Investigation of Primary Emotions and Personality Traits of Anger Directed Toward the Clinical Guidance of Managers

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the primary emotion of anger that managers experience in clinical guidance situations and thus to clarify how personality traits are related to anger arousal.

Method: We conducted a self-report questionnaire with items on basic attributes, personality traits, and angry emotional responses. The participants were 22 male physiotherapists in managerial positions, of ages ranging between 30 and 54 (mean age = 40.4). We extracted the primary emotion of anger based on 12 optional words. To test for correlations, we used Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient.

Results: The guidance situation that was cited most often (cited by 21 participants) as an anger-inducing setting was “instructing juniors.” The primary emotions of anger that were cited most often were “feeling troubled” and “feeling worried.” Regarding correlations between personality traits and angry emotions, we observed significant correlations between extroversion and hostility (r = –0.46), cooperativeness and anger arousal (r = 0.52), and self-esteem and anger arousal (r = –0.49).

Conclusion: “Feeling troubled” is a frequent primary emotion of the anger that managers experience in guidance situations. The results also suggest that instructors who are cooperative, not hard-working, and who have low self-esteem get angry more easily.