Anger as a moral emotion: A 'bird's eye view' systematic review

Abstract

Anger is common problem for which counselling/psychotherapy clients seek help, and is typically regarded as an invidious negative emotion to be ameliorated. However, it may be possible to reframe anger as a moral emotion, arising in response to perceived transgressions, thereby endowing it with meaning. In that respect, the current paper offers a ‘bird’s eye’ systematic review of empirical research on anger as a moral emotion (i.e., one focusing broadly on the terrain as a whole, rather than on specific areas). Three databases were reviewed from the start of their records to January 2019. Eligibility criteria included empirical research, published in English in peer-reviewed journals, on anger specifically as a moral emotion. 175 papers met the criteria, and fell into four broad classes of study: survey-based; experimental; physiological; and qualitative. In reviewing the articles, this paper pays particular attention to: how/whether anger can be differentiated from other moral emotions; antecedent causes and triggers; contextual factors that influence or mitigate anger; and outcomes arising from moral anger. Together, the paper offers a comprehensive overview of current knowledge into this prominent and problematic emotion. The results may be of use to counsellors and psychotherapists helping to address anger issues in their clients.

Full text

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Anger as a moral emotion: A ‘bird’s eye view’ systematic review
Tim Lomas
Counselling Psychology Quarterly
Note: this is not the final version that appears in Counselling Psychology Quarterly. It is not the copy of record

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Abstract
Anger is common problem for which counselling/psychotherapy clients seek help, and is
typically regarded as an invidious negative emotion to be ameliorated. However, it may be
possible to reframe anger as a moral emotion, arising in response to perceived transgressions,
thereby endowing it with meaning. In that respect, the current paper offers a ‘bird’s eye’
systematic review of empirical research on anger as a moral emotion (i.e., one focusing
broadly on the terrain as a whole, rather than on specific areas). Three databases were
reviewed from the start of their records to January 2019. Eligibility criteria included
empirical research, published in English in peer-reviewed journals, on anger specifically as a
moral emotion. 175 papers met the criteria, and fell into four broad classes of study: survey-
based; experimental; physiological; and qualitative. In reviewing the articles, this paper pays
particular attention to: how/whether anger can be differentiated from other moral emotions;
antecedent causes and triggers; contextual factors that influence or mitigate anger; and
outcomes arising from moral anger. Together, the paper offers a comprehensive overview of
current knowledge into this prominent and problematic emotion. The results may be of use to
counsellors and psychotherapists helping to address anger issues in their clients.
Keywords: anger; emotion; moral; systematic review.

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Anger is a central topic of concern within counselling and psychotherapy, understood to be a
noxious emotion that can cause great suffering to those burdened with it (Mayne & Ambrose,
1999). There are many considerations when it comes to dealing with anger in such contexts,
but one particularly important one is how anger is appraised and conceptualised; or, to put it
another way, what is the meaning of anger. This is a crucial question. It is often harder for
clients to deal with anger if it is simply a noxious negative emotion that serves no apparent
adaptive function (Davenport, 1991). Conversely, if anger can be framed as actually serving
some such process, even if it is unpleasant, its effects may be easier to bear and to process. In
that respect, it may be helpful to consider the perspective of ‘second wave’ positive
psychology, which includes the possibility that negatively-valenced emotions may serve
some adaptive purpose in promoting long-term wellbeing (Lomas & Ivtzan, 2016), as
elucidated further below. As such, this paper looks at the issue of whether anger can be
framed, at least sometimes, as a moral emotion. We’ll begin though by first considering the
range of perspective on anger that have developed over the years.
Perspectives on anger
Anger has long been of interest to psychologists and philosophers. Indeed, its potency as an
elemental passion driving human behavior has been recognized since antiquity; the Roman
physician Claudius Galen (circa 130-200 C.E), for instance, reflected on his ‘hatred’ of anger,
such was its power to rob people of reason and dignity (cited in Kemp & Strongman, 1995,
p.397). In analyses and debates around anger throughout the intervening centuries, and in
recent academic literature in particular, two key questions are, how does anger occur, and
why does it occur?
The first question concerns the physiological and phenomenological manifestations of
anger. Anger can be defined simply as an ‘emotional state that consists of feelings that vary
in intensity, from mild irritation or annoyance to fury and rage’ (Spielberger, Jacobs, Russell,

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& Crane, 1983, p.162). That said, it is a complex state, involving a multidimensional play of
‘physiological reactions, facial expressions, vocal responses, visual attention, body postures,
and a host of behavioral strategies including social exclusion, insults, argumentation and
aggression’ (Sell, 2011, p.382). In phenomenological terms, anger is characterized by
unpleasant physical arousal, including muscle tension, increased heart-rate, and prickling heat
(see e.g., Fernandez and Johnson (2016) for a review of its presentation in the context of
psychological disorders, as well as an analysis of its prevalence, aetiology and prognostic
implications). Such sensations are explained in physiological terms as being generated by
activation of the sympathetic nervous system, as per the ‘fight-flight’ response, where
autonomic arousal resulting from threat or provocation will lead either to fear and escape
behaviours (in the presence of flight-producing cues) or anger and aggression behaviours (in
the absence of such cues) (Tyson, 1998). Of course, these physiological mechanisms interact
with psychological processes in complex ways; for instance, faster sympathetic recovery
from anger is associated with better emotion regulation skills (Kahle, Miller, Lopez, &
Hastings, 2016).
These sensations are similarly conceptualized in cognitive terms using ‘hydraulic’
metaphors, in which anger is understood in both ontological and epistemic terms using
metonymic concepts relating to physical forces of heat and pressure, reflected in idioms such
as ‘exploding with anger’ (Lakoff, 1987). Such metaphors capture the notion that anger can
be physical and emotionally intense, and can lead to a loss of control that can be problematic
and even dangerous. Although it might be assumed that the ‘how’ of anger (its physiology
and phenomenology) is relatively well understood, it nevertheless remains an area of
considerable debate, for instance in terms of the appropriacy of conceptualizing it in
hydraulic terms (Bushman, 2002), or the extent to which it is indeed ‘uncontrollable’ (Faupel,
Herrick, & Sharp, 2010); indeed, the point above about the role of emotional regulation skills

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indicates that it may be stoppable to an extent, in ways that vary with individuals (Kahle et
al., 2016).
While the ‘how’ of anger remains a live issue, arguably of greater debate is the
question of why anger occurs. Typologies of precipitating factors identify a wide range of
triggers, including ‘insults, cost imposition, inattention, anger from another, insufficient
reciprocity, insufficient praise, another's ignorance of your achievements and so on’ (Sell,
2011, p.382). Given this diversity, attempts have been made to organize these precipitating
factors within an overarching theory. Such theories hail from a range of academic paradigms
and disciplines, from evolutionary psychology to psychodynamic psychotherapy. From an
evolutionary perspective, we find a wealth of psychobiological theories aiming to account for
the adaptive value of anger. For instance, Gilbert and Miles’ (2000) social rank theory views
anger (and other emotions such as shame) as a key mechanism in regulating social status, a
theory which continues to find empirical and clinical support (see e.g., Wetherall, Robb, and
O'Connor (2019) for a systematic review of its role in depressive symptoms and suicide risk).
The theory holds that when status and access to scare resources are threatened, this can be
countered through survival mechanisms, including anger (as a counterattack signifying
agency and dominance), shame (a show of submissiveness to avoid future conflict), and even
prosocial emotions (as a way of eliciting co-operation). Alternatively, Sell’s (2011)
‘recalibrational theory’ – which likewise continues to draw empirical support (e.g., Wyckoff,
2016) – holds that the function of anger is to ‘recalibrate’ people who place insufficient
weight on the welfare of others when making decisions; the anger of these wronged others
raises the target's ‘welfare tradeoff ratio,’ prompting the actor into placing greater importance
on their needs.
Alternatively, from a psychodynamic perspective, Freud’s hydraulic model posits that
frustrations (e.g., arising from thwarted desire satisfaction) lead to anger, which consequently

