Social Consequences of Anger Expression: The Role of Target of Harm and Expresser’s Gender

This study investigates the social judgments of individuals who express anger and examines how these judgments vary based on whether the anger is in response to harm inflicted upon others or harm inflicted upon the expresser. Using a vignette-based experiment (N = 853), we addressed two research questions: (1) What are the differences in character judgments and social impressions based on anger expression in response to harm to others versus harm to self? (2) To what extent are these impressions dependent on the expresser's gender? The results revealed that expressing anger influenced the perceptions of the expresser, with anger expressers being perceived as more steadfast and obstinate but less communal and wise. Moreover, the impact of anger expression on perceptions differed depending on whether the harm was directed at the expresser or another person, suggesting that anger in response to harm to others may elicit less negative affiliative impressions. Surprisingly, for female protagonists who expressed anger, the broader negative consequences of expressing anger were weaker and the positive social outcomes were stronger relative to those for their male counterparts. We contextualize these findings within a functionalist framework and discuss alternative explanations for the unexpected gender differences.