Anger is an approach-related affect: evidence and implications.

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Neuroscience
• Affective Science

Background:

• Understanding the motivational underpinnings of emotions like anger, anxiety, and fear is crucial for affective science.
• Previous research has explored the relationship between emotions and motivational systems, but distinctions remain.
• The interpretation of anterior cortical asymmetry in relation to emotional valence is an ongoing area of study.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review evidence on the motivational basis of anger, specifically its relation to anxiety and fear.
• To examine the implications of this evidence for understanding anterior cortical asymmetry.
• To evaluate the dimensional model of affect versus discrete emotion theories.

Main Methods:

• Systematic review of existing empirical evidence on anger, anxiety, fear, and motivational systems.
• Analysis of studies investigating anterior cortical asymmetry.
• Theoretical integration of findings to assess competing models of affect organization.

Main Results:

• Evidence supports anger being associated with appetitive/approach motivation, and anxiety with aversive/avoidance motivation.
• Anterior cortical asymmetry appears to reflect the direction of motivational engagement (approach vs. withdrawal), not affective valence.
• The reviewed evidence does not support a purely positive and negative dimensional model of affect.

Conclusions:

• Anger and anxiety are rooted in distinct motivational systems (approach vs. avoidance).
• Anterior cortical asymmetry is a neural correlate of motivational direction, not simply positive or negative affect.
• Findings are consistent with discrete emotion theories and some dimensional approaches, but not a simple valence-based dimensionality.