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‘builds up’ (as per fluid dynamics) until it is either released in a manageable cathartic way, or
is bottled up until it explodes as aggressive rage (Freud & Breuer, 1895). While this idea has
proved influential (as per the metonymic idioms identified by Lakoff (1987), noted above),
recent studies have found flaws in it, including critiquing its ‘aetiological’ analysis that unless
anger is ‘vented’ it will build and explode as rage (Bushman, 2002). Other psychological
models that are less psychodynamically inclined also link anger to frustration and other
aversive events (from provocation to hot temperature). For instance, Berkowitz’s (1993)
‘cognitive neo-association’ theory holds that aversive phenomena generate negative affect,
which in turn stimulate thoughts, memories, motor reactions, and physiological responses
associated with fight and flight tendencies, with fight associations consequently producing
feelings of anger (see e.g., Gresham, Melvin, and Gullone (2016) for recent empirical testing
and support).
Arguably the most prominent model of anger currently is general strain theory (GST),
developed principally by Agnew (1985) in the context of criminality, which likewise links
anger to aversive events. The theory continues to be deployed to help analyze and understand
a wide range of behaviours and outcomes, including gambling and substance use (Greco &
Curci, 2017), delinquency (Moon & Morash, 2017), and bullying (Walters & Espelage,
2017). Initially, the theory posited that ‘strain’ resulted mainly from goals being blocked,
with strain then leading to anger, and anger to deviance. That is, strain can generate negative
emotions, such as anger or depression; these in turn provoke people into initiating corrective
or coping responses to alleviate or manage these dysphoric states. When the response is
anger, the chance of deviant behaviours increases, as people may respond with retaliatory,
instrumental or escapist responses. However, more recently the model has been expanded –
see Cullen (2017) for a recent summary of developments – where the causes of strain are not
only blocked goals, but factors including noxious circumstances, losing something of value,

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and situations perceived as unjust (Agnew, Brezina, Wright, & Cullen, 2002). It is this last
factor that the current paper is concerned with. That is, while anger may have varied causes,
from frustration to threat, one of these causes may pertain to judgements around justice and
ethics; thus, sometimes, anger may be a ‘moral emotion,’ as the next section elucidates.
Anger as a moral emotion
Over recent years, there has been increasing interest in the idea of moral emotions, including
other-regarding states such as anger and disgust, and self-regarding states like guilt and
shame (Rozin, Lowery, Imada, & Haidt, 1999). This idea of moral emotions has a long,
distinguished pedigree. For instance, many enlightenment philosophers argued that morality
was founded upon emotionality (a position associated most prominently with Hume, 1740),
in contrast to those who saw morality as built upon rationality (as argued by Kant, 1789). The
notion of moral emotions was still current as the field of psychology emerged at the dawn of
the 20th Century (see e.g., Brown, 1912). However, as the century progressed, psychologists
tended to focus on the cognitive, rational dimensions and mechanisms of morality, as
exemplified in the work of Piaget (1932) and Kohlberg (1968), such as the acquisition of
perspective and role-taking capacities, leading to the development of a type of moral logic
that would guide one’s actions.
Since the 1980s though, there has been renewed attention on the emotional basis of
morality, prompted initially by the work of scholars like Kagan (1984) and Rosaldo (1984).
Intriguingly, such work did not suggest that morality was grounded in emotionality instead of
rationality, but argued that emotions themselves manifest their own form of rationality, in
which the felt, embodied nature of moral emotions is inextricably linked to cognitive
judgements of right and wrong. As Kagan put it, ‘beneath the extraordinary variety of surface
behavior and consciously articulated ideals, there is a set of emotional states that form the
bases for a limited number of universal moral categories that transcend time and locality’

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(p.118). Since this renewed focus on moral emotions, a range of theoretical positions have
been developed and tested empirically.
One prominent theoretical model formulated by Rozin et al. (1999) focuses on the
origin of three other-regarding emotions: anger, contempt and disgust. Rozin et al. draw on
Shweder, Much, Mahapatra, and Park’s (1997) ‘big three’ theory of morality, which
identifies three main moral spheres: autonomy, community, divinity (later reconceptualised
as sanctity/purity; Haidt & Joseph, 2007). Shweder et al. argued that each of these spheres is
based upon a different conception of the person: autonomy reflects the status of people as
individual agents with a unique preference structure; community recognizes that people are
also embedded within a communal network of other people, holding responsibilities to this
interpersonal nexus; and divinity concerns the belief that human beings possess some element
of the sacred, sharing to some extent in a common nature with a divine being.
Building on this framework, Rozin et al. (1999) argued that anger arises due to
violations of autonomy (e.g., infringing individual rights and freedoms), contempt due to
violations of community (e.g., a person fails to fulfil their social obligations), and disgust due
to violations of divinity (e.g., a person causes degradation or impurity to themselves, others,
or God). The model continues to receive much empirical attention and support (e.g., Steiger
& Reyna, 2017), although scholars have also challenged or complicated the original theory in
various ways. For instance, Hutcherson and Gross’s (2011) social-functionalist account
corroborated the idea of anger, disgust and contempt being functionally distinct
(differentiable in both antecedent appraisals and consequent actions), but found that disgust
played a more significant and broader role than suggested by the original theory. More
challengingly, while Royzman, Atanasov, Landy, Parks, and Gepty (2014) also supported the
notion of these as three distinct emotions, they argued that anger appears to be the main
emotional response to transgression, irrespective of the normative content of the

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transgression. Yet others have argued that the anger at unfair treatment identified by Rozin et
al. (1999) is not the only form of moral anger; other cases include empathic anger (at the
harming of someone about whom one cares) (Batson et al., 2007). Thus, given such debates
and open questions, there is a clear need for an up-to-date review on the state of the literature
on this topic, which this paper aims to provide. Before getting into the specifics of the review
however, it is worth providing an overarching theoretical context within which to situate the
various work on anger as a moral emotion. To that end, one particularly useful paradigm is
the emergent idea of ‘second wave’ positive psychology, which includes the possibility that
negatively-valenced emotions may serve some adaptive purpose in promoting long-term
wellbeing (Lomas & Ivtzan, 2016).
Second wave positive psychology
The field of positive psychology emerged in the late 1990s, defined by an avowed interest in
psychological phenomena deemed ‘positive’ in some way, set within an overarching focus on
broad concepts such as wellbeing, happiness, and flourishing. The initial impetus for the
creation of the field was a disenchantment with the way ‘psychology as usual’ was mainly
focused on disorder and dysfunction (apart from pockets of scholarship such as Humanistic
psychology; Waterman, 2013). This emergent focus on positive topics energized scholars and
students worldwide (Rusk & Waters, 2013). However, at the same time, various issues were
raised by critics, including with respect to its foundational notion of the positive. For
example, in accentuating the positive, PP could be seen as promulgating a polarising view of
psychology, in which apparently positive qualities and processes were seen as necessarily
beneficial (and thus to be sought); this logically meant that ostensibly negative phenomena
were conceptualised as inherently undesirable (and thus to be avoided). However, critics from
both inside the field (e.g., Wong, 2011) and outside (e.g., Held, 2004) began to show that the
picture was more complicated. For instance, one can (and should) differentiate between

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positive and negative valence (whether something is experienced as pleasant or unpleasant)
versus positive versus negative outcome (whether something facilitates or hinders wellbeing).
In doing so, one can find situations in which positively-valenced qualities can have negative
outcomes, such as ‘unrealistic’ optimism being linked to under-appreciation of risk and thus
to subsequent health risk behaviours (Weinstein, Marcus, & Moser, 2005). Conversely,
negatively-valenced states can sometimes have positive outcomes, such as anger motivating
someone to act against an invidious situation that had been hindering their wellbeing (Tavris,
1989).
Through such arguments, the initial premise of PP – defined as it was by a focus on
the positive – appeared to be somewhat challenged. However, rather than destabilising the
field, these types of critical arguments ushered in an increased awareness and appreciation of
the subtle dynamics of the interplay between positive and negative. Indeed, it should be noted
that such insights were implicit in the field from the beginning, with Seligman (1990) arguing
that one must be wary of the ‘tyrannies of optimism’ and be ‘able to use pessimism’s keen
sense of reality when we need it’ (p.292). However, in the initial phase of the field, this kind
of nuanced critique of the notion of the ‘positive’ needed to remain only implicit, otherwise
the field would arguably have not got off the ground at all. Then, once the field had been
accepted and substantiated, such ideas could be made more explicit. Thus, from a Hegelian
perspective, if ‘psychology as usual’ was the thesis (focusing mainly the negative aspects of
human functioning), and first wave PP its antithesis (emphasising instead the positive), this
newer phase of scholarship constituted something of a synthesis. It is this synthesis that has
attracted the label of ‘second wave’ PP – a phrase coined by Held (2004) and subsequently
adopted by Ivtzan, Lomas, Hefferon, and Worth (2015) and Lomas and Ivtzan (2016) – or
alternatively PP “2.0” (Wong, 2011). This second wave is still driven by concern with the
same meta-concepts that underpinned the first wave, such as flourishing and wellbeing.

