The Power of Anger: How Anger Can Help Solve Problems

Anger can be helpful in problem-solving, according to experiments where students were shown images that evoked anger, happiness, sadness, or other emotions. Subsequently, they were asked to solve a series of anagrams. Those who were angry performed better on more difficult tasks. One possible explanation could be the connection between anger and greater persistence in problem-solving. In another experiment, angry participants were better at overcoming obstacles in a video game compared to those who were sad, happy, or experiencing no intense emotions at all.