Want to boost productivity? Try getting angry at work

Do you feel guilty after expressing anger? While happiness is an emotion we are all encouraged to pursue, negative feelings like anger are mostly considered unfit sentiments that must be suppressed.

However, anger is not necessarily an unhealthy emotion. In fact, a new study has found that getting mad can be a powerful motivator for productivity and meeting our goals. Yes, you read that correctly.

Let’s take a closer look at the study.

Anger ‘boosts’ productivity

The American Psychological Association carried out a survey of over 1,000 people who were exposed to experience a specific emotion, such as joy, anger, and sadness, reported Sky News. Some were in a neutral emotional state.

All of the participants were then allotted tasks, including solving word puzzles and playing a challenging video game.

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According to the peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, anger usually evoked the best performance as compared to other emotions.

Feelings like desire and amusement also enhanced performance, Sky News reported citing the study.

The research also examined surveys conducted during the 2016 and 2020 United States presidential elections, with voters asked how angry would they be if their preferred candidate lost. The study says that those who said they would be angry were more likely to vote.

Why do we feel anger?

Although we would all like to reach a Zen state of mind, there are some situations when we just cannot mask our frustration.

Experts say fear and anger are interconnected and one can trigger the other. According to a report in the Harvard Business Review, “For many people, the emotion behind anger is fear. You might be afraid of being powerless or having something you care about taken away or go wrong.”

We experience anger if we feel someone crossed our boundaries. Pixabay (Representational Image)

Another reason could be if we feel someone crossed our boundaries, as per a Psychology Today article.

“Hormonal imbalances, such as increased levels of testosterone or decreased levels of serotonin” can also influence the “intensity and frequency” of someone’s angry reactions, the article added.

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Why is the study important?

Experts say that the findings of this research are compelling, especially as women are conditioned to believe by society that they cannot be “emotional” in the workplace.

Nicola Kemp, lead facilitator at Good Shout, told Metro.co.uk, “The challenge, particularly for women in the workplace, is that we are hard-wired to go into “flight or fight” mode rather than recognise our own anger is natural.

“That fear stops us from having uncomfortable conversations, which could ultimately help move us forward and stop wasting our time or energy on certain things.”

She further said, “From a business perspective, it is also really important to recognise that anger and frustration with the status quo is a huge tool for innovation and creativity”.

As per Sky News, lead author of the study Professor Heather Lench said that the findings reveal that anger was linked to increased success. "People often believe a state of happiness is ideal, and the majority of people consider the pursuit of happiness a major life goal.

"The view that positive emotion is ideal for mental health and well-being has been prominent in lay and psychological accounts of emotion, but previous research suggests a mix of emotions, including negative emotions like anger, result in the best outcomes."

"These findings demonstrate that anger increases effort toward attaining a desired goal, frequently resulting in greater success. Our research adds to the growing evidence that a mix of positive and negative emotions promotes well-being, and using negative emotions as tools can be particularly effective in some situations," Professor Lench added.

Anger could lead to increased productivity, as per the study. Pixabay (Representational Image)

However, excess of anything is bad and some experts pointed out that the new study is only true for short-lived anger.

Speaking to Fox News, NYU psychologist Dr Yamalis Diaz said, "It has long been understood that when someone is a little activated by arousal/stress hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol, it sharpens attention and focus – while too much or prolonged exposure to activation (emotional arousal) would be detrimental to cognitive/adaptive functioning. I think studies like this do help us think about how to better understand links between emotions and behaviours, but we need to be careful about over-interpreting the results. But hey, a little negative emotion being channeled into positive goals is a positive thing."

As the article in Harvard Business Review mentioned that if you learn how to “channel” your anger, it can “serve” you.

With inputs from agencies