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However, it is characterised by a more nuanced approach to the concepts of positive and
negative, an appreciation of the ambivalent nature of the good life, and above all by an
understanding of the fundamentally dialectical nature of wellbeing – as Ryff and Singer
(2003) put it, recognising that flourishing involves an ‘inevitable dialectics between positive
and negative aspects of living’ (p.272).
This paradigm of the second wave offers a useful context within which to consider the
phenomenon of moral anger. That is, while anger is undoubtably a negative emotion in terms
of valence, it may yet have the potential to serve a positive outcome if deployed skilfully. For
instance, it has been argued that dynamics of moral anger have helped drive the progressive
social movements that have emerged over recent decades, from feminism to civil rights
(Zembylas, 2007). In those contexts, while anger may have felt unpleasant to people
experiencing it, those same people are likely to have deemed society to have been improved
as a result of their struggle, and consequently to believe that their overall flourishing had been
well served. was promoted. Indeed, research on anger by Tamir, Mitchell, and Gross (2008)
suggests that people prefer to experience emotions that are potentially useful, even if they are
unpleasant to experience. This perspective aligns with a core agenda of the second wave,
namely helping people to discern the potential value of negatively-valenced emotions and
experiences – from boredom (Lomas, 2017) to shame (Wong, 2018) – and to harness them
skilfully and adaptively in the service of their overall wellbeing.
In the interests then of better understanding the phenomenon of moral anger, the
moment is opportune for an evaluation of the state of the literature in this area. This includes
not only ascertaining the extent to which anger is differentiable from other moral emotions
(as per Rozin et al.’s (1999) theory), but other issues such as: what are the various antecedent
causes and triggers of moral anger; what contextual determinants influence or mitigate it; and
what types of outcomes does it generate? As such, the present paper offers a systematic

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review of the literature in this area, providing a comprehensive summary of all empirical
work published to date in peer-reviewed journals, as outlined below.
Methods
An ‘inclusive’ literature search was conducted, following the example of Lomas et al. (2018),
who conducted an explicitly broad-ranging assessment of the impact of mindfulness-based
interventions in the workplace. In that latter case, it meant the authors considering and
including a maximally a wide range of designs (e.g., experimental versus observational),
types of data (e.g., quantitative and qualitative), populations (i.e., all types of occupations and
workplaces), and outcomes (i.e., a very broad range of wellbeing-related outcomes).
Following this example, the current paper sought to provide an inclusive ‘bird’s eye’ view of
the literature, being open to a similarly wide range of designs, populations, and outcomes. It
offers a ‘bird’s eye’ view in the sense of aiming primarily to give an overview of the terrain
as a whole, rather than focusing on a specific area. This stands in contrast to more precisely-
targeted reviews, such as Huffman and Rittenmeyer’s (2012) systematic review of moral
distress among professional nurses specifically. While there is of course value in more
narrowly-concentrated reviews, there has so far not been an overarching systematic review of
the literature as a whole, hence the value of the current paper.
The review was conducted using the MEDLINE, Scopus and Psychinfo electronic
databases. The criteria were “moral” (AND) “anger” – searched for in all fields in MEDLINE
and Psychinfo, and limited to article title, abstract, and keywords in Scopus. The search dates
were from all years (i.e., the start of the records) to the present (1st January 2019). Initially,
1,614 papers were retrieved across the three databases (MEDLINE = 389; Scopus = 504;
Psychinfo = 721). The search was immediately narrowed down to papers published in
academic journals, bringing the number of papers across the three databases down to 1026,
reduced to 525 once duplicates were removed. In terms of PICOS (participants, interventions,

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comparisons, outcomes and study design), the key criteria were very open, namely:
participants – any; interventions – any; outcomes – any; and study design – any empirical
study featuring data collection. These papers were screened according to the following
inclusion criteria: 1) an empirical study, 2) published in a peer-reviewed journal, 3) in
English, 4) which focused centrally on anger as a moral emotion. The latter criterion was
mainly determined by whether authors explicitly framed the anger that was the focus of their
study as being moral. In most cases, this screening was possible on the basis of the abstract
alone; in a small minority, a review of the full article was necessary. Once papers had been
selected for inclusion, the following variables were extracted from each paper: the first
author; the year of publication; the type of participant/population; the number of participants;
the average age of participants; the gender-ratio of the participants; the location of the study;
the ethnicity of the participants; percentages of male and female participants; the study
design; and key outcome(s). The process of selecting papers is outlined in the prisma flow
chart, detailed in figure 1 below
[Insert figure 1 about here]
Results
Search results
Following the removal of papers not published in academic journals, and the removal of
duplicate citations, 525 relevant papers were identified. From the abstract review, 262 papers
were excluded, either because they were not empirical papers (n = 246) or not in English (n =
16), leaving 263 papers for full review. (Of the 246 excluded for not being empirical papers,
55 of these were theoretical, review or commentary papers on the moral dimension of anger;
these are detailed in supplementary table 1.) From the full review of 263 papers, 88 were
excluded as these were deemed to not focus on the moral dimensions of anger (i.e., the
presence of both the words “anger” and “moral” in the paper was incidental, rather than

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substantive). It should be noted that of the 263 papers subject to full review, 30 of these
papers were unobtainable (despite requests made to authors where contact information was
provided); however, these were retained on the basis of their abstract. Thus, a total of 175
papers were included in the systematic analysis, involving a recorded total of 60,692
participants (with the participant numbers of 6 papers being unobtainable). These papers fall
into four main types, differentiated according to methodology: (a) survey-type studies; (b)
experimental studies; (c) physiological studies; and (d) qualitative studies. These four types
are detailed in turn.
Survey-based
The first category was studies based simply on surveys and questionnaires of various kinds,
including self-report scales, of which there were 50 papers, as outlined in table 1 below.
[insert table 1 about here]
Experimental
The second category was experimental studies of various designs, of which there were 83
papers, as outlined in table 2 below. These included behavioural observations (e.g., activity in
manipulated ‘game theory’ scenarios), experimental tasks (e.g., cognitive tests), and self-
report scales in response to moral vignettes.
[insert table 2 about here]
Physiological
The third category is studies involving physiological assessments, of which there were 7
papers, as outlined in table 3 below, including studies using fMRI technology to examine
brain areas involved in moral emotions.
[insert table 3 about here]
Qualitative

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The final category is articles deploying qualitative methodologies, of which there were 35
papers, as outlined in table 4 below. The majority of these involved one-to-one interviews,
though other methods included psychotherapeutic case studies and content analyses of media
sources.
[insert table 4 about here]
Discussion
The results highlight the great breadth and depth of recent research into the notion of anger as
a moral emotion, with 175 relevant empirical papers. The literature is of course even broader
than this, since this review only included empirical work published in peer-reviewed journals;
this meant, for instance, that the wealth of journal papers approaching the topic from a
theoretical, review-based or commentary perspective were excluded (of which there were 55
such papers, detailed in supplementary table 1). Together, the papers collected here provide a
comprehensive picture of the current state of understanding of anger as a moral emotion.
With so many relevant papers, this discussion section cannot of course delve into all the
nuances of the collated literature. Indeed, as argued above, the main aim of this paper is to
provide a ‘bird’s eye’ view of the territory (of anger as a moral emotion), rather than to focus
on specific areas and elements. As a result, it will not be possible to provide an overarching
analysis that covers all the literature as a whole. Rather, readers are encouraged to consult the
tables in the results section – which provide a comprehensive overview of this terrain – and
then to engage with the listed papers individually according to their interests and agenda.
That said, this discussion will nevertheless attempt to draw out some key themes and findings
observed across the literature. In that respect, we can briefly touch upon issues including: (a)
differentiating anger from other moral emotions; (b) antecedent causes; (c) mitigating and
influencing factors; and (d) outcomes.
Differentiating anger

