Feeling Angry? Step Back and Have some Distance - How Self-Distancing Helps Lower down Aggressive Reactions
Do you always suffer from extreme irritability and anxiety? Are you finding it hard to cope with stressful situations and control your anger? If yes, experts suggest that you try a very simple strategy to help calm down aggressive reactions. This involves viewing the situation from a distance – that is, being an observer rather a participant. They call such strategy ‘self-distancing’.
In a study by the University of Ohio, a group of college students went through a series of tests to determine how well they managed to control their emotions using self distancing. In one experiment, students who believed a lab partner was making a fight with them for not following instructions reacted less aggressively and showed less resentment when they were asked to analyse their feelings from a self-distanced perspective. The results were published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.
Instead of submerging in the current situation and being overwhelmed by what you feel, Dominik Mischkowski, study lead author suggests having a more detached view of the situation. It’s like being indifferent, as if you’re not involved in the situation. You need to see the stressful as a fly on the wall would see it, he added.
Several studies from the past have shown that self-distancing really works in calming down aggressive feelings. However, the research at hand is the first to show that it can be used even in the heat of the moment, or in the actual situation. Co-author Bushman explained that focusing on what you feel makes your aggressive thoughts and emotions stay active, which then cause you to act less aggressively.
The Power of Self-Distancing
There were two studies that show similar results with that of Mischkowski’s study. The first one involved 94 college students who were made to believe they were participating in a study about the effects of music in problem solving and promoting creativity and positive emotions. Participants participated in an anagram test under time pressure. Each student only had 7 seconds to solve each anagram. While taking the test, they were distracted and infuriated by the researchers.
Then, the participants were asked to go back answering the anagram test. Some of them though were instructed to view the situation from a distance, while others were asked to immerse themselves from what was happening. The remaining students served as a control group.
All of the students were tested for their aggressive reaction and found that those who used the self-distancing strategy showed less aggression when provoked. In another study, participants also had an anagram test. They were told that they’re going to work with unseen partner (who were the researchers). Then, they were asked to compete with the same person that has provoked their aggressive reactions. Those who will score higher will get the chance to blast noise to the loser. Those who practised self-distancing showed lower levels of aggression and blasted noise that’s less intensive and shorter.
The key is to get away from the stressful situation. If you can’t do the self-distancing perspective, then try to distract yourself by shifting your attention to something else. Take a walk, read some funny magazine, and so on. But Mischkowski warned that self-distraction has a short-term effect and that the aggressive feelings may return once the distractions were no longer there.
Sources of this article:
“SELF-DISTANCING” CAN HELP PEOPLE CALM AGGRESSIVE REACTIONS, STUDY FINDS, Ohio State University