Smash Notes
Ryan Martin
Episodes
Notes
TED Talks Daily · Why we get mad -- and why it's healthy | Ryan Martin
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What Good News Does Ryan Martin Offer About Anger?
On TED Talks Daily, Ryan Martin says the good news is that people can do something their nonhuman ancestors could not: regulate emotion. Even when you want to lash out, you can stop and channel the anger into something more useful. He rejects the idea that anger is simply bad and should be calmed, relaxed, or let go. He treats it like thirst or hunger, a signal that should move you. Racism, sexism, bullying, and environmental destruction are worth getting angry about, he says. The response does not have to be violent. He lists protest, letters, donations, volunteering, art, and building a community that refuses those harms.
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How Does Anger Affect Our Bodies
Anger is a part of a pattern of physiological experiences that exists. When we’re mad, our heart rate and breathing increase. We start to sweat, which is our sympathetic nervous system kicking in the energy for us to respond. Our digestion system also slows down to help us conserve energy.
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What Is One Thing to Remember About Anger
Ryan Martin states that our anger exists in us as an emotion because it offered our ancestors both human and non-human with an evolutionary advantages. It’s one way our brains communicate to us that we have had enough. It also energizes us to confront something.
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What Are Some Cognitive Distortions of Anger
It’s also known as an irrational belief. Angry people tend to put blame where it doesn’t belong, such as inanimate objects. They also tend to overgeneralize and use words like always, never, and every. People will also put their own needs ahead of others.
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Why Do We All Get Angry Over Different Things
It depends on what we’re doing and how we’re feeling during the provocation matter. This is the pre-anger state. When we feel those other things, the provocations tend to feel much worse. What truly matters is how we make sense of the anger.
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What’s Are Common Themes of Anger
The recipe for anger is provocations that include things that are unpleasant, when they feel unfair, when goals are blocked that could have been avoided, and over things that leave us powerless.
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How Is Anger With Us During Some of the Best Moments of Our Lives
Some examples of anger during the best moments of our lives are when we have special occasions like vacations and weddings. These events are often marred by bad frustrations in the moment, but are ultimately forgotten once things turn out well.
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What’s the Role of an Anger Researcher
As an anger researcher, Ryan Martin spends a good part of his professional and personal life studying why people get mad. He studies the types of thoughts people have when they get mad, and also what people do when they get mad.
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Can You Get Motivated by Anger
Anger can motivate us to respond to injustice. There are various ways to fix a problem. We have to get mad first, then channel that anger into fighting back, which doesn’t have to be with aggression or hostility.