In an interview with journalist Tiago Ramalho, published in the Público newspaper on 5 January 2025, Liliana Capitão, researcher at CIPsi’s Psychological Neuroscience Laboratory, highlighted the importance of studying anger, a frequently neglected emotion.
Known as the “forgotten emotion”, anger takes up a space that is still little explored in the human experience: it is seen as undesirable and, many times, suppressed, but it performs a crucial role. Liliana Capitão, researcher in charge of the study “Anger in the mind and body: from unconscious cognitive mechanisms to psychophysiological substrates”, funded by Fundação BIAL, is determined to decode the mysteries of this emotion, increasing the scientific understanding on this topic.
In the interview, the researcher explained that anger is frequently misunderstood, because it does not create empathy in others and it is seen as something that should be avoided. “It is not socially acceptable to be frustrated or angry; there is a pressure to suppress anger. It is an emotion that does not create empathy in others.” In addition, anger is associated with psychological disorders, such as depression or anxiety, and also aggressive behaviors, which are poorly accepted.
“One of the hypotheses of our study was that people with higher propensity for detecting threat unconsciously and consciously [in the game of mirrors, task to recognize facial expressions, and in questionnaires], may also be the ones that, before a trigger, many times inoffensive or ambiguous, are more activated because they have that propensity”. The preliminary results indicate that this hypothesis may be confirmed, but a more detailed data analysis is still in course.
In addition to deepening the science beyond anger, the study may contribute to develop therapeutic strategies to help individuals to recognize and manage anger, as well as educational programs.
Read the full story here:
https://www.publico.pt/2025/01/05/ciencia/noticia/raiva-funcionas-emocao-esquecida-procura-atencao-minho-2116259
