This is the recipe to reduce anger, according to Japanese scientists

Being insulted or provoked can cause anger in many people, but simply writing down your reaction to a negative incident on a piece of paper and then shredding it or throwing it in the trash can reduce that feeling.

LOOK: Eternal youth? This is what science says about people who look younger

That is the ‘recipe’ of a team of researchers from the University of Nagoya (Japan) in a study published this Tuesday by Scientic Reports, based on years of research on the association between the written word and the reduction of anger.

“We expected that our method would suppress anger to some extent,” however, “we were surprised that anger was almost completely eliminated,” said lead researcher Nobuyu Kawai in a statement.

Previous work shows how interactions with physical objects can control a person’s mood. In the case of anger, try to control it, reduce its negative consequences both at work and in your personal life.

However, many emotion control techniques lack empirical support from research and can be difficult to remember when angry.

For the study, a group of volunteers wrote brief opinions on important social issues, such as whether smoking in public should be banned, and were told that their writing would be evaluated.

The results were, surely, very far from what they expected, since all of them, regardless of what they had written, were scored low in intelligence, interest, sympathy, logic and rationality.

Furthermore, the evaluators wrote the same insulting comment for everyone: “I can’t believe that an educated person thinks like that. I hope this person learns something while he is in college.”

After receiving these negative opinions, the disgruntled volunteers wrote down their thoughts about the comments they had received, focusing on what triggered their emotions.

One group threw the opinion they had just written into the trash or saved it in a file on their desk; the other group destroyed the document in a shredder or put it in a plastic box.

The volunteers had to assess their anger after the insult and after getting rid of the paper or keeping it. As expected, all participants expressed a higher level of anger after receiving insulting comments.

However, the anger levels of the individuals who threw the paper in the trash or shredded it returned to their initial state after getting rid of the paper.

Participants who kept a printout of the insult experienced only a small decrease in their overall anger.

In addition to its practical benefits, this discovery may shed light on the origins of the Japanese cultural tradition known as hakidashisara, at the Hiyoshi Shrine of Kiyosu, in Aichi Prefecture, outside Nagoya.

‘Kakidashi’ refers to purging or spitting something out and ‘sara’ refers to a plate at the Hiyoshi shrine in Kiyosu, in Aichi prefecture, on the outskirts of Nagoya, the university note recalls.

Hakidashisara is an annual festival in which people break small disks that represent things that upset them, and the findings of this study could explain the sense of relief that participants express after leaving the celebration.

Source: Elcomercio

Callum

I have worked in the news industry for over 10 years. I have a vast amount of experience in writing and reporting. I have also worked as an author for a number of years, writing about technology and other topics.

I am a highly skilled and experienced journalist, with a keen eye for detail. I am also an excellent communicator, with superb writing skills. I am passionate about technology and its impact on our world. I am also very interested in current affairs and the latest news stories.

I am a hardworking and dedicated professional, who always strives to produce the best possible work. I am also a team player, who is always willing to help out others.