Relation of the tendency to feel anger and postanger reappraisals

Abstract

The present study was designed to identify defensive reappraisals by analyzing their relations to changes in an interpersonal situation following expression of anger and reappraisals as well as to identify the characteristics of people who use defensive reappraisals. Japanese undergraduate students (N= 229) responded to a questionnaire on how they express anger in daily life. Analysis indicated the group who reported a lower tendency to feel anger (the Low group) reported reappraisals such that Damage to Self was less severe, and Instigator's Responsibility was smaller than that for the group who reported a higher tendency (the High group), which suggested that people who tend to feel less anger use reappraisals to reduce their anger after expression more than those who tend to feel more anger. Moreover, the amount of variance in Reappraisals accounted for by Changes in Interpersonal Situation was small in the Low group (R2=.06) compared to that for the High group (R2=.48), so people who tend to feel less anger seem to use defensive reappraisals.