It is embedded in the foundation of our society, transforming violent behavior into something acceptable and normative. Childhood experience may play a crucial role in developing a pattern of anger. A very different situation is that of growing up in a family where anger is considered an unacceptable emotion, and consequently is never allowed to be expressed, providing no opportunity for children to learn constructive ways to modulate and effectively express human emotions. Both environments send young adults into the world ill-equipped to manage and demonstrate anger in constructive ways. The Anger Arousal Sequence Jerry Deffenbacher, a psychologist with expertise in anger management, described the phenomenon of the anger arousal sequence at a recent seminar for health professionals.
Most angry episodes take place in a social context.
A trigger event gets filtered through you that elegant mix of innate physiology and socialization overriding cultural norms of accepted public behavior. Think of yourself as a human filtering system. If you re generally laid back, then you may be only mildly annoyed with an interaction. Your present emotional state also influences the consequent level of anger that occurs. Your threshold of tolerance is lowered if you re already angry and will facilitate an increase of anger at the next provocation.