Does Anger Increase Desire?
Monday, November 8th, 2010Fresh from the Association of Psychological Science comes the claim that Anger Makes People Want Things More. Here is the experimental setup:
“For the study, each participant watched a computer screen while images of common objects, like a mug or a pen, appeared on the screen. What they didn’t realize was that immediately before each object appeared, the screen flashed either a neutral face, an angry face, or a fearful face. This subliminal image tied an emotion to each object. At the end of the experiment, the participants were asked how much they wanted each object.”
Subjects picked the objects with the angry face prime over the neutral and fearful face prime. They did not report feeling anger towards the more desirable objects only that they liked them.
