# anger
27 moments across 5 episodes. Click any moment to jump straight to that part of the episode.
44:45Anger and the workplace in a huge election yearAl Elliott: Do you still think that anger's gonna be a big problem in the workplace? Isabel Berwick: Yes, huge. And I think half the world's democracies are going to the polls this year. This is a huge year in terms of pEP 235 · 25 Sept 2025·interview· 44:45–46:333:43What anger really is (and isn't)Leanne Elliott: So, Ryan Martin, welcome to Truth and Lies. We are so excited to have you. For anyone who hasn't heard of you, could you start by telling us who you are, what you do, and what you're famous for? Al ElliotEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 3:43–5:115:11Anger vs. aggression — why the distinction mattersLeanne Elliott: So an important distinction there, I guess, the difference between an emotion and a behavior. And is that something that's quite a common differentiation in psychology, in emotional psychology? Al ElliottEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 5:11–6:366:36Are some people just angrier than others?Leanne Elliott: Are some people just more angry than others? Al Elliott: Absolutely. So there's pretty significant individual differences, both in how often people get angry, but also in how they tend to express their anEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 6:36–10:4610:46Is the world actually getting angrier?Leanne Elliott: I mean, with that, like you said, the environments that we're in, are humans getting angrier? Is the frequency of anger on the rise? Al Elliott: Yeah. So this is one of those questions that I wish we had EP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 10:46–14:0414:04How we learn anger from modelling and cultureLeanne Elliott: You mentioned the modeling of behaviors, and I wonder whether that's something people might associate more in terms of like children or childhood, or I mean, what role does behavior modeling play in adultEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 14:04–20:4720:47Gender differences in anger (and what surprises people)Al Elliott: Yeah, I think one of the things that probably surprises people the most is the nature of gender differences when it comes to anger, because people have, I think, a myth about anger. A pretty prominent myth isEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 20:47–22:5722:57Debunking the catharsis mythAl Elliott: Well, great question. And I would say there's really a couple of things. First, the idea of catharsis as an approach is rooted in Aristotle, right? I mean, this is as old as it gets when it comes to a way of EP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 22:57–29:1429:15Is anger addictive?Leanne Elliott: Is anger addictive at all? Do people like to be angry? Al Elliott: Yeah, I'm going to approach this one carefully only because the word addiction is kind of— it means different things to different people.EP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 29:15–30:3930:39Anger, politics, and the 2024 election cycleLeanne Elliott: I mean, with that in mind, and you mentioned the political climate, and it's 2024, we've got some big elections happening this year in the US and the UK. Has anger been weaponized in terms of political leEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 30:39–32:2332:23The 10 strategies for dealing with angry peopleAl Elliott: Yeah. I think what I'm more afraid of than the frequency of anger, because I would argue there's a lot for people to be angry at right now. I mean, I think it'd be fair to say that I am a relatively angry perEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 32:23–35:5035:51The strategy Ryan finds most difficultLeanne Elliott: Moving on to the strategies you outline in your book then, there's 10 of them altogether, how to deal with angry people. If people just adopted one, which one should it be? Al Elliott: Yeah, that's kind oEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 35:51–38:3438:34Can anger ever be useful at work?Leanne Elliott: Is there a strategy that you find the most difficult? Al Elliott: Yeah, I mean, I think for a lot of people and for me, it's probably finding ways, and this has gotten way easier for me over time. I thinkEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 38:34–44:0844:08How Ryan became The Anger Professor on TikTokLeanne Elliott: Is there any kind of work-based scenario where anger can actually be useful? Al Elliott: I think there is. I think there's— one of the things we see is Anger is associated with— in fact, I think there wasEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 44:08–49:1456:08The question everyone should ask about angerAl Elliott: Yeah. Well, so here's the backstory. Young Ryan was not a very good student. Young Ryan was actually a very bad student for much of elementary school and middle school and even high school, and ended up gettiEP 163 · 16 Jan 2025·other· 56:08–58:0133:12Navigating Workplace Trends: Angry People, Greedy Jobs, and Quiet QuittingAl Elliott: So, this anger we need to manage, and if you are a manager, you need to be aware of it, because when it manifests itself, it could feel quite personal if someone's angry towards you. But in actual fact, just EP 85 · 28 Mar 2024·interview· 33:12–43:590:33The myth of cathartic aggressionRyan Martin: Nice Al Elliott: Check out hopspot.com, the agentic customer platform for growing businesses Ryan Martin: The idea that that's a good way to let anger out— there's zero evidence that that's a good, healthy wEP 81 · 8 Mar 2024·interview· 0:33–2:116:32What anger actually isRyan Martin: I'm Dr. Ryan Martin. I am the dean at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. I'm dean of the College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences. Uh, I've been a psychologist for a very long time, and I researcEP 81 · 8 Mar 2024·interview· 6:32–11:0711:07Exploring the causes of anger and its expressionLeanne Elliott: The headline debate in any of the human sciences is nature versus nurture. Are we born a certain way, or does the world shape us a certain way? I wanted to know, are some people just born angry, or does oEP 81 · 8 Mar 2024·interview· 11:07–15:3315:33Individual differences in how we get angryRyan Martin: So there's pretty significant individual differences, both in how often people get angry, but also in how they tend to express their anger, how intense that anger is expressed. We see pretty wide, broad diffEP 81 · 8 Mar 2024·interview· 15:33–17:3617:36The distinction between being angry and being an angry personAl Elliott: Okay, so, so far, We know what anger is. We know a little bit about how our genetics and childhood can affect how angry we are. And we know roughly how often the average person gets angry. So is there a diffeEP 81 · 8 Mar 2024·interview· 17:36–22:5532:30Non-complementary responses — how to de-escalate angry peopleRyan Martin: There's this phenomenon that we talk about in psychology referred to as non-complementary responses, right? And so, because what that means is we tend to match each other's emotions. This is that emotional cEP 81 · 8 Mar 2024·interview· 32:30–34:0634:06Dispelling common myths about anger and its managementRyan Martin: I think sometimes anger can be really— can have a team-building effect, meaning if If we're all angry at the same people or in the same way, it can really build camaraderie that way. So sometimes a leader's EP 81 · 8 Mar 2024·interview· 34:06–38:1638:16Gender differences in expressing angerRyan Martin: I think one of the things that probably surprises people the most is the nature of gender differences when it comes to anger, because people have, I think, a myth about anger. A pretty prominent myth is the EP 81 · 8 Mar 2024·interview· 38:16–40:1440:14Dr. Martin's journey to becoming the Anger ProfessorAl Elliott: So obviously, Leanne came across Dr. Ryan in her nerdy magazine and then found him on TikTok and had a watch of some of his stuff on TikTok and then bought the book. And now he's on the show. So it just goes EP 81 · 8 Mar 2024·interview· 40:14–45:2345:23Final thoughts and where to find Dr. MartinAl Elliott: So there you have it, your introduction to anger and dealing with angry people. We highly recommend you go and buy Dr. Ryan's book and go and follow him on all the socials. Um, his content is really brilliantEP 81 · 8 Mar 2024·outro· 45:23–49:1522:28Trend 3 — Anger in the workplaceAl Elliott: Oh, really? Leanne Elliott: Anger. People are angry. The numbers of people who report being angry at work is rocketing. When we did an episode on anger, it was incredibly popular. I think suppressed anger, whEP 61 · 19 Oct 2023·other· 22:28–24:09
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