ABSTRACT
The line between too much anger and too little anger is difficult to tread, and this chapter explores some of the tensions between appropriate and inappropriate anger. It reviews the existing theoretical models of anger in the literature, and attempts to use anger to illustrate the utility of the idea of cycles of appraisal within the Schematic Propositional Analogical and Associative Representational Systems (SPAARS) model. The chapter concentrates on the data pertaining to anger as experienced by the angry person, and examines the data on the differences between anger and annoyance. Novaco's model of anger is the most influential in the clinical context and has also been adapted for working with anger problems in people with intellectual disabilities. Anger is the building block of several complex emotional states such as annoyance, indignation, hatred, wrath, jealousy, and envy.
