Page "Anger" Paragraph 44

Larissa Tiedens, known for her studies of anger, claimed that expression of feelings would cause a powerful influence not only on the perception of the expresser but also on their power position in the society.

She studied the correlation between anger expression and social influence perception.

Previous researchers, such as Keating, 1985 have found that people with angry face expression were perceived as powerful and as in a high social position.

Similarly, Tiedens et al.

have revealed that people who compared scenarios involving an angry and a sad character, attributed a higher social status to the angry character.

Tiedens examined in her study whether anger expression promotes status attribution.

In other words, whether anger contributes to perceptions or legitimization of others ' behaviors.

Her findings clearly indicated that participants who were exposed to either an angry or a sad person were inclined to express support for the angry person rather than for a sad one.

In addition, it was found that a reason for that decision originates from the fact that the person expressing anger was perceived as an ability owner, and was attributed a certain social status accordingly.