Research confirms a simple method for reducing anger

A analysis group in Japan has found that writing down one’s response to a destructive incident on a chunk of paper after which shredding it or throwing it away reduces emotions of anger.

“We anticipated that our methodology would suppress anger to some extent,” lead researcher Nobuyuki Kawai mentioned. “Nonetheless, we had been amazed that anger was eradicated nearly completely.”

This analysis is vital as a result of controlling anger at residence and within the office can cut back destructive penalties in our jobs and private lives. Sadly, many anger administration methods proposed by specialists lack empirical analysis assist. They may also be tough to recall when indignant.

The outcomes of this examine, revealed in Scientific Stories, are the end result of years of earlier analysis on the affiliation between the written phrase and anger discount. It builds on work displaying how interactions with bodily objects can management an individual’s temper.

For his or her challenge, Kawai and his graduate pupil Yuta Kanaya, each on the Graduate College of Informatics, Nagoya College, requested contributors to put in writing transient opinions about vital social issues, akin to whether or not smoking in public must be outlawed. They then advised them {that a} doctoral pupil at Nagoya College would consider their writing.

Nonetheless, the doctoral college students doing the analysis had been vegetation. No matter what the contributors wrote, the evaluators scored them low on intelligence, curiosity, friendliness, logic, and rationality. To actually drive residence the purpose, the doctoral college students additionally wrote the identical insulting remark: “I can not imagine an informed particular person would suppose like this. I hope this particular person learns one thing whereas on the college.”

After handing out these destructive feedback, the researchers requested the contributors to put in writing their ideas on the suggestions, specializing in what triggered their feelings. Lastly, one group of contributors was advised to both get rid of the paper they wrote in a trash can or hold it in a file on their desk. A second group was advised to destroy the doc in a shredder or put it in a plastic field.

The scholars had been then requested to price their anger after the insult and after both disposing of or maintaining the paper. As anticipated, all contributors reported the next stage of anger after receiving insulting feedback. Nonetheless, the anger ranges of the people who discarded their paper within the trash can or shredded it returned to their preliminary state after disposing of the paper. In the meantime, the contributors who held on to a tough copy of the insult skilled solely a small lower of their total anger.

Kawai imagines utilizing his analysis to assist businesspeople who discover themselves in worrying conditions. “This system could possibly be utilized within the second by writing down the supply of anger as if taking a memo after which throwing it away when one feels indignant in a enterprise scenario,” he defined.

Together with its sensible advantages, this discovery could make clear the origins of the Japanese cultural custom often known as “hakidashisara” (“hakidashi” refers back to the purging or spitting out of one thing, and “sara” refers to a dish or plate) on the Hiyoshi shrine in Kiyosu, Aichi Prefecture, simply exterior of Nagoya. Hakidashisara is an annual competition the place folks smash small disks representing issues that make them indignant. Their findings could clarify the sensation of reduction that contributors report after leaving the competition.