What if there were a surefire way to keep yourself from flying off the handle the next time something (or someone) made you mad—a secret weapon for crushing anger before it consumes you?
According to Japanese scientists, that secret weapon might be as simple as a pen and paper.
The Study Findings
The findings, published in Scientific Reports, culminated from extensive previous research investigating the association between the written word and reducing anger. They built on work demonstrating how interactions with physical objects can affect a person’s mood.The researchers began by infuriating their subjects—intentionally.
Mr. Kawai and his graduate student, Yuta Kanaya, at the Graduate School of Informatics, Nagoya University, asked participants to write down their opinions about social issues, such as whether smoking should be permitted in public schools. Then, they were told that a doctoral student from Nagoya University would evaluate their answers.
However, the research team instructed the doctoral students doing the evaluations to score the responses low on intelligence, interest, friendliness, and logic—regardless of what the students wrote. To add insult to injury, the doctoral students also wrote the same disparaging comment on each: “I cannot believe an educated person would think like this. I hope this person learns something while at the university.”
Ouch.
- Put it on their desk.
- Put it in a plastic box.
- Throw it away.
- Put it through a shredder.
Study Insights
The findings have far-reaching implications, as uncontrolled anger can have destructive consequences in all aspects of our lives.A good example is in the workplace.
Think of a time at work when you had a frustrating interaction with a colleague or manager. Instead of trying to contain your anger to stop yourself from launching a stapler across the room, you could calmly excuse yourself, return to your desk, and detail your feelings on the nearest post-it note. Then, you could tear it up into a billion pieces to help yourself restabilize.
The applications are practically limitless.
Final Thoughts
While meditation, breathing techniques, and talk therapy can help us process emotions in the long term, the study findings provide a simple, effective, science-based strategy for quelling anger in the moment—before it can take over and potentially lead to problems.So the next time you find yourself frustrated at work, while reading through comments on social media, or even while just watching the news, ensure that you have a pen and paper handy—you never know when you might need them.
