The Recalibrational Theory of Anger: what is it and how does it explain anger?

Let's look at how the recalibrational theory of anger shows the usefulness of anger.

If we were to ask anyone why anger arises, they would most likely tell us that it is the result of frustration. When something does not go as expected or when we are told something ugly, it is normal to react with emotional tension, one of the many responses being the emotion of anger.

However, there are those who consider that, taking an evolutionary perspective, anger would be an emotion whose function is to motivate us in a negotiation or conflict, mobilizing us to avoid any loss or promote gains in a social context.

The recalibrational theory of anger is a model that has tried to explain the functionality of this emotion. Let's see what it consists of.

What is the Recalibrational Anger Theory?

The recalibrational theory of anger is a proposal that explains how natural selection has explains how natural selection has molded this emotion in such a way that it serves us to receive better treatment from others..

Although it is a relatively recent theory, which still needs to be approached in greater depth with scientific research, this conceptualization of the purpose of anger would allow us to make sense of it, since this emotion is responsible for a large part of human aggressive acts. Why behave aggressively if not to prevent our rights from being trampled on?

Based on this idea, it has been proposed that anger acts as a behavioral regulatory program. The recalibrational theory of anger is an evolutionary computational model, a proposal expanded by Sell, that argues that the function of this emotion is, precisely, to recalibrate socially those individuals who are not taken into account or not sufficiently taken into account..

So that we understand each other: anger would serve for those individuals who are being excluded from their group and whose rights are being undervalued, to assert themselves, to mobilize themselves to avoid being trampled on. Anger makes them take action.

What is anger according to this model?

In the recalibrational theory of anger, it is based on the idea that this emotion is as universal as the others. Anger appears spontaneously during childhood and manifests itself in a more or less similar way from culture to culture.. It is a product of our biology, with a neurobiological substrate behind it that has been shaped by years and years of evolution.

Based on this conceptualization, it is hypothesized that this emotion has evolved in our species, mainly focused on functioning in contexts of negotiation and conflict. Its appearance would be to make the angry person mobilize, in such a way that it would manage to tilt the balance of interests and benefits in a situation of conflict.. The more angry one is, the more he makes his rights prevail over the others and the more benefits he extracts from all this.

Anger tactics

The recalibrational theory of anger maintains that around this human emotion a whole computationally complex cognitive system has been organized, which, as we have commented, evolved focused on conflict situations, evolved focused on situations of conflict and negotiation..

When we feel anger we exhibit specific facial expressions, an altered tone of voice, we use defensive and offensive verbal arguments (e.g., insults) and, of course, we can carry out physical aggressions. All of these cognitive and physiological actions are designed to ensure that the negotiation in the course of a conflict ends up benefiting us..

The two tactics that anger causes us to try to carry out in conflict situations are:

Inflicting costs and withholding benefits 2.

One of the tactics we apply when we feel angry is to inflict costs and withhold benefits. In other words, when we feel anger we are more likely to hurt other people, in order to intimidate them or respond aggressively to the offenses they have first inflicted on us..

This emotion also causes us to defend ourselves, protecting those things we want to keep, whether psychologically, socially or physically. Individuals with better abilities to inflict costs, that is, to do harm, are socially perceived as stronger.

2. Granting benefits

The other tactic related to anger is not manifested when we are immersed in this emotion, but when another individual is angry.

Human beings tend to grant more benefits to people who are aggressive, as they are interpreted as being more aggressive.It is interpreted that they are more capable of defending their interests. The most angry people are also seen as people that it is better not to anger, reason for which one is more prone to grant the benefits that it looks for.

Anger, welfare and negotiation

In any gregarious species, the actions taken by one of its individuals eventually affect the well-being of the others, for better or worse. According to the recalibrational theory, when the anger program detects that other individuals in the reference group are not putting enough weight on one's own well-being, anger is triggered..

According to the assumptions of the recalibrational theory of anger, individuals with better abilities to inflict costs (harms) and withhold benefits and who, consequently, are also more likely to gain advantages over others, are the ones who tend to get angry more easily. Whether it is because it is in their genetic code or because they have learned that by getting angry they obtain certain benefits, their mood tends towards irascibility, seeing that it works for them.

In turn, from an evolutionary perspective, there are two reasons for this. The first would be that their greater ability to withdraw benefits or inflict costs translates into greater leverage in negotiating conflicts of interest. This means that they are more likely to be more successful with their anger compared to those who have less influence..

The second reason is that their greater influence leads them to expect that others will be more concerned about their welfare. The greater the welfare compensation ratio that a subject expects from others, the greater the set of welfare compensations that the anger system will process as unacceptable. In other words, when one expects others to look out for him or her, the shorter his or her fuse will be in the face of social situations that he or she perceives as an attack on his or her individual desires.