Angry People Make More Rational Decisions and Take the "Right" Action?

Need to make a decision? Get angry - LiveScience - MSNBC.com

This is an article that really needs to be commented upon, since it appears to upset evertyhing we've thought about angry.

In our long and tortured collectived and individual attempts to deal with this strong emotion, here comes the latest. As summed up by the msnbc article, "The next time you are plagued with indecision and need a clear way out, it might help to get angry."

The researchers claim anger helps people make better choices (notice this is mental, not an action). They claim it actually aids thinking rationally because it makes us tend to concentrate on the decision-cues "that really matter."

Study is by Wesley Moons, a psychologist at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and his colleague Diane Mackie.

The upshot is that they think anger makes people think more rationally - both in being able to focus on the "strong" argument (by their definition, the one with valid scientific information), in being more logical in their thinking, and in being better able to 'consier the source.' They think it makes people more decisive. When not angry, people tend to be more wishy-washy. Well, that makes sense.

Why did this bring to my mind the phrase, "cold logic."

Points to ponder:
1. This was induced anger in a laboratory setting.
2. The decision they were asked to make was something like "do college students have good financial habits."
3. Their reporting of the non-logical candidates - well, perhaps LESS logical. Consider that the sample was all U. C. Santa Barbara college students.
4. They were TOLD to "logically evaluate" the material. How often, when you are enraged, are you sitting in a room with an authority figure and pencil and paper, and TOLD to "logically evaluate" the material? More likely you're being attacked by a person who keeps countering that you don't make sense, aren't thinking clearly, and could see it their way if you weren't such an idiot. Or you're facing a mindless entity like whoever is causing the traffic jam, or the bureaucracy that invented taxes, or the evil design that gave you small boobs or pimples. Or worse yet, something that triggers another survival instinct - let's say you find your spouse cheating.

The article ends with this summary: "This could be because anger is designed to motivate people to take action — and that it actually helps people to take the right action, the authors wrote."

That's a very strong statement -- the right action.

Why can't I get it out of my mind, the angry husband who has just found his wife in bed with another man and shoots them both? Which in some states is still manslaughter - "by reason of insanity" - or stronger yet, the cold anger, the cold analytical anger that motivates the person to premeditate a murder? I which case our lega system does not consider it manslaughter.

Real food for thought here. Perhaps one thing to consider is that bell curve again. In the middle, anger does motivate to right action. When you finally get tired of being abused by a spouse or boss and take a "right" action, such as trying to change it, or leaving. But at the extreme or rage ... do we really rational decisions and make the "right" action most of the time? Most of our regrets in life are from lashing out in anger aren't they? The decision may be correct that your husband is cheating - you have analyzed the evidence, and founds the facts. And after that, what is the "right" action? Can it be that simple?

Interesting piece of research here. Let me know your thoughts - mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc .

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