Does cognitive broadening reduce anger?

Elizabeth Summerell, Cindy Harmon-Jones, Nicholas J. Kelley, Carly K. Peterson, Klimentina Krstanoska-Blazeska, Eddie Harmon-Jones

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Past theory and research have suggested that motivationally intense affective states narrow cognitive scope. Research has also suggested manipulations that broaden cognitive scope reduce responses to appetitive positive affective stimuli and disgusting stimuli, thus suggesting that cognitive broadening reduces motivational intensity. This led to the hypothesis that cognitive broadening would reduce the approach-motivated negative emotion of anger. Seven studies assessed the effect of cognitive broadening on reported trait anger, state anger, attitudes toward anger, attributions of anger to ambiguous pictures, and accessibility of aggressive words. Results from individual studies found mixed support for these predictions. A meta-analysis, however, suggested a small but significant effect on trait anger/aggression and attitudes toward anger across studies. These results may indicate that cognitive scope, as manipulated in these studies, has a small effect on anger-related responses. Discussion speculates on potential explanations of these findings, and their importance for informing future research.
Original languageEnglish
Article number2665
Number of pages12
JournalFrontiers in Psychology
Volume9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Open Access - Access Right Statement

© 2019 Summerell, Harmon-Jones, Kelley, Peterson, Krstanoska-Blazeska and Harmon-Jones. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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