Anger Management (AQA A Level Psychology): Revision Note

The use of anger management to change behaviour

• Anger management is a treatment programme used in prisons (and other therapeutic settings such as group or individual counselling) to enable offenders to control and manage their hostile/violent/antisocial responses and thereby reduce the likelihood of reoffending

• Anger management aims to change the way offenders respond to situations that are likely to trigger anger for each individual

• According to Novaco (1970), the physiological effects of anger surface first and are then followed by the psychological effects, e.g. a racing heart,  increased blood pressure, and shallow breathing may lead to feelings of fury, hostility and the desire to control the situation via the anger response

• Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is particularly effective in tackling anger as it harnesses and re-trains thought patterns and behaviour as the client progresses through stages; this helps them to identify the emotional, cognitive and behavioural patterns that are destructive

• Research into the effectiveness of anger management will generally take place in a prison or secure facility and will use a range of self-reporting methods (e.g. questionnaire, interview) combined with reports from prison staff as to the behaviour of the offenders on the programme (possibly via use of a behaviour checklist)

• Offenders on an anger management programme may be asked to keep a diary or journal of their progress, which can work as an additional source of motivation for them

The three stages of anger management

Research which investigates anger management

• Ireland (2004) found a 92% improvement in the behaviour of offenders after they had engaged with anger management, compared to those who had not

• Keen et al. (2000) assessed the progress of young offenders taking part in the National Anger Management Package (eight two-hour sessions of anger management over a series of weeks) and found that the benefits of taking the course were that the participants became more self-aware and able to control their anger

Evaluation of anger management

Strengths

• Research (as outlined above) shows consistently strong support for the advantages of anger management programmes in prison

• Anger management appears to be more effective than other forms of behaviour modification in that it addresses cognition, behaviour and environment in a multidisciplinary approach to changing behaviour

Weaknesses

• There is limited evidence as to the long-term effectiveness of anger management programmes: role-play with a therapist lacks mundane realism as it cannot hope to replicate real-life anger-inducing situations (e.g. a drunken altercation on a Saturday night)

• Not all crimes have anger at the heart of them e.g. drug-dealing, burglary, fraud so anger management programmes would be invalid when addressing the motivations behind such crimes

Link to Issues & Debates:

Anger management programmes provide a more holistic approach to changing offender behaviour than other behaviour modification programmes such as token economies as they incorporate cognitive, behavioural and social explanations and treatments for the offender’s sources of anger.