Is anger a primary emotion?

[PsyDr]

I've been thinking about this for a while now. There is some neuroscience literature indicating it is, then some literature indicating it is not.

If anger is a primary emotion, then how do our treatments address this issue (e.g., SSRIs, CBT)?

There's probably some SDN student who has written a summary of this.

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[smalltownpsych]

Is there a definition of primary emotion vs secondary? I know that some therapists will say it’s a secondary emotion to get patients to recognize that there is often some fear that they are not acknowledging, but that doesn’t really sound like what you are saying. Also, research seems to be more about aggression which is more easy to define than internal subjective states such as anger.
In general, I find that my patients have difficulty with expressing anger appropriately. DBT doesn’t specifically address anger, but it is clearly a part of emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness. I actually think that addressing anger or aggression is central to effective treatment of BPD and that part of the reason it is so difficult to treat is that many clinicians are not comfortable with those emotions themselves.

As far as medications go, again probably focused on aggression as defined by behaviors.

 

[PsyDr]

In my read, the primary emotions are the ones that are either biologically determined, or universal in affect. There seems to be some mild differences between the Ekman based literature and the affective neuroscience based literature. Generally, they include anger as a primary emotion.

That's a little different than most of the DSM diagnosis, which indicate that anger is secondary to other affective processes. And most of the psychotherapy literature is based upon the idea that anger is caused by another emotion (i.e., anxiety). Seems to be a problem.

 

[R. Matey]

That's a little different than most of the DSM diagnosis, which indicate that anger is secondary to other affective processes. And most of the psychotherapy literature is based upon the idea that anger is caused by another emotion (i.e., anxiety). Seems to be a problem.

I was wondering if this was an 'anger is a secondary emotion' thread. It seems like one of those persistent tropes that grew out of ego psychology and gets circulated without a strong empirical base. In terms of treatment, Donald Michenbaum has done some excellent work on addressing problematic aggressive behaviors using a CBT framework.

 

[Fan_of_Meehl]

In my read, the primary emotions are the ones that are either biologically determined, or universal in affect. There seems to be some mild differences between the Ekman based literature and the affective neuroscience based literature. Generally, they include anger as a primary emotion.

That's a little different than most of the DSM diagnosis, which indicate that anger is secondary to other affective processes. And most of the psychotherapy literature is based upon the idea that anger is caused by another emotion (i.e., anxiety). Seems to be a problem.

I mean, anger/aggression seems universal even among mammals and would appear to have clear and unmistakable survival function(s) so, at least in that sense, it seems 'primary.' Of course, as a CBT-er, I conceptualize all human emotions as having some cognitive precursor (at least with respect to states not clearly caused by other things (drug intoxication/ withdrawal, post-ictal states, etc.). I'm just not that up to date on the basic scientific literature on emotion and the primary/secondary (emotion) distinction.

 

[borne_before]

I mean, anger/aggression seems universal even among mammals and would appear to have clear and unmistakable survival function(s) so, at least in that sense, it seems 'primary.' Of course, as a CBT-er, I conceptualize all human emotions as having some cognitive precursor (al least with respect to states not clearly caused by other things (drug intoxication/ withdrawal, post-ictal states, etc.). I'm just not that up to date on the basic scientific literature on emotion and the primary/secondary (emotion) distinction.

But how often does anger mask something else?

So maybe it's context dependent? Like fight/flight, vs feel disappointed because your toddler sister knocked down your magnatile tower...

 

[R. Matey]

So maybe it's context dependent? Like fight/flight, vs feel disappointed because your toddler sister knocked down your magnatile tower...

I would see this as a self-regulation issue rather than anger masking disappointment.

 

[PsyDr]

But how often does anger mask something else?

So maybe it's context dependent? Like fight/flight, vs feel disappointed because your toddler sister knocked down your magnatile tower...

In neuroscience, anger is a primary emotion, not a secondary emotion that is masking something. That is a problem for most of the DSM.

 

[R. Matey]

In neuroscience, anger is a primary emotion, not a secondary emotion that is masking something. That is a problem for most of the DSM.

Psychodynamic psychology is still a pretty big part of psychiatry, for better or worse.

