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

• Novaco (1975) suggests that cognitive factors trigger the emotional arousal which generally precedes aggressive acts, and that his argument is that in some people anger is often quick to surface, especially in situations perceived as anxiety-inducing or threatening

  • In behaviourist terms, becoming angry is reinforced by the individual's feeling of control in that situation

    • E.g. interpreting a situation as threatening may produce physiological arousal such as a racing heart, increased blood pressure and shallow breathing, which the individual then experiences as anger

• Anger management programmes are a form of cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT), in which the individual is taught how to recognise when they are losing control, and then encouraged to develop techniques which bring about conflict resolution without the need for violence

• Research into the effectiveness of anger management will generally take place in a prison or secure facility and will use a range of self-report 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

Research which investigates anger management

• Ireland (2004) compared offenders taking part in an anger management programme with a non-treatment control group, assessing outcomes after 12 sessions using an interview, a behaviour checklist completed by prison officers, and a self-report questionnaire

  • 92% of the experimental group improved on at least one measure and 48% improved on both the checklist and the self-report, with no such improvements in the control group

• Keen et al. (2000) studied young offenders aged 17 to 21 taking part in the National Anger Management Package, comprising eight two-hour sessions run by the England and Wales Prison Service

  • Despite initial problems with offenders not taking the course seriously, outcomes were generally positive, with participants reporting greater awareness of their anger difficulties and an increased capacity for self-control

Evaluation of anger management

Strengths

• Anger management works on several levels, combining cognitive preparation to identify triggers, a behavioural element in developing self-management techniques, and a social element when offenders demonstrate their skills in role play

  • This eclectic approach acknowledges that offending is a complex social and psychological activity that needs addressing on more than one level

• Unlike behaviour modification, anger management tackles one of the causes of offending by addressing the thought processes underlying offending behaviour rather than surface behaviour

  • This may give offenders new insight into the cause of their criminality, making permanent behavioural change and lower recidivism more likely than with behaviour modification

Limitations

• Follow-up studies of anger management tend not to support the assumption that it produces lasting change, e.g., Blackburn (1993) points out that whilst anger management may have a noticeable effect on the conduct of offenders in the short term, there is very little evidence that it reduces recidivism in the long term

  • This may be because the application phase still relies heavily on artificial role play, which might not properly reflect all the possible triggers present in a real-life situation

• Theories of anger such as Novaco's assume a straightforward causal relationship between anger and offending, but this assumption may be false, e.g., Loza & Loza-Fanous (1999) used a range of psychometric measures and found no differences in levels of anger between offenders classed as violent and those classed as non-violent

  • They suggest anger management programmes may be misguided as they could provide offenders with a justification for their behaviour, and it is also true that many crimes, including financial crime such as fraud, are not motivated by anger

Issues & Debates

• Anger management is based on the idea that offenders can learn to control their behaviour, suggesting a belief in free will

  • This aligns with our legal system, which holds individuals accountable for their actions and assumes they can choose how to behave

  • This contrasts with deterministic views (e.g., biological explanations), which argue that aggression is beyond an individual's control