Eddie M. W. Tong

What does it mean to be angry at yourself? Categories, appraisals, and the problem of language

According to appraisal theorists, anger involves a negative event, usually blocking a goal, caused by another person. Critics argue that other-agency is unnecessary, since people can be angry at themselves, and thus that appraisal theory is wrong about anger. In two studies, we compared anger, self-anger, shame, and guilt, and found that self-anger shared some appraisals, action tendencies, and associated emotions with anger, others with shame and guilt. Self-anger was not simply anger with a different agency appraisal. Anger, shame, and guilt almost always involved other people, but almost half of the occurrences of self-anger were solitary. We discuss the incompatibility of appraisal theories with any strict categorical view of emotions, and the inadequacy of emotion words to capture emotional experience.

Anger, stress, coping, social support and health: Modelling the relationships

Two studies examined the interrelationships of anger, the experience of stress, perceived social support, and coping strategies along with their relationship to health using structural equation modelling (SEM). Results showed dispositional anger to be composed of two factors, anger experience and anger control. Higher levels of anger experience were related directly to higher levels of stress and lower levels of perceived support resources, indirectly to greater use of avoidance coping, and both directly and indirectly to lower psychological well-being and greater psychological distress. Psychological distress was, in turn, related to poorer physical health. By contrast, higher levels of anger control were associated with a greater tendency to engage in active and reappraisal coping and lower use of avoidance coping. Active and reappraisal coping were, in turn, related to better psychological and physical health whereas the opposite was true for avoidance coping.

Re-examining hope: The roles of agency thinking and pathways thinking

A considerable amount of research in hope is driven by Snyders (1994) model which proposes that hope is positively associated with agency thinking and pathways thinking. However, the current research suggests that hope as understood by the layperson (Hope) is only associated with agency thinking and not with pathways thinking. This was found over four studies using different agency and pathways variables, different Hope variables, different methods, and different cultures. Implications of these findings for Snyders model are discussed.

Job demands, decisional control, and cardiovascular responses.

The demand-control model for coronary heart disease was tested using ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. Male patrol officers (N = 118) wore ambulatory blood pressure monitors during 1 of their day shifts with readings taken every 30 min. Following each reading, officers completed a questionnaire using a handheld computer. Significant interactions were obtained between job demands and decisional control for heart rate and pressure rate product such that both variables were highest under conditions of high demand and low control. Main effects were obtained for control such that diastolic blood pressure and mean arterial pressure were significantly higher under conditions of low control. These results support the demand-control model and emphasize the importance of psychological control in cardiovascular responses.

Personality influences in appraisal-emotion relationships: the role of neuroticism.

Although appraisal theorists have pointed out that appraisal-emotion relationships should vary as a function of personality traits, evidence demonstrating this is limited and inconsistent. To examine this issue, Ecological Momentary Assessment was employed in which undergraduates indicated their negative emotions and appraisals at regular intervals for 2 days in natural contexts. The results revealed that individuals higher in Neuroticism showed more negative appraisal styles than those lower in Neuroticism. More important, higher Neuroticism was associated with stronger appraisal-emotion relationships of 4 negative emotions (anger, sadness, fear, and guilt). These findings imply that Neuroticism affects not only how people appraise their environments but also the reactivity of their negative emotions to appraisals.

The effects of Neuroticism and Extraversion on cardiovascular reactivity during a mental and an emotional stress task

UNLABELLED Evidence suggests that physiological reactivity to mental and emotional stress may be influenced by personality traits. OBJECTIVES This study aimed to examine the relationship between, emotionally based personality traits, Neuroticism (N) and Extraversion (E), and cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) during mental arithmetic (MA) and anger recall (AR). METHODS Heart rate, blood pressure, cardiac output and total peripheral resistance were measured in 114 Singaporean male patrol officers from the Singapore Police Force while they performed MA and AR tasks. N and E were assessed using the NEO PI-R. RESULTS Higher N was associated with lower DBP and TPRI reactivity during MA as compared to lower N, but higher TPRI reactivity during AR. Lower E scores were associated with heightened CVR while higher E scores were associated with lower CVR. For SBP and HR, E was associated with a reduction in reactivity across tasks; whereas, for DBP and TPRI this reduction was found only during AR. CONCLUSION In this population, N had differential effects on CVR depending upon the nature of the stress task, cognitive or emotional. However, higher E was consistently linked to lower CVR during stress tasks and appeared to influence how individuals express and cope with anger.