 

[Fan_of_Meehl]

But how often does anger mask something else?

So maybe it's context dependent? Like fight/flight, vs feel disappointed because your toddler sister knocked down your magnatile tower...

I wouldn't necessarily use the concept of 'mask' (but, hey, it might apply sometimes) but I think I know what you are referring to. For instance, it's plenty common for people to initially feel FEAR (due to some automatic cognitive processing, e.g., due to automatic thoughts, beliefs, or schemas operating in the situation) and this to immediately be followed by ANGER. The same for other emotions such as frustration/embarrassment leading to ANGER, or even sadness (negative self-referent thoughts) leading to ANGER. For guys (maybe even more often military folks), anger is certainly a more 'acceptable' emotion to display (so there's a cultural reinforcement history at play). So there are many 'final common pathways' to the end state of anger. I just see it as a 'chain' of interconnected cognitive-emotional-behavioral phenomena...for example,

Parent sees kid run out into a busy highway; initially thinks 'My kid's gonna get killed' (which may actually be a rational thought at that point), feels terror; once the kid is safe, parent may have negative self-referent thoughts, 'I'm a bad parent, I'm awful, my child almost got killed because I wasn't watching them close enough,'; followed by negative other-referent (the child) thoughts such as, 'you never listen to me, you're stupid,' leading to anger and maybe yelling at the child; then maybe another negative self-referent thought, 'I'm a bad mother, I made my child cry.'

The most fascinating patterns I've seen in terms of situations that evoke anger in PTSD patients undergoing cognitive processing therapy (or other forms of CBT) is when they are particularly angered by other people engaging in behavior that is similar to their own negative self-referent beliefs (stuck points, particularly assimilated stuck points associated with their original trauma). For instance, if a veteran's original trauma were a combat situation where they blamed themselves for being 'ignorant' about a situation and they had guilt over their 'ignorance' getting their men killed, then I've observed that the most rage that they feel are in situations where they characterize other's behavior as reflecting their 'ignorance.' Yeah, I know that there's the classic 'projection' concept (and it may hold some weight), but you could also conceptualize things as chains of cognitive-emotional-behavioral interconnected phenomena as well, I suppose.

 

[texanpsychdoc]

When I do CPT, I discuss the difference between a primary emotion vs. a secondary or "manufactured" emotion. Anger can be and is a primary emotion (aka: an emotion anybody would experience in response to an immediate antecedent or activating stimulus), but it can also be a secondary emotion; it depends on the context in how it is aroused. Typically, literature points to group therapy being a strong intervention to address anger, however, I typically address anger in context to trauma via CPT. Alternatively, I also address anger (for my non-trauma folks) from a CBT framework with a healthy dose of psycheducation in the beginning orientation, especially as it relates to theories surrounding cognitive-emotional processes (e.g., prevention of goal-directed behaviors/needs).

 

[Ollie123]

Wish I had time to more deeply engage in this. Interesting theoretical/scientific debates are why I like this field and they are so tough to carve out time for, even as a scientist.

Largely agree with the poster above me. I think the real issue isn't anger itself, it is our framing of the question. If something emerges as a primary emotion does that preclude it from emerging as a secondary emotion in certain contexts? Is the converse true? We need strong operational definitions of primary and secondary (that ideally are also falsifiable) if we're going to hone in on a true answer. For that matter, we also need strong operational definitions of emotions themselves too, which isn't straightforward. e.g., Delineate anger and rage. I'd argue the latter is probably "more" primary. But are they truly distinct or is it a continuum? Is rage just anger minus executive control? Can anger become rage? Is irritation just low-intensity anger or something else? It can certainly become anger, which might rule out anger as a primary emotion depending on our definitions of primary vs secondary.

 

[R. Matey]

It seems like what's being called secondary emotions in this thread is more related to the social construction of emotions rather than an emotion truly being 'secondary' to some cognitive or affective process.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Wish I had time to more deeply engage in this. Interesting theoretical/scientific debates are why I like this field and they are so tough to carve out time for, even as a scientist.

