The game is intended primarily as a tool for a counselor or therapist to use with an individual student or small groups. He or she also selectively reinforces appropriate responses by awarding chips for good responses, and encourages participation and discussion among the players. The six cognitive-behavioral deficits that have been identified in the research literature and those that are the focus of The Anger Control Game, are as follows. Aggressive children are less able to predict the feelings of others, particularly to aggressive acts. Rather than interpreting being bumped by another student as an accident, they are apt to see it as a deliberate provocation.
Nonaggressive children are apt to talk to themselves to control their anger.
I'm going to keep my cool. The feeling of anger is so salient that underlying feelings such as rejection, hurt, anxiety, embarrassment and the like are often obscured. Becoming aware of these feelings permits more effective problem solving. Aggressive children often have an unrealistic view of the impact of their behavior on others. The cards are in six groups, corresponding to the six cognitive deficits.