خشم خصلتی، تاثیر نشخوار مرتبط با خشم بر روی رفاه اجتماعی را تعدیل‌ می کند

In this study, we examined whether people’s social well-being is influenced by hostile versus nonhostile goals that people report pursuing when experiencing anger-associated rumination. Moreover, we investigated the impact of trait anger and trait anger rumination on the relationship between anger rumination and perceived social well-being. Participants were 93 students who were equipped with hand-held computers for 28 days to assess anger-related rumination and its social consequences in daily life. Results showed that hostile goal pursuit per se did not affect perceived social well-being. However, impairment of social well-being following hostile rumination was moderated by trait anger. Findings are consistent with recent cognitive models of trait anger and anger rumination.

Ruminating about anger-evoking events has proven to be largely dysfunctional. Studies examining processes of rumination about real, recalled, or imagined anger incidents have demonstrated that rumination intensifies anger (Ray et al., 2008, Rusting and Nolen-Hoeksema, 1998 and Weber and Wiedig-Allison, 2007), increases hostile behavior (Bushman, 2002 and Bushman et al., 2005), reduces forgiveness (McCullough, Bono, & Root, 2007) and delays blood pressure recovery (Glynn, Christenfeld, & Gerrin, 2002). Similar findings have been documented for the habitual tendency to engage in anger rumination. Trait anger rumination was associated with lower subjective well-being (Kubiak et al., 2011, Philips et al., 2006 and Sukhodolsky et al., 2001), aggressive behavior (Anestis et al., 2009, Caprara, 1986 and Sukhodolsky et al., 2001), and delayed blood pressure recovery (Gerin, Davidson, Christenfeld, Goyal, & Schwartz, 2006). The impact of rumination on anger and aggressive behavior has recently been elaborated within the Integrative Cognitive Model (ICM) of trait anger and reactive aggression ( Wilkowski and Robinson, 2008 and Wilkowski and Robinson, 2010). According to this model, individuals with high trait anger are characterized by three cognitive processing tendencies that exacerbate anger and reactive aggression. Specifically, persons high in trait anger are more biased toward interpreting situations as hostile; they are more likely to engage in ruminative attention that reinforces hostile biases and more likely to fail to exert effortful control that diminishes anger and reactive aggression. Anger-associated rumination has typically been conceptualized as a focus on hostile interpretations and the harboring of hostile intentions, in particular, thoughts of revenge, which render the documented increase in anger and aggression following rumination particularly likely (Caprara, 1986, Sukhodolsky et al., 2001 and Wilkowski and Robinson, 2008). However, previous research has not examined whether the consequences of anger rumination vary with the extent to which anger rumination is guided by hostile compared to nonhostile goals. Generally, the functionality of rumination varies with the style and content of rumination (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008, Segerstrom et al., 2003 and Watkins, 2008). For example, thinking about anger episodes from a self-distanced perspective was more effective than re-experiencing episodes from a self-immersed perspective (Ayduk & Kross, 2008). In the present study, we employed a daily experience approach to examine whether rumination about anger incidents that is motivated by the goal of taking revenge is more dysfunctional than rumination that focuses on nonhostile goals. Moreover, we explored whether trait anger and trait anger rumination moderate the inclination toward hostile versus nonhostile rumination and its impact on social well-being. 1.1. Present research The present study was guided by three major aims. First, we examined whether the goals that people pursue with their rumination following anger incidents influence social well-being, as indicated by the involvement and satisfaction with interpersonal interactions, and perceived social support. Based on the assumption that rumination may be motivated by hostile as well as nonhostile goals such as solving problems and gaining insight (Nolen-Hoeksema et al., 2008 and Segerstrom et al., 2003), we were particularly interested in whether hostile goals are more detrimental to perceived well-being than nonhostile goals. In accordance with previous research that shows that hostile rumination increases the tendency for aggression (Wilkowski and Robinson, 2008 and Wilkowski and Robinson, 2010) and hinders processes of forgiveness (McCullough et al., 2007), we expected hostile, but not nonhostile rumination to impair social well-being. Previous studies on the social consequences of anger rumination have focused on the interaction between the ruminating person and the anger-instigating person (Caprara, 1986 and McCullough et al., 2001). Yet the social implications of rumination may likely extend to interpersonal interactions beyond the interaction with the instigator. This would follow from the cognitive-neoassociationistic theory of Berkowitz (1990), according to which the negative affect caused by aversive experiences automatically activates associated negative feelings, thoughts, and memories. In this view, anger and ruminative attention likely reinforce a negative bias in perceiving interpersonal interactions. Accordingly, we expected anger rumination – in particular, when motivated by hostile goals – to be associated with impairment in perceived well-being. The second major aim of the present study was to examine the influence of trait anger and trait anger rumination. In accordance with the ICM (Wilkowski and Robinson, 2008 and Wilkowski and Robinson, 2010), we expected individuals high in trait anger to be more likely to engage in hostile rumination than individuals low in trait anger. Moreover, we hypothesized that impairment in social well-being following hostile rumination would be higher for high trait anger individuals than low trait anger individuals. In addition, we explored whether trait anger rumination would predict a higher inclination for hostile rumination and a greater impairment to social well-being. Finally, using a daily experience approach, we investigated anger-associated rumination as it is experienced in daily life. As part of a larger project, participants reported on rumination elicited by the experiences of anger for a period of 4 weeks. Such an in-field assessment offers the possibility of monitoring rumination close to the time of the actual experience, reducing retrospective biases that likely compromise generalized reports of rumination (Fahrenberg et al., 2007 and Schwarz, 2007). Moreover, this approach allowed us to assess process variables (including the duration, intensity, and perceived uncontrollability of rumination) and to explore whether they were related to hostile versus nonhostile goals, changes in social well-being, and the trait variables. Whereas we did not expect duration and intensity of rumination to differ between hostile and nonhostile rumination because both can be experienced as intense and lasting, we hypothesized that perceived uncontrollability would reflect a lack of cognitive control that might be higher for hostile rumination and high trait anger individuals (Wilkowski and Robinson, 2008 and Wilkowski and Robinson, 2010).

To our knowledge, this is the first study to examine the impact of anger-associated rumination on social well-being using a daily experience approach. The major findings of the study showed that revenge-focused rumination per se was not related to perceived social well-being, but that trait anger moderated the relationship between hostile rumination and social well-being. Together, the present findings point to a negative, hostile cascade such that individuals high in trait anger are not only more inclined toward hostile rumination; for them, hostile rumination is even more detrimental to social well-being than for individuals low in trait anger.