Largely agree with the poster above me. I think the real question anger itself, it is our framing of the question. If something emerges as a primary emotion does that preclude it from emerging as a secondary emotion in certain contexts? Is the converse true? We need strong operational definitions of primary and secondary (that ideally are also falsifiable) if we're going to hone in on a true answer. For that matter, we also need strong operational definitions of emotions themselves too, which isn't straightforward. e.g., Delineate anger and rage. I'd argue the latter is probably "more" primary. But are they truly distinct or is it a continuum? Is rage just anger minus executive control? Can anger become rage? Is irritation just low-intensity anger or something else? It can certainly become anger, which might rule out anger as a primary emotion depending on our definitions of primary vs secondary.

Operational definition and agreement on what psychological terms and constructs mean. 100% that has to be the starting point.

I hate it when professionals use trauma to describs any difficult situation and I also hate it when these same professionals say things like “anger is a secondary emotion”. I usually go over and stomp on their toes and see if they get angry back. 😉

 

[Fan_of_Meehl]

Operational definition and agreement on what psychological terms and constructs mean. 100% that has to be the starting point.

I hate it when professionals use trauma to describs any difficult situatio and I also hate it when these same professionals say things like “anger is a secondary emotion”. I usually go over and stomp on their toes and see if they get angry back. 😉

I feel ya.

In terms of my definition of an 'emotion,' it really isn't an 'emotion' without the following components being reasonably fleshed out:

(A) cognitive
(B) physiological / one-word label
(C) behavior and/or behavioral inclination
[(D)] environmental context / situation helps too

So...patient reports "heart racing" or "sweating" isn't really conceptualized by me as 'anxiety' until we can fill in the blanks from A - D (above). LOTS of things can cause increased sympathetic nervous system over-arousal--only ONE of which is 'anxiety.'

And many of the physiological components of 'anxiety' and 'anger' are similar but they differ drastically with respect to the associated cognition and behavioral inclinations.

 

[smalltownpsych]

I feel ya.

In terms of my definition of an 'emotion,' it really isn't an 'emotion' without the following components being reasonably fleshed out:

(A) cognitive
(B) physiological / one-word label
(C) behavior and/or behavioral inclination
[(D)] environmental context / situation helps too

So...patient reports "heart racing" or "sweating" isn't really conceptualized by me as 'anxiety' until we can fill in the blanks from A - D (above). LOTS of things can cause increased sympathetic nervous system over-arousal--only ONE of which is 'anxiety.'

And many of the physiological components of 'anxiety' and 'anger' are similar but they differ drastically with respect to the associated cognition and behavioral inclinations.

Yup. Key point that I explain to many of my patients, especially if they have problems with trauma and emotional regulation, is that CNS arousal is non-specific. Helping them to sort out the situational, behavioral, and cognitive factors is part of therapy. Helping them understand this and begin to integrate this and apply it in their lives might be the most important thing I do with this type of patient. Prior to having this framework they are just flipping out all he time and have no idea why and typically have had therapists and others just tell them to stop flipping out and use your coping tools.
I tell my patients that when I hear some thing stupid like that, it makes me angry and thats ok as it makes sense to be angry when people that are supposed to help, are not able to. We just need to learn more adaptive ways of responding to that feeling of anger. Humor is a good one, also becoming sad can be a good one, and occasionally aggression is the correct response, we just need to direct it appropriately. One of my patients likes to say that she will have her extremely successful and powerful attorney father send a very strongly worded email. It is kind of a joke, but the truth is that it will put fear in the hearts of her enemies.

 

[Fan_of_Meehl]

Yup. Key point that I explain to many of my patients, especially if they have problems with trauma and emotional regulation, is that CNS arousal is non-specific. Helping them to sort out the situational, behavioral, and cognitive factors is part of therapy. Helping them understand this and begin to integrate this and apply it in their lives might be the most important thing I do with this type of patient. Prior to having this framework they are just flipping out all he time and have no idea why and typically have had therapists and others just tell them to stop flipping out and use your coping tools.
I tell my patients that when I hear some thing stupid like that, it makes me angry and thats ok as it makes sense to be angry when people that are supposed to help, are not able to. We just need to learn more adaptive ways of responding to that feeling of anger. Humor is a good one, also becoming sad can be a good one, and occasionally aggression is the correct response, we just need to direct it appropriately. One of my patients likes to say that she will have her extremely successful and powerful attorney father send a very strongly worded email. It is kind of a joke, but the truth is that it will put fear in the hearts of her enemies.