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There was qualified support for Rozin et al.’s (1999) CAD hypothesis, introduced above.
That said, this corroboration was not unanimous, and there were some dissenting papers
across the various paradigms. For instance, Royzman et al.’s (2014) psychometric analyses
indicated that anger may be the principal response to transgressions generally (including in
relation to purity and divinity). Making a similar point, in an analysis of facial expressions in
response to moral vignettes, Franchen et al. (2018) found that although anger reactions were
elicited more frequently by harmful than by impure actions – as the CAD might predict –
violations of purity tended to also elicit more expressions of anger than of disgust. Relatedly,
a challenge to the conceptual differentiation implicit in the CAD model came from
physiological studies: using facial recognition tasks in the context of frontotemporal
dementia, Lough et al. (2006) found that while emotion recognition was globally impaired,
anger and disgust were particularly (and similarly) impaired, implying a common
physiological substrate. A challenge of a different sort was offered by Herz and Hind’s
(2013) qualitative analyses, which suggested that even when transgressions are labelled
‘disgusting,’ this is more a figure of speech, and that these violations are not literally
experienced as viscerally gross. Finally, issues around cross-cultural variation precludes one
making generalizations with regard to CAD. For instance, comparing populations in the
USA, India, and Japan, Kollareth et al. (2018) found that although community and autonomy
violations both elicited more anger than contempt, Americans and Indians reported more
anger than contempt for both types of violation, whereas Japanese reported more contempt
than anger for both types.
However, most papers that compared emotions agreed with Hutcherson and Gross
(2011) that anger, disgust, and contempt can be differentiated both in antecedent appraisals
and consequent actions/judgments. For instance, analyzing responses to arguments about
food politics, Clifford (2019) found that moral framings that invoke purity and contamination

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considerations elicit disgust, whereas frames raising harm and injustice considerations elicit
anger. Likewise, Gutierrez and Giner-Sorolla (2007) observed that, whereas harmfulness to
others predicted anger better than disgust, the reverse was found for taboo transgressions.
Similarly, in an aural emotion induction design, induced anger increased the severity of
judgments concerning crimes against people, while elicited disgust increased the severity of
judgments around crimes against nature (Seidel & Prinz, 2013b). Analyzing facial responses,
Cannon et al. (2011) found that disgust was highest in response to purity violations, and
anger in response to harm violations. Furthermore, whereas disgust may be more reflexive
and immediate, anger involves some degree of ratiocination; compared to disgust, people are
better able to explain and give reasons for anger (Russell & Giner-Sorolla, 2011b). Likewise,
Piazza et al. (2013) found that disgust was a ‘categorical’ (i.e., either/or) response to
judgements of impurity, regardless of circumstances, whereas anger interacted with
contextual appraisals in complex ways (as explored further below).
Antecedent causes
Before we dwell further on the contextual factors that mitigate or influence anger, the second
key point to consider are the specific types of antecedent harm violations that precipitate it.
Sensitivity to such transgressions, and consequent anger, emerges in childhood, with trigger
factors including ‘contract violations (e.g., breaking promises) (Barrett et al., 2007), and peer
rejection (Walter & LaFreniere, 2000). Throughout adulthood, there are diverse triggers. Just
as in childhood, appraisals of unfairness are particularly prominent, as explored in diverse
contexts, including among: working class people, who resent being scapegoated and blamed
for circumstances outside their control (Skeggs & Loveday, 2012); nurses working in
hospitals that have brought in ‘signing on’ bonuses (since such measures are seen as unfairly
rewarding new staff) (Mantler et al., 2006); mental health professionals, who railed against
the injustice of executing mentally ill prisoners (Radelet & Barnard, 1988); and sacked

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
19
employees, who perceived their treatment as unwarranted (Negri, 2008); finally, more
generally, psychometric analyses by Lench and Chang (2007) connect anger to belief in an
unjust world.
Betrayal is another prominent form of ‘moral injury,’ triggering anger in populations
such as military personnel and veterans (Bryan et al., 2016; Jordan et al., 2017; Lancaster,
2018) and homeless adolescents (Collins & Barker, 2009). Similarly, though perhaps less
extreme, analysis of game theory behaviour identifies deceit as a trigger, which in turn
provokes acts of revenge (Xu et al., 2012). Other precipitating factors including witnessing
unprofessional behaviour at work (Monrouxe et al., 2014), experiencing prejudice (e.g., as
felt by disabled people) (Daalen-Smith, 2007), suffering dehumanization and loss (e.g., as felt
by traumatized refugees) (Nickerson et al., 2015), being exposed to violence (e.g., on
television news) (Unz et al., 2008), and experiencing trauma (Hoffman et al., 2018). It is
worth noting though that some scholars have questioned the direction of causality; that is,
rather than appraisals of immorality leading to anger, Kayyal et al. (2015) suggest that
phenomena judged as morally bad are simply ones which make people angry; similarly,
Seidel and Prinz (2013a) found that experimentally induced anger increases the tendency to
judge actions as wrong. It’s also worth noting that anger can be elicited by a perceived
violation of moral values alone, independent of harm done (Landmann & Hess, 2017).
Challenges to implications of causality have also been argued from a theoretical perspective:
for instance, McAuliffe (2018) takes issue with this so-called ‘sentimentalist’ stance, arguing
that although emotions and moral judgments do often co-occur, there is little evidence that
emotions directly cause or constitute moral judgments.
Contextual factors
Turning to contextual factors that influence or mitigate anger, here we see moral judgements
around issues such as the blameworthiness of victims, the intentions of aggressors, and the

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
20
outcomes of the transgressions, as well as factors such as in-group loyalty. Firstly, a key
factor is the extent to which victims of transgressions are deemed deserving. Sensitivity to
this emerges in childhood, when unprovoked transgressions are rated as more serious and
deserving of anger and punishment than provoked ones (Smetana et al., 1999; Smetana,
Campione-Barr, & Yell, 2003). Similarly, in occupational settings, if a worker is treated
poorly by management, their co-workers experience more anger, and are more motivated to
offer support, when these targets of abuse are considered undeserving (Mitchell et al., 2015;
Mulder et al., 2014). Collective action is also more likely in situations with higher group-
based anger, group efficacy, and politicized identity (Milesi & Alberici, 2018). Also relevant
are appraisals of the extent to which victims are deemed to have had their ‘rights’ violated
(rather than, say, simply being upset) (Giner-Sorolla et al., 2012). The intentions of the
transgressor matter too; those acting with perceived ‘bad intentions’ (Rule & Duker, 1973;
Petersen, 2010), or with hypocrisy (Laurent et al., 2013) are deemed more worthy of anger
and punishment. From a consequentialist perspective, the outcomes of transgressions also
have an impact, as actions with more severe consequences provoke greater levels of anger
(Van Der Keilen & Garg, 1994). Relatedly, Baron et al. (2018) found that moral anger was
correlated (albeit weakly and inconsistently) with higher utilitarianism. Finally, people’s
consciousness of the situation matters: using a paradigm in which they manipulated exposure
to images likely to trigger moral concern, Wisneski and Skitka (2017) found that moral
conviction increased only when images were shown at speeds low enough to allow conscious
awareness.
In addition to these moral considerations are factors which to an extent undermine the
notion of anger as a strictly moral (i.e., non-self-interested) emotion, such as in-group loyalty.
Using scenarios around issues such as torture, both Batson et al. (2009) and Uehara et al.
(2013) found than anger was only evoked when the victim was from one’s own nationality,

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
21
suggesting it is a form of ‘identity-relevant personal anger,’ rather than a case of moral
outrage per se. Other factors that can reduce moral anger include adoption of a ‘system-
justifying’ ideology (e.g., believing that poor people are responsible for their poverty) (Jost et
al., 2012). Finally, moral anger can also be influenced by complex cultural dynamics. For
instance, Oppin et al. (2015) found that first-generation immigrants reported less anger, and
more desire to repair transgression when a ‘social controller’ belonged to host society (rather
than to the immigrant community), but that this pattern was reversed for second generation
immigrants.
Outcomes
Finally, we might consider what types of outcomes anger can lead to. Some studies highlight
potential negative or destructive outcomes of anger, such as aggression and other punitive
actions. For instance, Negri (2008) observed that anger resulting from being fired (which was
perceived as unfair) could lead to a desire for retribution. Similarly, analyzing reactions to
photos of terrorist attacks, Cheung-Blunden and Blunden (2008) found that anger was linked
to increased support for war, as did Grizzard et al. (2017) (although it also led to increased
desire for humanitarian interventions). Likewise, Wirtz et al. (2015) found that anger towards
ethnic minorities in the Netherlands (e.g., due to perceived threats), was associated with
political intolerance. Indeed, rather than necessarily being a moral emotion, Plaisier and
Konijn (2013) found that anger could enhance immorality, since higher levels of anger in
peer-rejected adolescents induced greater tolerance of antisocial media content. It has also
been seen that anger can reduce pro-social qualities such as forgiveness (Gisi & Carl, 2000)
and helping behaviour (Cobb & De Chabert, 2002; Tscharaktschiew & Rudolph, 2015). This
reduction can depend on the contextual factors cited above, such as appraisals of the
blameworthiness of victims. For instance, studying social service providers, Cobb and De
Chabert (2002) found that workers who perceive individuals as more responsible for their

