ABSTRACT
The analysis begins with an individual-level theory of angry aggression. This chapter considers the physiological and cognitive bases of angry aggression in the context of normal biological and psychological characteristics. A variety of situations increase the level of physiological arousal within an organism. These generally are situations to which the organism must respond in order to survive and thrive both individually and as a species. Physiological arousal generated in response to external situations differs from the cognitive processing that interprets that arousal as anger. Even those who describe anger as a “biologically and psychologically innate affect” acknowledge the impact of past learning and social norms and rules in constituting and regulating anger. Dolf Zillman argues that “in a state of acute annoyance, the individual presumably rehearses his or her grievance and thereby perpetuates both the state of elevated excitation and the dependent, intense feelings of anger.”
