Are You Affected by Trait Anger? A Study Conducted by Parrott, D. J., Zeichner, A. & Evces. M

The Effect of Trait Anger on Cognitive Processing of Emotional Stimuli

Parrott D.J, Zeichner, A & Evces. M (2005). Effect of Trait Anger on Cognitive Processing of Emotional Stimuli. The Journal of General Psychology 2005, 132(1), 67-80.

The purpose of this study is to test a previous studies hypothesis with trait anger. In previous studies provide a large amount of support for the trait-congruency hypothesis which is; affective traits are linked to the heightened activation of congruent emotion networks (Parrott, Zeichner & Evces 2005). This means that an individual, who experiences anxiety, will direct their attention towards anxiety information faster than that of any other type of information.

In addition a cognitive trait such as anxiety, depression and obsessive compulsive disorder among many other emotional disorders will increase the likelihood that an emotion will exist with specific information. The hypothesis of this study conducted by Parrott, Zeichner and Evces; testing the trait-congruency hypothesis along with trait anger. The results expected are that the different emotions will be activated due to cognitive processing in patterns of emotion networks.

The participants are undergraduate students from the University of Georgia. All participants speak English, and present no emotional disorders. There are forty eight Caucasians and four Asian Americans; twenty one men and thirty one women. The average age of particiapants is 18.9, and the average education level of participants is 14.0. Each participant will receive credit for their participation in a psychology course. Participants are informed that the purpose of his or her participation is to determine his or her speed of word recognition.

In the study the participants will complete the Trait Anger Scale. The participants, who score above twenty two, are to be place in the high anger group which consists of seven men and ten women. Those participants who score less than seventeen are to be placed in the low anger group which consists of three men and ten women. The average anger score between the two groups is 26.