The ObservatoryThe myth of shouting out your anger
Letting anger “out” feels right and does not help. It is one of psychology’s clearest myths. Here is what is actually going on.
Hit a pillow. Scream in the car. Go to a rage room and smash crockery. The idea that anger is a pressure that has to come out, catharsis, is one of the most persistent ideas in popular psychology. It also feels true: getting an outlet brings immediate relief.
The problem is that research has tested the idea, repeatedly, and found the opposite. In classic experiments, provoked participants either hit a punching bag while thinking about the person who provoked them, or sat quietly for a while. Those who hit did not become calmer. They became angrier, and they behaved more aggressively afterward than those who had done nothing at all.
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Why does it work?
That acting out increases rather than decreases aggression is shown in classic experiments (Bushman 2002) and holds up in later reviews; the catharsis idea is regarded as one of the most robustly disproven ideas in psychology. That suppression is not healthy either, and that reappraisal and calming down work better, follows from emotion regulation research (Gross).
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