Emotion and appraisal: A study using ecological momentary assessment

This study employed Ecological Momentary Assessment to test predictions from appraisal theories of emotion about the relationships between emotions and appraisals, using a sample of police officers from Singapore. Strong support was obtained for the predictions, thus demonstrating ecological validity of appraisal theories while circumventing shortcomings of previously used methods in appraisal studies. The results also indicate that the emotions were accounted for by specific configurations of appraisals over and above those accounted for by individual constituent appraisals.

Social support and personality among male police officers in Singapore.

This study examines the relationship between perceived social support and personality among police officers from Singapores three main ethnic groups, Chinese, Indians, and Malays. Perceived social support was measured by the short version of the Social Support Questionnaire [SSQ: Sarason, Sarason, Shearin, & Pierce (1987) and personality was assessed by the NEO PI-R. Of the three ethnic groups Chinese participants reported the largest number of social supports but the lowest satisfaction with that support. Regression analyses revealed that none of the NEO PI-R domains stood out as independent predictors of Satisfaction with Social Support (SSS) whereas Agreeableness, Extraversion, and Openness contributed independently to Number of Social Supports (SSN). In addition, SSN was divided into two components: Number of Social Supports from Family (SSN-fm) and Number of Social Supports from Others (SSN-o). Regression analyses showed Agreeableness and Conscientiousness to be independent predictors of SSN-fm and Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Openness to be independent predictors of SSN-o. In addition, the relationships were found to be equally descriptive of the three ethnic groups. These results are discussed in terms of their theoretical and practical implications.

Cardiovascular reactivity of Singaporean male police officers as a function of task, ethnicity and hostility

OBJECTIVE This research examined hemodynamic processes in cardiovascular reactivity (CVR) as a function of task, ethnicity and trait hostility. METHOD One hundred and fourteen male patrol officers from the Singapore Police Force participated in this experimental study. Trait hostility was measured using the interpersonal hostility assessment technique to derive a hostile behavior index (HBI). Heart rate, blood pressure and hemodynamic measures were taken while participants performed three tasks: mental arithmetic, number reading and anger recall (AR). RESULTS AR elicited the greatest blood pressure, vascular and cardiac output reactivity. HBI scores were positively related to systolic blood pressure reactivity during AR for Malays whereas this was not true for Indians and Chinese. Across tasks Indians with high HBI scores appeared to be cardiac reactors whereas the reactivity patterns for Malays and Chinese were undifferentiated. Self-report of negative mood was not related to CVR. CONCLUSION These results are consistent with the higher rates of coronary heart disease deaths among Indians as well as the higher rates for hypertension among Malays in Singapore.

Differentiation of 13 positive emotions by appraisals

This research examined how strongly appraisals can differentiate positive emotions and how they differentiate positive emotions. Thirteen positive emotions were examined, namely, amusement, awe, challenge, compassion, contentment, gratitude, hope, interest, joy, pride, relief, romantic love and serenity. Participants from Singapore and the USA recalled an experience of each emotion and thereafter rated their appraisals of the experience. In general, the appraisals accurately classified the positive emotions at rates above chance levels, and the appraisal–emotion relationships conformed to predictions. Also, the appraisals were largely judged by participants as relevant to their positive emotion experiences, and the appraisal–emotion relationships were largely consistent across the two countries.