Research Hit: When Anger Is Good For You

Surely anger is negative emotion and hence bad for you and and for your stress!

Well, I know some angry people who have lived a long time, a very long time. So it can’t be too bad for everyone!

Yeah, the angry old man syndrome, but don’t we actually get happier with age?

Indeed, research does show this. But that’s off track, back to anger. Yes, anger is classed as a “negative” emotion. And so in this we would assume that the less anger we experience the better - or that anger and subsequent stress is bad for you.

And this research says it’s not?

Well, in emotional science there is something called the functionalist theory of emotions. Which rather than say that emotion is good or bad, says that emotions serve a function and so is good for some things - but can be bad for other things.

And what is anger good for, apart from getting angry?