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THE PUNCHING BAG DID NOT REDUCE ANGER
You May Have Told Yourself To Hit Something When You're Angry
The Advice Has An Obvious Logic To It
Researchers Were Testing That Logic By 1959
Venting While Thinking About The Insult Made Anger Worse
Going Over It Again Kept The Anger Active In Memory
One Researcher At Iowa State Ran The Experiment
Freud Supplied The Idea Long Before Anyone Tested It
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OKAY BACK FROM THE LABORATORY BENCH 🧪
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WHERE THE IDEA CAME FROM 💡
The Belief That Venting Helps Traces Back To A Neurologist Named Freud
Freud Believed That Repressed Emotions Build Up Inside
A Viennese Physician Named Breuer Joined Him On A Treatment
They Called The Process Catharsis From The Greek Word
It Literally Means Cleansing Or Purging
According To Catharsis Theory Acting Aggressively Purges Anger
Watching Aggression Was Meant To Work The Same Way
Freud Treated Emotional Expression As A Cure For Symptoms
He Believed Repressed Negative Emotions Could Cause Hysteria
The Hydraulic Model Treats Anger As Pressure In A Closed Space
Without Release This Pressure Eventually Causes An Explosive Rage
The Solution Is To Let The Pressure Out In Small Amounts
Modern Self Help Adopted This Model Of Anger
Magazine Articles Told Readers To Hit Pillows And Punching Bags
A Toy Catalog Sold A Punching Dummy With A Pocket For Photos
People Could Insert An Image Of The Person Who Angered Them
Scientific Tests Of Catharsis Theory Began Soon After Freud
In 1959 Half A Sample Pounded Nails For 10 Minutes
The Nail Pounders Ended Up More Hostile Rather Than Less
Psychologist Bandura Called For A Catharsis Moratorium In 1973
The Researchers Geen And Quanty Reviewed The Evidence In 1977
Their Review Found Venting Does Not Reduce Aggression
If Anything They Said It Made People More Aggressive
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WHAT THE EXPERIMENT DID 🥊
The Experiment Tested Whether People Who Vented Anger Felt Relief
A Psychologist At Iowa State Named Bushman Recruited 602 Students
300 Were Men And 302 Were Women
Two Women Refused To Hit The Punching Bag
The Final Sample Consisted Of 300 Men And 300 Women
Each Participant Wrote A One Paragraph Essay On Abortion
Every One Believed Another Student Would Evaluate It
No Other Student Existed
The Essay Came Back Rated Between Minus 10 And Minus 8
Harsh Comments Said This Is One Of The Worst Essays
Two Thirds Of Participants Were Then Assigned To Hit A Bag
The Rumination Group Saw A Photo Of Another Student
They Were Told To Think About The Person Who Criticized Them
The Distraction Group Saw A Photo From A Fitness Magazine
They Were Told To Think About Becoming Physically Fit
Both Groups Could Hit A 70 Pound Punching Bag As Long As Wanted
One Man In The Rumination Group Punched A Hole In The Wall
The Control Group Did Not Hit Anything
Those Participants Sat Quietly For 2 Minutes
Anger Was Measured Using A Mood Adjective Form
Aggression Was Measured On A Competitive Reaction Time Task
The Winner Could Blast The Loser With Noise Through Headphones
Noise Levels Ranged From 60 Decibels To 105 Decibels
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WHAT IT FOUND 📋
The People Who Vented While Ruminating Did Not Feel Better
People In The Rumination Group Felt Angrier Than The Others
Distraction And Control Groups Did Not Differ From Each Other
The Rumination Group Was Also Most Aggressive
On A Noise Task They Set The Loudest Sound Levels
The Distraction Group Set Intermediate Levels
Participants Who Sat Still Chose The Quietest Setting
Only The Rumination And Control Difference Reached Significance
Lower Anger Did Not Mean Lower Aggression
Venting Did Not Improve Positive Mood Either
Positive Mood Scores Did Not Differ Across The Three Groups
Distracted Participants Hit The Bag More Times Than Ruminating Ones
The Distraction Group Averaged 127.5 Hits Against 112.2
Arousal Does Not Explain Why Rumination Increased Anger
The Paper Says The Worst Advice Is To Hit A Bag While Ruminating
It Adds That Pop Psychologists Recommend Exactly That
Venting While Ruminating Kept Angry Feelings Active In Memory
Doing Nothing At All Was More Effective Than Venting Anger
The Paper's Own Conclusion Was That Catharsis Theory Is Wrong