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
22
illness reported increased anger, attributed more blame and expressed less willingness to
help. Willingness to act and help can also depend on the degree of closeness to the injured
party: Pedersen et al. (2018) found that while people who were insulted experienced anger
and published the insulter, this response was more muted (albeit still present) if a friend was
insulted, and if the victim was a stranger, although the participant experienced modest anger
they did not publish the insulter.
However, other scholars have focused more on positive or prosocial outcomes linked
to moral anger. There are numerous analyses on anger as a source of moral courage (e.g.,
(Niesta Kayser, Greitemeyer, Fischer, & Frey, 2010; Halmburger, Baumert, & Schmitt,
2015). For instance, exploring the role of anger in prosocial intervention behaviours (e.g,,
stepping in to prevent an injustice), Halmburger et al. (2015) suggests that its motive force
enables people to overcome the psychological barrier of the potential negative (social)
consequences of intervening. Likewise, studying game theory behaviour, Yamagishi et al.
(2009) found that anger leads people to disregard the immediate narrow consequences of
their behavior, committing them to behave consistently to preserve integrity and reputation.
As such, anger predicts participation in collective action to achieve progressive social change
(van Zomeren, Postmes, & Spears, 2012; Vilas & Sabucedo, 2012). This phenomenon has
been explored across a wide range of contexts, from peace activists (Adams, 1986), where
anger is described as a ‘personal fuel’ that drives engagement in a meaningful cause, to
engagement in consumer boycotts and other forms of protest against corporate transgressions
(Braunsberger & Buckler, 2011; Cronin, Reysen, & Branscombe, 2012), to increased
participation in political activism (Leach et al., 2006; Milesi & Alberici, 2018). Intriguingly,
although anger is ostensibly a ‘negative’ dysphoric emotion, studies even suggest it can be
experienced as a positive, affirming feeling: Becker, Tausch, and Wagner (2011) found that
while collective action participants experienced more outgroup-directed anger and negativity,

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
23
they simultaneously felt more self-directed positive affect. And, even if one’s moral anger is
not a positive or affirmative experience, but remains negatively valenced, the contextual
response may be such that its impact is ameliorated; for instance, in an interesting gendered
analysis, Gallegos et al. (2018) found that crying or expressing anxiety as a result of moral
(vs. non-moral) anger reduced the negative effects that stereotypically-conceived ‘feminine’
displays of emotion have on a male actor’s perceived masculinity and competence. Finally,
moral anger can lead to outcomes such as eudaimonic meaning-seeking: Grizzard et al.
(2017) found that higher levels of graphic violence in news footage led to stronger anger and
disgust, which in turn predicted higher levels of moral sensitivity, desires for interventions
(including humanitarian efforts), and eudaimonic motivations (i.e., seeking meaning in life).
Conclusion
The wealth of studies reviewed here provides a sense of the complex emotional dynamics of
moral anger. In this brief discussion of the key findings in the literature, it was first suggested
that anger could indeed be differentiated from other self-directed moral emotions such as
disgust and contempt, and that it is primarily driven by transgressions against people. We
then saw that anger can be triggered by diverse antecedent causes, from a sense of unfairness
to witnessing violence. Thirdly, anger can be influenced or mitigated by various factors,
including the culpability of the victim and the intention of the aggressor, as well as other
factors such as in-group identity. Finally, we saw that moral anger can lead to outcomes that
can be regarded as negative and destructive (e.g., hate and retribution) or positive and
prosocial (e.g., progressive social change). With respect to this last point, it is worth
reflecting on the words of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, whose civil rights movement is often
cited as a powerful example of the kind of ‘righteous anger’ that can lead to progressive
social change, advocating for a better world, yet at the same time trying to not become
burdened by hate. As he eloquently put it in a sermon in 1958: ‘As you press on for justice,

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
24
be sure to move with dignity and discipline, using only the weapon of love. Let no man pull
you so low as to make you hate him’ (King, 2007, p.345).
It’s in light of this latter sentiment that this review can hopefully assist clinicians,
counsellors and therapists in helping their clients deal with issues around anger. From the
perspective of second wave positive psychology, it is possible and moreover desirable to –
where possible – find value and meaning in phenomena we commonly perceive as negative
(Ivtzan et al., 2016). This includes, in this present context, negatively-valenced emotions such
as anger. Thus, the review may be of use in helping clients identify possible forms of value
and meaning in their experiences of anger, and furthermore, to harness these feelings
adaptively in improving their lives. Here is where the sentiment of Dr. King becomes so vital.
Research clearly shows that anger, if improperly handled, can fester and become corrosive,
degenerating into noxious outcomes such as bitterness, hatred, aggression, and violence
(Scarpa & Raine, 1997). So, in cases where it is not possible to somehow remove or neuter a
client’s anger – for instance through mindfulness-based therapeutic techniques (Wright, Day,
& Howells, 2009) – a key task for therapeutic practitioners is to help transmute this anger
into something more positive. And one way may be to point out any moral dimensions that
might be inherent within the experience (although it should be noted that not all anger
necessarily has such dimensions – as discussed further below). This may help to imbue the
experience with a certain dignity, meaning, and even nobility. Then, beyond this reappraisal,
therapeutic practitioners may be empowered to help clients further understand the dynamics
of their anger – for instance by delving into the antecedent causes and contextual factors, as
discussed above. Then, building on this, clients may ideally be further assisted to channel
their anger towards adaptive behaviours and ends. This could include using it as motivational
fuel to work towards redressing the iniquities that may have generated their anger – always

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
25
with the proviso that this be done in a way that is constructive and adaptive, as in the spirit of
Dr. King’s words above.
As a final point though, it is worth situating this review in the broader context of
literature around anger generally. In the introduction, it was noted that there are many
different perspectives on anger, featuring diverse theoretical positions, from evolutionary
psychology to psychodynamic psychotherapy. As such, while anger may sometimes arise as a
moral emotion, it has other antecedent causes and factors, like frustration, which that means
that sometimes anger is unconnected to moral considerations. To give some indication of the
relative prevalence of research on anger as a moral emotion as opposed to other perspectives
on anger, when the terms ‘anger’ AND ‘moral’ were entered into Psychinfo, 721 results were
returned, whereas entering simply ‘anger,’ 31,936 results were returned, a figure 44 times
higher. Thus, it is worth bearing in mind that the notion of anger as a moral emotion is only
one perspective on anger, and a relatively minor one at that (statistically speaking); more
work is therefore needed in future to tease apart the conditions under which anger is and is
not a function and manifestation of morality. Nevertheless, the literature collated and
analysed here emphasizes the breadth and depth of thinking in relation to anger and morality,
showing the current state of understanding with respect to one of the most topical and
problematic of all human emotions. It is hoped that this analysis may be useful to counsellors
and psychotherapists in helping clients to potentially see some value and function in their
experiences of anger.