'...it gives you FOCUS...makes you STRONGER!'

-Emperor Palpatine
Licensed Imperial Counselor

 

[texanpsychdoc]

Operational definition and agreement on what psychological terms and constructs mean. 100% that has to be the starting point.

I hate it when professionals use trauma to describs any difficult situation and I also hate it when these same professionals say things like “anger is a secondary emotion”. I usually go over and stomp on their toes and see if they get angry back. 😉

Not sure what to tell ya


So I will re-iterate, I approach my conceptualization of anger broadly from the perspective that it's an emotion aroused when one has detected a prevention of one's goal-directed behaviors or intentions. So, whether that plays out in trauma or not, whatever....I also made note that I don't view anger as "either primary or secondary," it can be both depending on how it is aroused. Manufactured emotions, at least how CPT outlines it are emotions that are conjured up after the person engages in post-interactive evaluations where they are still playing out that "prevention of goal directed behaviors/intentions" after the fact. We still see the same emotion, but not in the original context it originally manifested or developed. It can also take on a new form as new experiences, interactions and information is integrated into the schema(s) that were active in that situation where anger was provoked. Thus, it no longer looks like your basic Ford F-150 STX base trim model.....you are looking at the Lariate model with the A-4 trim.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Not sure what to tell ya


So I will re-iterate, I approach my conceptualization of anger broadly from the perspective that it's an emotion aroused when one has detected a prevention of one's goal-directed behaviors or intentions. So, whether that plays out in trauma or not, whatever....I also made note that I don't view anger as "either primary or secondary," it can be both depending on how it is aroused. Manufactured emotions, at least how CPT outlines it are emotions that are conjured up after the person engages in post-interactive evaluations where they are still playing out that "prevention of goal directed behaviors/intentions" after the fact. We still see the same emotion, but not in the original context it originally manifested or developed. It can also take on a new form as new experiences, interactions and information is integrated into the schema(s) that were active in that situation where anger was provoked. Thus, it no longer looks like your basic Ford F-150 STX base trim model.....you are looking at the Lariate model with the A-4 trim.

My reference to trauma was just regarding people who are often clinicians but typically not psychologists, fortunately who misuse terminology. I wasn’t’ taking about a connection between experiencing trauma and anger, but I am pretty sure that there is a lot of data to show that fear and aggression are linked. Anger as a response to not getting what you want, that is interesting as I don’t think that relationship is as strong since there are other emotional responses besides anger to respond to thwarted goals.

 

[texanpsychdoc]

My reference to trauma was just regarding people who are often clinicians but typically not psychologists, fortunately who misuse terminology. I wasn’t’ taking about a connection between experiencing trauma and anger, but I am pretty sure that there is a lot of data to show that fear and aggression are linked. Anger as a response to not getting what you want, that is interesting as I don’t think that relationship is as strong since there are other emotional responses besides anger to respond to thwarted goals.

If you consider it a basic emotion, then you can add other flavor to it that extend it beyond its basic function. That's the way I tend to conceptualize it. There are 6 basic emotions, but from there, various combinations can produce different presentations of those emotions.

 

[smalltownpsych]

If you consider it a basic emotion, then you can add other flavor to it that extend it beyond its basic function. That's the way I tend to conceptualize it. There are 6 basic emotions, but from there, various combinations can produce different presentations of those emotions.

Fear, aggression, pleasure, disgust, and sadness is what I think about right off the top of my head. Googling tells me that Eckman from the 70s had a very similar categorization with surprise added.

 

[PsyDr]

Panksepp says 7. Similar mechanisms as Cloninger, but different emotions. Eckman has some similar ones.

 

[MAClinician]

Fear, aggression, pleasure, disgust, and sadness is what I think about right off the top of my head. Googling tells me that Eckman from the 70s had a very similar categorization with surprise added.

