Seeing red: Could anger be the key to better decisions?

Why would anger help with making decisions when all popular belief and a barrage of research suggests that emotional control produces more positive outcomes?

Maia Young , formerly of UCLA, and her colleagues investigated the impact of anger in two separate studies, which reveal compelling evidence that, contrary to common belief, experiencing anger can lead to more systematic and analytical thinking, ultimately improving the quality of decision-making processes.

You can read the full article, here - it delves into the specific mechanisms through which anger influences information processing, problem-solving, and decision-making. Or, stick with us and we’ll give you a brief overview!

Study 1

The first experiment examined people's ability to be persuaded as to whether hand-free kits made driving whilst speaking on the phone any safer. Participants were asked to read a series of articles that were either for or against the idea.

Those participants who had been made angry before reading the articles tended to choose articles that opposed their original attitude towards hand free kits and were more likely to change their original position about whether hands free kits made a difference to driver safety.

Study 2

The second piece of research looked at the controversial issue pertaining to who should be the next US president, in what was then the upcoming election.

Once again, participants provoked into feeling angry tended to choose to read articles that ran counter to their original position (be that favouring Obama or McCain).

Another noteworthy finding was that the impact of anger was entirely accounted for by what researchers labelled a 'moving against tendency’, indicative of angry individuals' inclination to oppose something or someone. This tendency was assessed through participants' agreement with statements such as 'I wanted to assault something or someone' following the anger induction.

Whilst working with someone who wants to assault someone is probably not desirable, Young and her team said their results provided an example of anger leading to less bias. They suggest this happens because the behaviour that anger produces is to move or fight against the opposition's opinion. This results in angry people having more diverse and more balanced information on which to form their decision on.

The EBW View

What are the real-life implications of this result? Unfortunately - or fortunately - depending on your position, the researchers conceded that it's unrealistic to make people angry as a way to improve their decision making.

However, they said that in a work meeting, if someone is angry, they might be the one best placed to play the role of devil's advocate on behalf of the group. 'By encouraging angry group members to select information necessary for group discussion,' the researchers explained, 'the group as a whole may get the benefit of being exposed to diverse views and, as a result, achieve a more balanced perspective.'

So remember next time you are in a meeting and your colleague is finding it hard to control his/her temper enabling him/her to drive the discussion and argue against the prevailing view may result in a better balanced business decision and also stop the possibility of a physical assault!

If you would you like your leaders and teams to improve their decisions and the way they work together, click a button below to see how investing in Business Emotional Intelligence can make a difference or find an EBW Certified Partner to help you.