Psychologists conducted studies that showed that aggression, if it is splashed out, does not decrease, but increases. In particular, this was shown by the experiment of Richard Green, conducted in 1981.
The subjects were initially angered by provoking and insulting them. And then one half of the group was given the opportunity to take out their anger on the assistants, who acted as «students.» The «teacher» had to shock the «student» every time he made a mistake. The second half of the subjects were instructed to simply note the mistakes of the «students», without punishment by electric shock. In theory, the first group was supposed to get rid of anger by throwing it out on the poor «students».
The continuation of the experiment showed that their anger did not decrease at all. In the next task, all participants from both groups could shock negligent “students”. Participants from the first group, who were shocked in the first task, continued to do it with pleasure in the second task, increasing the discharge. And those who simply noted mistakes in the first task beat the “students” with weak discharges. That is, people who did not have the opportunity to throw out their anger behaved less aggressively, and the aggression of those who threw it out only increased.
When aggression is splashed out, tolerance for it increases, and the prohibition on aggressive behavior is weakened. A man, as grandmothers say, unbelts. Having allowed himself a flash of anger once, each time he allows himself more and more.
Anger is often likened to a pot of steam that will explode if not released. This metaphor is beautiful, but wrong. Anger is more like a forest fire that will take over large areas with catastrophic destruction if the first small fire or fire is not controlled in time.
What to do with your own aggressiveness
Developed, mentally healthy and mentally mature people solve this issue without any problems, see →. A realistically thinking person, who is accustomed primarily to thinking, and not to experiencing, violent negative emotions do not often appear. In a well-mannered person, the negative emotions that have arisen do not turn into a storm, it is easy to cope with them, they are quite manageable. There is no need to throw out anything to someone who does not inflame himself: what happened can be understood, and what worries or infuriates you can be said. Restraint in behavior, the ability to restrain one’s negative feelings is an indicator of internal culture and good breeding, an indispensable attribute of a business and simply successful person. If you do not wind up emotions inside yourself, then restraint in behavior and expression of your feelings is not at all harmful↑.