Liliana Capitão, researcher at CIPsi's Psychological Neuroscience Laboratory, was interviewed by the journalist Tiago Ramalho, from PÚBLICO newspaper, for the article "Being angry isn't always bad and can even be useful to achieve goals".
The researcher commented on the results of a set of studies led by Heather Lench, researcher in psychology and cognitive science at Texas A&M University (USA), published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition, from the American Psychological Association.
The results arise from experiences and surveys involving more than one thousand participants and address situations in which negative emotions, like anger, occur. CIPsi's researcher, which has not participated in this study but is leading a project to study the cognitive mechanisms of anger, explains that there is a generalized idea that 'negative' emotions, such as anger, should be avoided, but these are actually valid emotions and have important functions.
Liliana Capitão also warns that a negative side was observed by this study: the stages of anger or wrath have resulted in a greater tendency to 'cheat' on one of the tasks that were designed to assess this behavior, showing that this emotion can also result in ethically questionable behaviors.
The researcher also highlights the need to study the stages of anger or wrath in contexts closest to real life, considering that the tasks used in the study were carried out in a laboratory context.
Read the full article here:
https://www.publico.pt/2023/10/31/ciencia/noticia/estar-irritado-mau-ate-util-cumprir-objectivos-2068518