ABSTRACT

To understand and to manage anger is no easy task as it involves a complex interaction of thoughts, feelings, behaviour and physiology. There has been increasing recognition of the importance of physiology in people's understanding of emotions and feelings. There is concern not only about the increasing levels of violence by children and young people which is done to others, but also about increasing rates of depression and self-harm. The behaviourist view is not that pupils who show frequent and aggressive anger are simply born that way but that they have learnt to be the way they are by being rewarded in some way when they have displayed anger. One of the reasons why schools tend to over-focus on rewards and punishments may be because there has not been a curriculum available to teach new skills and competences as there has been in 'academic' learning.