Anger and Stress
- 2 August 2007
- journal article
- research article
- Published by SAGE Publications in Environment and Behavior
- Vol. 40 (3), 355-381
- https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916506298797
Abstract
Anger and stress management have become important issues in the modern workplace. One out of four American workers report themselves to be chronically angry, which has been linked to negative outcomes such as retaliatory behavior, revenge, interpersonal aggression, poor work performance, absenteeism, and increased turnover. We hypothesized that people who work in office environments decorated with aesthetically engaging art posters would experience less stress and anger in response to task-related frustration. Two hundred and ten college students were randomly assigned to different office conditions where abstract and nature paintings were hung on the walls. Participants performed four mild anger-provoking computer tasks and then reported their levels of state anger and stress. Results indicate that different office conditions had a significant influence on state anger and stress for males but not for females. Males experienced less state anger and stress when art posters were present. Through mediation analysis, we found that increased proportions of nature paintings decreased state anger because of decreased levels of stress.Keywords
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