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
26
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Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
53
Figure 1
The Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) Flow
Diagram
Records identified through
database search
(n = 1,614)
Records identified through
additional sources
(n = 9)
Records after duplicates removed
(n = 525)
Records screened
(n = 525)
Records excluded
(n = 262)
Reason: Not an empirical
paper (n = 246) or not in
English (n = 16)
Full-text articles assessed
for eligibility
(n = 263)
Full-text articles excluded
(n = 88)
Reason: Not a paper on the
moral dimensions of anger
Papers included
(n = 175)
Records after articles not in academic
journals removed
(n = 1,026)

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
54

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
55
Table 1
Survey-based studies
First
author
Year
Sample
N
Age
Sex
(% fem)
Location
Ethnicity
(% dom)
Design
Key finding
Barclay
2005
Sacked
employees
173
45
36
USA
(California)
White (87)
Surveys of blame
Attributions of blame mediated the relationship
between fairness perceptions and outward-focused
negative emotion (e.g., anger)
Baron
1997
Students
317
(5)
NR
NR
USA
(Pennsylvania)
NR
Survey on ethical
trade-offs
People tend to experience anger at the thought of
making trade-offs, and engage in denial of the need
for trade-offs
Brondolo
2005
Black and
Latino
people
420
39.9
69
USA (New
York)
Black (73)
Discrimination
survey
Exposure to ethnic discrimination was also positively
related to the use of anger coping styles; magnitude
depended on type of discrimination
Brown
2008
Students
731
(3)
NR
67
Canada
(Carlton)
NR
Self-report scales
If person/group is mistreated, those not directly
harmed can still experience antipathy toward
offenders, leading to secondhand forgiveness
dynamics
Bryan
2016
Military
personnel
1086
(2)
34.1 &
27
36.2 %
17.7
USA (W & S-
W)
White (70)
Self-report scales
Moral injury among service personnel: betrayal
associated with anger and PTSD
Cox
2003
Students &
parents
98
NA
NA
NA
NA
Self-report scales
Moral disengagement was a predictor of the students'
maladaptive anger
Cronin
2012
Communit
y (1) &
571
(2)
42.7
47.5
USA (Kansas)
White
(87.5)
Survey regarding
Walmart
Greater ethical concerns predicted less consumer
support and increased willingness to take

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
56
students
(2)
confrontational actions; moral anger mediated this
relationship.
Dupre
2010
Heterosexu
al partners
124
25.4
50
Canada
NR
Self-report scales
Perceived supervisor injustice predicted supervisor-
directed aggression, whereas perceived partner
injustice predicted lower supervisor-directed
aggression
Gisi
2000
Patients
with brain
injury
51
NA
NA
NA
NA
Self-report scales
Inverse relationship was found between anger and
forgiveness, and between anger and social
desirability.
Grappi
2013
Shoppers
280
NR
55
Italy
NR
Survey of attitudes
towards
corporations
Consumers' negative moral emotional responses to
corporate infractions prompts negative word of
mouth and protest toward the corporation, including
anger
Grappi
2015
Shoppers
(1,2) &
students
(3)
574
(3)
43
51.5
Italy
NR
Survey of attitudes
towards
corporations
Consumer reactions to reshoring: meditating role of
positive and negative moral emotions (i.e., gratitude
and righteous anger)
Harris
2003
Drink-
drivers
720
30
24
Australia
NR
Surveyed after
attending court or
restorative justice
Factor analysis - three factors: shame-guilt,
embarrassment-exposure, and unresolved shame.
Shame-guilt related to higher empathy and lower
anger/hostility
Hoffman
2018
Refugees
222
NA
NA
Australia
NA
Mental health
questionnaires
Two‐factor model: Moral Injury‐Other (interpreting
the violation as being enacted by others) and a Moral
Injury‐Self factor. Both factors were predicted by

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
57
higher trauma exposure, and predicted more severe
anger and depression
Hutchers
on
2011
Students
392
(5)
18.8,
17-31,
17-29,
18-23,
34.6
62, 63,
71, 70,
70
NR
White (58,
51, 43, 41,
67)
Questionnaire of
moral violations
Social–functionalist perspective: anger, disgust, and
contempt are differentiable both in antecedent
appraisals and in consequent actions and judgments.
Jia
2019
Adolescent
s
341
12.5,
15.6,
19.2
NR
China &
Canada
NR
Moral emotions
assessed following
scenarios
Chinese early adolescents rated more intense other‐
evaluative emotions than the same age group in
Canada
Jordan
2017
Veterans
867
NR
NR
USA
NR
Self-report scales
The relationship between betrayal-based morally
injurious events and PTSD was mediated by anger
Kaplan
2014
Students
546
NA
NA
NA
NA
Development of
moral motivation
scale
Overall developmental quality of moral motivation
was negatively associated with hate and positively
associated with anger toward the victimizers
Kayyal
2015
Non-
specific
490
(2)
32
53.5
USA
NR
Self-report scales
Anger correlates with moral judgements: events that
make one angry judged as morally bad
Kennedy
2014
Company
employees
150
18-21
61
USA
NR
Self-report scales
Injustice Experience Questionnaire: two-factors were
differentially correlated to depression and duration of
work disability, but not anger
Laible
2008
Adolescent
s
113
15.8
51
USA (N-E)
White
(55.4)
Self-report scales
Factor analyses - two dimensions of conscience:
moral affect (including guilt, shame, sympathy, and
empathic anger) and moral cognition (e.g., prosocial
moral reasoning)

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
58
Lancaster
2017
Veterans
182
33.6
19.8
USA
White (78)
Self-report scales
Moral appraisals of combat experiences predict
additional distress beyond having been exposed to
combat, with moral injury linked to anger
Lancaster
2018
Veterans
161
35.1
28.6
USA
White
(73.9)
Self-report scales
Both self-transgressions and betrayal are correlated
with guilt/shame and anger
Lancaster
& Harris
2018
Veterans
182
NR
NR
USA
NR
Self-report scales
Perceived transgressions by self associated with
anger, depression, PTSD, alcohol abuse, guilt and
shame
Leach
2006
Non-
aboriginal
Australians
783
(3)
48,
72.5,
43
49.7, 29,
NR
Australia
(Perth)
White
(100)
Survey about
aboriginal
population
Those who perceived their in-group as relatively
disadvantaged perceived this inequality as unfair and
felt guilt/anger. Anger predicted willingness to
engage in political action
Leach
2007
Non-
aboriginal
Australians
150
49
NR
Australia
(Perth)
White
(100)
Survey about
aboriginal
population
Non-Aboriginals opposed to government redress
were high in symbolic racism and perceived their in-
group as deprived (with feelings of group-
based anger)
Lench
2007
Students
673
(2)
20.4,
19.3
75.9,
69.9
USA
(California)
Asian-
American
(45), NR
Self-report scales
Belief in an unjust world was related to defensive
coping, anger, and perceived future risk
Mantler
2006
Nurses
800
NA
NA
NA
NA
Self-report scales
Nurses in hospitals that offer sign-on bonuses report
higher anger and lower optimism – due to reduced
sense of distributive justice
Martin
2017
Veterans
562
28.7
26.2
USA
White
(66.7)
Self-report scales
Deployment-related betrayal predicts thwarted
belongingness in the presence of high but not low or
mean levels of aggression

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
59
McDonal
d
2002
Whistle-
blowers
95
NA
NA
Australia (W)
NA
Self-report scales
94% of whistleblowers suffered stress-related
emotional problems, the most frequent being anger,
anxiety, and disillusionment
Milesi
2018
Activists
(4)
192,
143,
172,
131
47.1,
49.2,
41.9,
22.9
47.9,
34.6, 57,
59.5
Italy
NR
Self-report scales
Group-based anger, group efficacy and politicized
identity are significant predictor of collective action
Nickerso
n
2015
Treatment-
seeking
refugees
134
42.4
21.6
Switzerland
Turkish
(53)
Self-report scales
Moral injury accounted for 16% of the variance in
PTSD, 16% in depression, 10% in explosive anger
and 10% in mental health-related quality of life
Ohbuchi
1987
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
Factor analysis
Aggression interpreted as punishment when directed
toward a transgressor – motivated by restoration of
social justice (intensity determined by
perceived moral responsibility)
Oppin
2015
Students
95
24.2
0
France
‘French’
(39.2)
Self-report scales
First-generation immigrants reported less anger, and
more desire to repair transgression when social
controller belonged to host society (reversed for
second generation)
Pajević
2007
Adolescent
s
240
15-18
50
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
NR
Self-report scales
A higher index of religious moral beliefs of young
people provides healthier and more efficient
mechanism of anger control and aggression control
Petersen
2010
Non-
specific
4116
15-21
NR
Denmark
NR
Survey about
criminal justice
The effect of anger on criminal justice opinions is
conditioned by perceptions of the intentions of
criminals, while the effect of anxiety is unrelated to
these perceptions