If Disney says Anger is a primary emotion, that’s good enough for me

 

[texanpsychdoc]

Fear, aggression, pleasure, disgust, and sadness is what I think about right off the top of my head. Googling tells me that Eckman from the 70s had a very similar categorization with surprise added.

Never heard of aggression being an emotion....more like a behavioral byproduct. Anger and aggression go together like peanut butter and jelly, or.....a woke "peaceful" protestor and some public monument or syrup bottle.

 

[R. Matey]

Panksepp says 7. Similar mechanisms as Cloninger, but different emotions. Eckman has some similar ones.

Reiterating that basic emotions uncovered by science and what people call their experience of that emotion are two different things.

 

[smalltownpsych]

Never heard of aggression being an emotion....more like a behavioral byproduct. Anger and aggression go together like peanut butter and jelly, or.....a woke "peaceful" protestor and some public monument or syrup bottle.

I was thinking of the neuroscience experiments and how if you activate the amygdala, the cat becomes aggressive. I tend to be more of a behavioral scientist when I think about this so the subjective descriptor for the internal state is less meaningful to me. Aggression and aggressive behavior are two separate things when I make up my own operational definition. I actually prefer aggression over anger because from a physiological stance that’s what I’m doing when I start to get angry. Just because I have a cerebral cortex and defense mechanisms to prevent me from being uncivilized doesn’t mean its not the same process as my pets.

 

[cara susanna]

I've always learned that anger is a secondary emotion, but I could see it being primary in situations where it "fits the facts" to use DBT terms. Like the fight response in fight/flight/freeze.

 

[texanpsychdoc]

What's interesting are the different schools of thought on this. I think regardless of how we would want to classify it, I think from an intervention standpoint, it really depends on the context (FIDO) and does it help that person achieve or sustain their value-congruent goals, etc.

 

[Harry3990]

Curious if people have opinions on constructionist approaches to understanding emotions (basically a rejection of the view that basic/primary emotions exist in a fundamental way). Lisa Barrett, James Russell, etc.

If anyone is familiar? I can appreciate the nuance those views try to support in arguing for emotions manifesting more on spectrums of arousal and valence, at least the older versions of their theories did (haven’t done a deep dive in a while), as opposed to discrete basic emotions that are fundamentally different from each other.

 

[Fan_of_Meehl]

Curious if people have opinions on constructionist approaches to understanding emotions (basically a rejection of the view that basic/primary emotions exist in a fundamental way). Lisa Barrett, James Russell, etc.

If anyone is familiar? I can appreciate the nuance those views try to support in arguing for emotions manifesting more on spectrums of arousal and valence, at least the older versions of their theories did (haven’t done a deep dive in a while), as opposed to discrete basic emotions that are fundamentally different from each other.

All I know is that I was directly trained by several cognitive, behavioral, and cognitive-behavioral therapists who write/edit professional books on how to do CBT and not once in all of that training was a 'primary vs. secondary' classificatory scheme even mentioned (that I recall), let alone emphasized in terms of bearing on assessment, case formulation, and intervention. There may be some validity and even clinical utility to be realized from making such a distinction, but I am unaware of it.

I mean I (obviously) get that anger is often preceded by other emotional states (anxiety, shame) where those emotional states are de-emphasized (or even initially go unnoticed) by the client. People often speak of these emotions as being 'underneath' the anger (though I may take issue with this language and the implied explanatory framework being invoked).

It also works in the other direction. Sometimes clients get angry (at their boss, for instance in response to unreasonable task demands), become aware that their anger is 'showing' in their facial expressions or tone of voice, and immediately have a negative automatic thought (related to threat) and become quite anxious.

In both cases, one cognitive/emotional/behavioral complex preceded another in rapid succession where perhaps the second one came to 'eclipse' the salience of the first. I would not use a 'primary vs. secondary' classification scheme to describe this state of affairs. One simply preceded the other in this individual in that particular situation.

Maybe there are regularly occurring patterns of the chaining of such cognitive/emotional/behavioral expressions in a particular individual but this just speaks to the crucial importance or conducting a careful and thorough IDIOGRAPHIC assessment of your client to build a specific individualized case formulation and treatment plan.