Anger, curiosity, and optimism

Abstract

We examined with 500 Italian subjects the relationship between the subscales of the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory and a measure of the sense of well-being, the Life Orientation Test. As predicted, associations were not significant with scores on the scale of optimism; however, all coefficients were negative and the smallest ones were with the Anger Control scale. We also correlated scores on state and trait curiosity with those on 3 anger-expression scales; values indicated these dimensions were also unrelated to anger. The results indicate that, while anger has been proposed as an important component in the association of emotions with health, the specific type of anger expression may not be critical for one's sense of well-being. They also suggest that the construct of curiosity deserves further study as a potential measure of one's sense of well-being.