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
60
Pickett
2017
Adults
5042
NR
NR
USA
NR
Self-report scales
Although punishing crimes may not influence
individuals’ social or moral beliefs, it might attenuate
potentially criminogenic emotional reactions to
crime, such as anger
Plaisier
2013
Adolescent
s & young
adults
149
13.8 &
21.4
54 &
78.6
Netherlands
NR
Self-report scales
Anger linked to immorality: Higher levels of
state anger in peer-rejected adolescents induced more
tolerable moral judgments of antisocial media content
Rai
2015
Non-
specific
NR
NR
NR
USA
NR
Survey about
corporate behaviour
Companies seen as having ‘agentic’ mental states
(e.g., intentions) but not experiential ones (e.g., pain):
companies to elicit anger as villains, but not
sympathy as victims
Schieman
2006
Older
adults
136
65+
50
USA (DC &
Maryland)
White (50)
Survey regarding
disadvantage
Association between neighborhood disadvantage
and anger is positive among higher-income elders
who feel financially disadvantaged relative to their
neighbor
Skitka
2004
Non-
specific
550
NR
NR
USA
NR
Survey on political
tolerance
Effects of anger on political tolerance mediated
through moral outrage and outgroup derogation
Steiger
2017
Adults
432,
370
36.2,
39.1
67.4,
57.4
USA
White
(77.1,
80.1)
Self-report scales
Trait anger weakly associated with harm/care and
fairness values; trait contempt negatively associated
with multiple moral values (consistently with
harm/care and loyalty); trait disgust positively
associated with multiple moral values (consistently
with harm/care and reciprocity/equity)

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
61
Tausch
2011
Students
(1) &
Muslims
(2,3)
954
(3)
21.6,
22.8,
26.7
48.8,
52.2, 53
Germany
(Hessen),
India
(Aligarh), UK
NR,
Muslim
(100),
Muslim
(100)
Survey
questionnaires
Anger related to normative action but not non-
normative action
van
Zomeren
2012
Non-
specific
208
(2)
20.5,
24.8
78.9,
44.1
Netherlands,
Italy
NR
Survey on recent
political events
Anger predicts collective action to achieve social
change.
Vilas
2012
Students
NA
NA
NA
Chile
(Santiago)
NA
Self-report scales
Efficacy and anger have an influence on the intention
to participate in collective action through moral
obligation.
Wang
2017
Young
adults
464
20.7
65.1
China
Chinese
Self-report scales
Direct and indirect relations between trait anger and
cyberbullying were moderated by moral identity
(becoming non-significant for high moral identity
individuals)
Wang
2018
Young
adults
464
20.7
65.1
China
Chinese
Self-report scales
Trait anger associated with aggression. and anger
rumination mediated this relation. Moral
disengagement moderated the relation between anger
rumination and aggression, and between trait anger
and aggression
Weiner
1988
Students
208
(2)
NR
NR
USA (Los
Angeles)
NR
Surveys about
moral attributions
Physically based stigmas (perceived as
uncontrollable), and elicit pity, and no anger. Mental
stigmas (perceived as controllable), and elicit little
pity, and much anger

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
62
Wilt
2019
Veterans
187
50.9
27
USA
African
American
(58.5)
Survey of
predictors of moral
struggles
Regression analyses identified several concurrent
predictors of moral struggles: higher religiousness,
lower self-esteem, and attributing one’s
religious/spiritual struggles to oneself and the
military
Wirtz
2015
Students
103
21.1
84
Netherlands
NR
Survey of attitudes
towards Muslims
Disgust and pity were strongly related to social
distance, whereas anger was more strongly related to
political intolerance
Xie
2015
Consumers
110
NR
48
Norway
NR
Survey of response
to non-green
corporate actions
Individual difference characteristics (social
justice values, empathy, moral identity, self-
concept) moderate elicitation of negative moral
emotions (e.g., anger, disgust)
Note: NR = not reported; NA = not available; N/A = not applicable

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
63
Table 2
Experimental studies
First
author
Year
Sample
N
Age
Sex
(% fem)
Location
Ethnicity
(% dom)
Design
Key finding
Angrilli
2013
Serial
killer
1
41
0
Finland
(Helsinki)
NR
Cognitive and
psychometric
tests
Relatively intact knowledge of moral rules, but impaired
in the recognition of anger, embarrassment and
conventional social rules
Barclay
2009
Non-
specific
100
23
73
USA (N-W)
NR
Expressive
writing task &
self-report
scales
Experiences of workplace injustice: Participants who
wrote about emotions and thoughts reported
less anger than participants who wrote only about
emotions.
Barger
2013
Students
466
(3)
22
65
USA (S-E)
White (82)
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Decreased moral reasoning observed in instances where
both sadness and anger were high following a dilemma
(but not just either alone)
Baron
2018
Adults
104,
97,
107,
95
45,
47,
44,
42
68, 68,
65, 62
USA
NR
Reactions to
scenarios
Higher scores on a utilitarianism scale, were correlated
negatively with disgust, positively (but weakly and
inconsistently) with anger
Barrett
2007
Children
80 (2)
6.6 &
9.9
50
approx
Germany
(Berlin)
‘German’
(90)
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Children able to identify contract violations, and
attributed guilt to violators and anger to victims
Bastian
2013
Students
(1) &
368
(3)
22.7,
36.4,
33.3
58, 63,
48
Australia
(Queensland
Asian (60),
White
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Moral outrage and dehumanization predicted punishment
independently of the effects of crime type or crime
severity

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
64
non-
specific
), USA,
USA
(80),
White (77)
Batson
2007
Students
48
NR
100
USA
(Kansas)
NR
Experimental
simulation &
self-report
scales
Conditions that evoked anger were unfair treatment of
self or a cared-for other, not unfairness per se
Batson
2009
Students
48
NR
100
USA
(Kansas)
NR
Scenarios about
torture & self-
report scales
Evidence of identity-relevant personal anger (when
person from one’s nationality is tortured) but little moral
outrage (torture of identity-irrelevant nationality person)
Becker
2011
Non-
specific
172
(2)
21.3
&
22.9
66 & 69
Germany
(Hessen)
NR
Participation in
collective
action, & self-
report scales
While collective action participants experience more
outgroup-directed anger, they feel more self-directed
positive affect
Calder
2010
Patients
with
Huntingd
on’s
40 (2)
50.4,
49.9
42.8,
47.3
England
NR
Facial
recognition
tasks
Disgust and anger (associated with social disapproval)
are frequently impaired in Huntingdon’s patients
Gallegos
2018
Adults
219,
224,
535
36,
35,
19
50, 41.9,
53.6
USA
White (78,
78, 79)
Experimental
manipulation of
men’s crying
responses
Crying or expressing anxiety as a result of moral (vs.
non-moral) anger reduced the negative effects that
stereotypically feminine displays of emotion have on an
actor’s perceived masculinity and competence
Cheung-
Blunden
2008
Students
588
NA
NA
NA
NA
Viewing photos
of 9/11, & self-
report scales
Relation between support for the war and attitudes
toward terrorism mediated by anger

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
65
Clifford
2019
Adults
(3)
504,
921,
786
NR
NR
USA
NR
Responses to
arguments about
food politics
Frames invoking purity and contamination
considerations will elicit disgust while frames raising
harm and injustice considerations will elicit anger
Cobb
2002
Social
service
providers
46
NA
60
NA
NA
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Workers who perceive individuals as more responsible
for their illness (HIV/AIDS) report increased anger,
attribute more blame and express less willingness to help
Franchin
2018
Adults
33
24.8
51.5
Italy
NR
Analysis of
facial
expressions
during scenarios
Anger reactions were elicited more frequently by
harmful than by impure actions, while violations of
purity elicited more smiling reactions and expressions of
anger than of disgust.
Giner-
Sorolla
2012
Students
437
(2)
NR
90 & 71
England (S)
& USA (S-
E)
NR
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Judgement of rights violation mediated the effects of
harm on anger
Goossens
1991
Children
88
6-11
NA
Holland
NA
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Girls with daycare experience responded with more
moral indignation and anger than counterparts with no
daycare experience
Grizzarrd
2017
(2)
Students
315,
262
19.9,
20.1
44.4,
52.7
USA (N-E)
White
(46.7,
45.8)
Response to
news footage
Higher levels of graphic violence led to stronger anger
and disgust, which in turn predicted higher levels of (a)
moral sensitivity, (b) desires for interventions (including
military and humanitarian efforts), and (c) eudaimonic
motivations (i.e., seeking meaning in life)
Grubbs
2014
Students
334
(2)
19.5
45.9
USA (M-W)
NR
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
To the extent that people saw their personal
transgressions as resulting from stable character traits,
they reported greater anger toward God

