- Appraisal theory of anger
- Anger arises from the appraisal that an aversive event was caused by an agent (person or institution) who acted wrongly, unfairly, or illegitimately. Three key appraisal dimensions drive anger: goal-relevance (the event matters to the person's goals), agency (someone is responsible), and norm-violation (the agent acted wrongly). Without the attribution of blame, the same outcome produces sadness rather than anger.
- Frustration-aggression hypothesis
- Proposed by Dollard, Miller and colleagues (1939): frustration — the blocking of a goal-directed response — always leads to aggression, and all aggression is caused by frustration. The original hypothesis was too absolute; Leonard Berkowitz revised it (1989) to state that frustration produces anger, which can but need not lead to aggression, especially when situational cues prime aggressive cognition.
- Cognitive neoassociation model
- Berkowitz's revision of frustration-aggression theory. Aversive events — frustration, pain, heat, noise — generate negative affect that automatically activates a network of anger-related cognitions, behaviours, and physiological responses. Hostile cues in the environment (weapons, aggressive language) can activate this network even without direct frustration, explaining the "weapons effect."
- Anger expression styles
- Research distinguishes three styles: Anger-Out (expressing anger outwardly, toward people or objects), Anger-In (suppressing or holding anger inward), and Anger-Control (actively controlling anger before or after it occurs). Chronic anger-out and anger-in are both associated with elevated cardiovascular risk; anger-control is the most adaptive pattern.
- Approach motivation
- Anger is associated with left frontal EEG asymmetry — the same asymmetry associated with approach motivation and positive affect. This distinguishes anger from fear, disgust, and sadness (all right-frontal). Angry people show increased tendency to approach the source of their frustration, sometimes leading to constructive confrontation and sometimes to aggression.
- Catharsis hypothesis
- The Freudian idea that "releasing" or expressing aggression reduces arousal and anger — like releasing steam from a pressure cooker. Empirical research consistently shows the opposite: venting anger (through physical aggression, yelling, or even aggressive imagery) maintains or increases anger rather than reducing it. Brad Bushman's work has been especially systematic in disconfirming catharsis.
- Hostile attribution bias
- The tendency to interpret ambiguous social behaviours as hostile or threatening. Individuals high in trait aggression show a systematic bias toward attributing hostile intent to others in ambiguous situations. This cognitive distortion feeds anger and aggression cycles, and is a key target in interventions for conduct problems and chronic anger.
- Displaced aggression
- The redirection of aggression from its original source (which may be unavailable, too powerful, or socially inappropriate to attack) to an innocent substitute target. A person frustrated at work who comes home and snaps at family members is showing displaced aggression. Rumination about the original trigger increases the likelihood of displacement.