Emotional inteligence
are so much more prone to anger if they have alreadybeen provoked or slightly irritated by something else.Stress of all sorts creates adrenocortical arousal, loweringthe threshold for what provokes anger. Thussomeone who has had a hard day at work is especiallyvulnerable to becoming enraged later at home bysomething—the kids being too noisy or messy, say—thatunder other circumstances would not be powerfulenough to trigger an emotional hijacking.Zillmann comes to these insights on anger throughcareful experimentation. In a typical study, for example,he had a confederate provoke men and women who hadvolunteered by making snide remarks about them. Thevolunteers then watched a pleasant or upsetting film.Later the volunteers were given the chance to retaliateagainst the confederate by giving an evaluation theythought would be used in a decision whether or not tohire him. The intensity of their retaliation was directlyproportional to how aroused they had gotten from thefilm they had just watched; they were angrier after seeingthe unpleasant film, and gave the worst ratings.Anger Builds on Anger122/661Zillmann's studies seem to explain the dynamic at workin a familiar domestic drama I witnessed one day whileshopping. Down the supermarket aisle drifted the
123/661emphatic, measured tones of a young mother to her son,about three: "Put ... it ... back!""But I want it!" he whined, clinging more tightly to aNinja Turtles cereal box."Put it back!" Louder, her anger taking over.At that moment the baby in her shopping cart seatdropped the jar of jelly she had been mouthing. When itshattered on the floor the mother yelled, "That's it!" and,in a fury, slapped the baby, grabbed the three-year-old'sbox and slammed it onto the nearest shelf, scooped himup by the waist, and rushed down the aisle, the shoppingcart careening perilously in front, the baby nowcrying, her son, his legs dangling, protesting, "Put medown, put me down!"Zillmann has found that when the body is already in astate of edginess, like the mother's, and something triggersan emotional hijacking, the subsequent emotion,whether anger or anxiety, is of especially great intensity.This dynamic is at work when someone becomes enraged.Zillmann sees escalating anger as "a sequence ofprovocations, each triggering an excitatory reaction thatdissipates slowly." In this sequence every successiveanger-provoking thought or perception becomes a minitriggerfor amygdala-driven surges of catecholamines,each building on the hormonal momentum of those thatwent before. A second comes before the first has
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- Page 102 and 103: 102/661Gary was emotionally flat, c
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123/661
emphatic, measured tones of a young mother to her son,
about three: "Put ... it ... back!"
"But I want it!" he whined, clinging more tightly to a
Ninja Turtles cereal box.
"Put it back!" Louder, her anger taking over.
At that moment the baby in her shopping cart seat
dropped the jar of jelly she had been mouthing. When it
shattered on the floor the mother yelled, "That's it!" and,
in a fury, slapped the baby, grabbed the three-year-old's
box and slammed it onto the nearest shelf, scooped him
up by the waist, and rushed down the aisle, the shopping
cart careening perilously in front, the baby now
crying, her son, his legs dangling, protesting, "Put me
down, put me down!"
Zillmann has found that when the body is already in a
state of edginess, like the mother's, and something triggers
an emotional hijacking, the subsequent emotion,
whether anger or anxiety, is of especially great intensity.
This dynamic is at work when someone becomes enraged.
Zillmann sees escalating anger as "a sequence of
provocations, each triggering an excitatory reaction that
dissipates slowly." In this sequence every successive
anger-provoking thought or perception becomes a minitrigger
for amygdala-driven surges of catecholamines,
each building on the hormonal momentum of those that
went before. A second comes before the first has
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