Reactions to anger and anxiety-provoking events: psychopathic and nonpsychopathic groups compared

A psychopathic offender group (N = 17) and a nonpsychopathic, non-offender control group (N = 15) were presented with descriptions of anxiety and anger-provoking situations (derived from a pilot study) together with a series of questions designed to evaluate their cognitive appraisal and anticipated reactions of self and other to the situation. The psychopathic group rated the anxiety situations as more anxiety-, fear-, and threat-inducing than did the control group, while the reverse was true for the anger situations. Both sets of scenarios were seen as more anger-inducing by the psychopathic group. There was little difference between the groups in anticipated reactions of self and others. Implications of the results for cognitive interventions aimed at anger management are discussed.