What Happens When We Get
Angry?
When we get angry, the heart rate, arterial tension and
testosterone production increases, cortisol (the stress hormone)
decreases, and the left hemisphere of the brain becomes more
stimulated. (Credit: Image courtesy of Plataforma SINC)
ScienceDaily (June 1, 2010) — When we
get angry, the heart rate, arterial tension and testosterone
production increases, cortisol (the stress hormone) decreases, and
the left hemisphere of the brain becomes more stimulated. This is
indicated by a new investigation lead by scientists from the
University of Valencia (UV) that analyses the changes in the brain's
cardiovascular, hormonal and asymmetric activation response when we
get angry.
"Inducing emotions generates profound changes in the autonomous
nervous system, which controls the cardiovascular response, and also in
the endocrine system. In addition, changes in cerebral activity also
occur, especially in the frontal and temporal lobes," Neus Herrero, main
author of the study and researcher at UV, explains.
The researchers induced anger in 30 men using the version that has
been adapted to Spanish of the procedure "Anger Induction" (AI),
consisting of 50 phrases in first person that reflect daily situations
that provoke anger. Before and immediately after the inducement of anger
they measured the heart rate and arterial tension, the levels of
testosterone and cortisol, and the asymmetric activation of the brain
(using the dichotic listening technique), the general state of mind and
the subjective experience of the anger emotion.
The results, published in the journal Hormones and Behavior,
reveal that anger provokes profound changes in the state of mind of the
subjects ("they felt angered and had a more negative state of mind") and
in different psychobiological parameters. There is an increase in heart
rate, arterial tension and testosterone, but the cortisol level
decreases.
Asymmetries of brain activity
Nonetheless, "by focusing on the asymmetric brain activity of the
frontal lobe that occurs when we experience emotions, there are two
models that contradict the case of anger," the researcher highlights.
The first model, 'of emotional valence', suggests that the left
frontal region of the brain is involved in experiencing positive
emotions, whilst the right is more related to negative emotions.
The second model, 'of motivational direction', shows that the left
frontal region is involved in experiencing emotions related to
closeness, whilst the right is associated with the emotions that provoke
withdrawal.
The positive emotions, like happiness, are usually associated to a
motivation of closeness, and the negative ones, like fear and sadness,
are characterised by a motivation of withdrawal.
However, not all emotions behave in accordance with this connection.
"The case of anger is unique because it is experienced as negative but,
often, it evokes a motivation of closeness," the expert explains.
"When experiencing anger, we have observed in our study an increase
in right ear advantage, that indicates a greater activation of the left
hemisphere, which supports the model of motivational direction," Herrero
points out.. In other words, when we get angry, our asymmetric cerebral
response is measured by the motivation of closeness to the stimulus that
causes us to be angry and not so much by the fact we consider this
stimulus as negative: "Normally when we get angry we show a natural
tendency to get closer to what made us angry to try to eliminate it," he
concludes.
Every emotion is unique
This is the first general study on emotions and more specifically on
anger that examines all these different psychobiological parameters
(cardiovascular, hormonal response and asymmetric activation response of
the brain) in a single investigation to study the changes caused by the
inducement of anger. In addition the results of the study are along the
same lines as previous investigations and defend what has been noted by
Darwin: that the emotions, in this case anger, are accompanied by unique
and specific (psychobiological) patterns for each emotion.
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