Does venting your anger help you reduce aggression?

In other words, is the commonly accepted idea of releasing "built up" energy through aggression a good one?

Is it True?

Sigmund Freud believed so. He believed that unless people allowed themselves to express their anger and frustration in an aggressive way, the aggressive energy would clog up our system and eventually build up enough pressure that it would cause us to "explode." In other words, if we don't act out our feeling of aggression, eventually those feelings will force themselves out in the form of mental illness or violence.

I'm sure we've all heard from somewhere about how we should release our anger in someway, perhaps by hitting an inanimate object, so that it doesn't "bubble up" and force us to hurt people. However, how accurate is this?

The Answer

Studies have been conducted that indicate that it's not very accurate at all.

For example, in this study by Brad Bushman participants were made angry by being insulted. Then, participants were told to A. spend some time hitting a punching bag and told to think about the person that insulted them B. spend some time hitting a punching bag but were told to think of it merely as exercise or C. spend some time just sitting still for a bit without punching anything. The experiment concluded that those who sat still for a while without punching anything were actually felt the least angry afterwords. The study also concluded that individuals who "released their anger" were actually more likely to act aggressively towards the person who insulted them. This is the opposite of what many of us would expect after having been taught throughout our lives that releasing anger helps us no longer be angry.

Why Not?

The Busman study, along with a few others, have indicated that venting anger doesn't actually work! In fact, venting anger actually makes you more likely to act aggressively in the future. Why is this true? For the same reason that most of us are so good at using one hand, but not so good at using the other one. By allowing yourself to realize your aggression when you're angry, you're essentially training your brain to be aggressive whenever you get angry. You're so good at using your right hand because you use it way more than your left (or visa-versa), and you'll become so good at being aggressive when you're mad when you constantly become aggressive when you're mad.

So what does work?

Instead, it would be a much better idea for you not to "vent" and instead do what Bushman had his participants do and take some time to sit still for a bit. You could also go for a walk, a jog, read a book, etc. Anything other than releasing aggression would be a better choice. If you're able to convert some of that anger into something productive, you'll be way better off. This is especially important for men, who are much more likely to be arrested for violent crimes than women are.