained, “Anger can be a driving force when you have to achieve a difficult goal rather than an easy one.”

● Cognitive Arousal…Creativity ‘flash’

When you get angry, your creativity also shines. When you get angry, your sympathetic nervous system is activated, which increases your blood pressure and heart rate, and your pupils dilate, which activates your cognitive abilities. Both your body and mind are in a state of arousal. At this time, you are better at broad and unconventional thinking than at well-refined and calm thinking. Your range of thinking is wider than usual, and your creativity can be displayed.

Professor Hao Ning of the Department of Psychology at East China Normal University in China analyzed 23 papers that studied the relationship between anger and creativity, and found that angry people were actually more creative than those who were not. The study participants in the analyzed papers were a total of 2,513 people, and when they were intentionally made angry and asked to solve problems that tested creativity, they solved them better than other people.

As a result, when you are angry, your concentration, problem-solving speed, persistence, and creativity level are higher than usual. This difference is also noticeable when compared to other emotional states such as sadness, anxiety, and joy. This means that if you do not suppress or ignore angry emotions but use them constructively, they can be helpful in life.

● “How do I get revenge?” Bad ideas come to mind easily

But the problem is that when you get angry, you also show malevolent creativity. That’s why the emotion of anger is like a ‘double-edged sword’. Anger and aggression are very close. In fact, angry people come up with more cruel and creative ways to take revenge. If Perutz had tried to harm a rival researcher, as opposed to constructively channeling his anger into research outcomes, then he might have been displaying malicious creativity.

When you’re angry, you tend to come up with creative revenge methods. For example, there are videos on YouTube of people who are angry about mosquitoes uploading various mosquito torture videos. They include burning them alive, pulling out their blood vessels (stingers), freezing them with ice, and locking them up and playing the same song for 24 hours. ‘PleaseBee’ YouTube screen capture

For example, suppose your apartment neighbor offers you a bonus if you help him with his home repairs. You willingly help him with the work. When you ask for the bonus after the work is done, your neighbor denies that he made such a promise. He even says, “It’s all in your head,” treating you like a weirdo. How can you repay him in this case?

This scenario is actually one of the tests that measures evil creativity. Others include how I would get revenge on a rude classmate who spilled coffee on my expensive books, or how I would get revenge on my roommate who invited guests over during my exam period and made a lot of noise and noise.

Professor Hao Ning’s research team recruited 102 experimental participants and investigated which emotional states would lead to more evil creativity based on these test items. This time, they divided the participants into three groups: angry, sad, and calm emotional states. In order to induce anger and sadness, they asked them to recall in detail the angry and sad events they had experienced in their lives for five minutes. After that, they solved general creativity test questions and evil creativity test questions, respectively.

As a result, the anger group solved not only general creativity problems but also evil creativity problems better than the other groups. They were better at coming up with diverse and ingenious revenge methods than those in other emotional states. The research team said, “When you get angry, you become emotionally aroused and aggressive, which can stimulate evil creativity,” and “We need an emotion control strategy to weaken this.”

● Write on paper Throw it awayCotton is also gone

Therefore, it is necessary to know how to control emotions when anger is expressed as aggression that harms others rather than energy for achieving goals. Indiscriminate expression of anger not only hurts the other person, but also causes a lot of burden to be dealt with later. Fortunately, efforts are being made in the academic world to find easy and quick ways to resolve anger.

You need your own anger management strategy to keep your anger from exploding into aggression and impulsivity. Getty Images

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan conducted a rather harsh experiment on 57 college students. They asked them to write their opinions on social issues such as “smoking in public places” and gave them deliberately humiliating evaluation results. They gave them low scores of 2 to 4 points (out of 9) for various categories such as logic and interest. They also wrote in their evaluation comments, “I can’t believe that an educated person can think like this. I wish I had learned something while attending college.” All participants received the same evaluation. When their emotional states were measured before and after receiving the evaluation results, their anger index rose sharply after receiving the evaluation.

The purpose of this experiment was the following: Students were asked to analyze and write down on a piece of paper their reasons for receiving such evaluations. They were also asked to write down their current feelings and the reasons for them in a specific and objective manner. Half of the participants were asked to store the paper in a clear plastic container on their desks. The rest were asked to crumple the paper into a ball and throw it in the trash.

After completing this process, I measured my anger level again and, surprisingly, People who threw the paper into the trash can returned to their initial calm level. On the other hand, the students who kept the paper in the bin continued to be angry. Was it because they were venting their anger by throwing the paper? The research team recruited the subjects again and repeated the same experiment. This time, instead of throwing the paper in the trash, they had them grind it in a shredder. The results were the same. The first thing that was important was getting rid of the paper, whether by throwing it in the trash or shredding it.

On the left is a scene where paper is shredded, and on the right is a scene where paper is stored in a plastic container. When the paper with the reason for the anger was thrown into the trash or shredded, the anger disappeared along with it. Scientific Reports

This experiment is a reverse use of the psychology of not being able to throw away things that are cherished. Many people live with clutter because they feel like their good emotions and memories that are attached to the things are being thrown away. If we use this in reverse, When you throw away or destroy an object that contains negative emotions, it can have the effect of getting rid of the emotions contained within it. The researchers especially recommended this method to parents, as it means that instead of fighting with their spouse or getting angry at their children at home, they can try a simple way to manage their emotions by writing them down on a piece of paper and throwing it away. Of course, you can use it at work too.

However, be careful not to use passionate language such as swear words that burn with anger, as this can actually make them angry. If you write as objectively as possible, the effect of cooling off the anger will be greater. Hwang Mi-gu, an adjunct professor of education at Kwangwoon University and author of “How Anger Becomes the Energy of Life,” emphasized, “People think that they will feel catharsis when they vent their anger without holding it in, but it can also have the opposite effect of making them even angrier or showing impulsiveness and aggression, so an emotion control strategy is necessary.”

So rather than letting anger become the driving force of life, when it occurs in a way that seems to harm others, you need to find your own way to calm it down. Professor Hwang said, “In fact, all the recommended methods for when you get angry, such as exercise, meditation, deep breathing, and writing an emotional diary, have already been scientifically verified,” and “You need to go through the process of finding which method among these is right for you.”

2024-09-22 11:16:26