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
66
Gutierrez
2007
Students
288
(2)
NR
76.5 &
85
England
(Kent)
NR
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Manipulations of harmfulness to others predicted moral
anger better than disgust, while manipulations of taboo
predicted disgust better
Harvey
2017
(2)
Students,
doctors
447,
121
21.6,
55.1
59.7,
28.1
USA
NR
Reactions to
scenarios
Individual and contextual factors play an important role
in shaping the perceptual and emotional processes by
which individuals form reactions to undesirable affective
workplace events
Halmbur
ger
2015
Students
68
21.7
76.5
Germany
NR
Reactions to
scenarios
Anger (but not guilt) predicted intervention behavior:
enables people to overcome psychological barrier of
potential negative (social) consequences of intervening
He
2014
Non-
specific
328
(2)
34.3
&
20.7
50.7 &
49.7
NR
NR
Scenarios of
service industry
failure, & self-
report scales
Even people with higher moral identity engage in moral
disengagement of vindictive negative word-of-mouth if
they have higher anger toward the service failure
Heerdink
2018
Adults
174,
154,
399
20.5,
22,
36.7
71.2,
71.4,
58.4
Netherlands
NR
Reactions to
scenarios &
videos
Observers use others’ emotional reactions to infer
whether and why a particular behaviour is inappropriate,
e.g., because it violates autonomy standards (as
suggested by expressions of anger)
Jost
2012
Students
(1),
protestor
s (2),
teachers
(3)
192
(3)
20,
38,
33.7
58, 40,
80
USA (New
York),
Greece
(Athens),
England
NR
Writing on
experiences (1),
scenarios (2, 3),
& self-report
scales
Even among political activists, system justification plays
significant role in undermining willingness to protest.

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
67
Karreman
2012
Adolesce
nts
131
15-19
54
Netherlands
‘Dutch’
(87)
Anger
inducement &
self-report
scales
Gender differences: boys experienced and
expressed anger independent of autonomy-
connectedness; girls' anger experience depended on the
level of sensitivity to others
Kende
2017
Adults
1459
43.6
NR
Hungary
NR
Reactions to
refugee crisis
Hierarchical regression analysis and mediation analysis
revealed the importance of opinion-based identity and
moral convictions as predictors of volunteerism, while
efficacy beliefs and anger only predicted political
activism
Kollareth
2017
Adults
(3)
120,
240,
240
(18.9,
18.1,
19.4)
(18.7,
18.7,
19.7)
(37.2,
27.2,
22.3)
(75, 60,
48) (90,
32.5,
61.2)
(45, 41.2,
72.5)
USA, India,
& Japan
NA
Reactions to
scenarios
Across all three cultures, moral violations were
associated with more than one emotion: all negative
rather than positive, anger for most, and disgust for
violations involving sex and pathogens
Kollareth
2018
Adults
480
36.4,
19,
20.6
59.3,
63.1,
56.9
USA, India,
& Japan
NA
Reactions to
scenarios
Community and autonomy violations both elicited more
anger than contempt. Americans and Indians reported
more anger than contempt for both types of violation,
whereas Japanese reported more contempt than anger for
both types

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
68
Körner
2016
Students
312
23.2
85
Germany
NR
Auto-
biographical
recollections
Identification of prerequisites explaining more subtle
differences between moral emotion clusters as they
emerge from analyses (i.e., cluster 1: admiration, pride,
and respect; cluster 2: anger, contempt, and indignation;
cluster 3: schadenfreude and sympathy)
Landman
n
2017
Adults
138
38.5
57.9
Germany
NR
Reaction to
newspaper
articles
Anger can be elicited by a perceived violation of moral
values alone, independent of the harm done
Niesta
2010
Students
375
(3)
25.1,
24.4,
24.1
63.8,
65.9,
68.7
Germany
(Berlin,
Munich)
NR
Invitation to
participate in
social action
Justice sensibility, civil disobedience, resistance to group
pressure, moral mandates, and anger lead to moral
courage, but not to help giving.
Laurent
2013
Students
(1), non-
specific
(2,3)
272
(3)
19.7,
34.3,
31.6
52, 60.2,
50
USA
NR, white
(60), white
(82.2)
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Hypocritical criminal seen as more culpable and
punished more than a non-hypocritical criminal
(identical crime). Negative moral emotions (e.g., anger)
mediated relationship
Lindberg
2002
Students
92
NR
73.9
USA
NR
Inducement of
anger & self-
report scales
Willingness to file a law suit was predicted by a model
including perceived danger and the personality
characteristic of anger reactivity
Lough
2006
People
with
dementia
31
59
19.3
England
(Cambridge)
NR
Cognitive tasks
Emotion recognition globally impaired in frontotemporal
dementia, but particularly for anger and disgust
Ma
2012
Students
423
NR
22.9
China
(Hefei)
NR
Game theory
activity
Rejection of unfair offers affected by negative emotions
(e.g. anger) even if there are no reputational concerns

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
69
Mitchell
2015
Compan
y
employe
es
221
41.5
57
USA
White
(81.4)
Self-report
scales and
observation
3rd parties experience anger when targets of abuse are
considered undeserving, and are motivated to harm
supervisor and support coworker (but not if deemed
deserving)
Molho
2017
(4)
Adults
201,
1252,
819,
347
31.7,
31.9,
33.4,
34.3
45.8,
51.8,
48.4,
48.1
USA
NR
Reactions to
scenarios
When the target of a moral violation shifts from the self
to another person, anger decreases, but disgust increases.
Whereas anger is associated with high-cost, direct
aggression, disgust is associated with less costly indirect
aggression.
Moore
1996
Students
147
NA
NA
England
(London)
NA
Watching
violent film clip
& self-report
scales
Justified violence rated as less extreme
Mulder
2014
Governm
ent
employe
es
161
NR
46.5
Netherlands
NR
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Workplace abuse: if target deemed responsible, women
reported less sympathy and more anger, and men only
more anger, resulting in lower helping intention
Mullen
2006
Students
398
(2)
NR
NR
USA
(Chicago)
NR
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Moral mandate effect: When people have strong moral
convictions, they react with anger when outcomes are
inconsistent with their moral point of view
Nelissen
2009
Students
65 (2)
20.8,
19.3
58.2,
79.2
Netherlands
NR
Experimental
transgression
simulation
Anger and guilt independently constitute sufficient but
not necessary causes of punishment. Low punishment
observed only when neither emotion is elicited.

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
70
Nugier
2007
Students
510
(2)
19.5,
22.5
81.2,
92.7
France
NR
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Conditions under which social control provokes angry
emotions in the perpetrator includes perceived deviance
and appraisal of the legitimacy of social control
O'Mara
2011
Students
40
NR
50
USA
(Tennessee)
NR
Experimental
simulation &
self-report
scales
A victim (self vs. stranger) excluded (fairly vs. unfairly)
from a favorable experience: anger and retribution
provided evidence of personal anger, not of moral
outrage
Olthof
1989
Children
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
Responding to
scenarios
Anger instigation to property damage is moderated by
the ability to take a normative perspective on
transgressions
Pedersen
2018
(5)
456, 147,
250, 222,
172
39.9,
55.1,
54.4,
54.5,
58.7
NR
Mixed
NR
Aggression
paradigm to
contrast second-
and third-party
punishment
Subjects insulted by a stranger experienced anger and
punished the insulter. To a lesser degree, subjects who
witnessed a friend receive an insult also became angry
and punished the insulter. In contrast, subjects who
witnessed a stranger receive an insult did not punish the
insulter, although they experienced modest anger
Peter-
Higane
2017
Students
132
19.2
73
USA
White (34)
Scenarios for
mock jurors
Nullification instructions exacerbated the effect of
jurors’ attitudes on anger, disgust, and moral outrage
toward the defendant. Anger also enhanced mock jurors’
reliance on their attitudes under certain conditions
Philippe
2011
Students
298
(2)
22.7
87.4
Canada
NR
Recalling
memories &
self-report
scales
Impact of autobiographical memory (an anger-related vs.
a guilt-related memory) on situational anger reactivity
with respect to unfair treatment

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
71
Piazza
2013
Not-
specified
357
(2)
31.6,
28.9
35.9,
41.6
USA
NR, white
(82)
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Anger negatively predicts the envisioning of mitigating
circumstances for wrongdoing, while disgust was
unrelated
Puurtinen
2009
Students
194
NR
NR
Finland
NR
Game theory
participation
Group competition intensifies the moral emotions
of anger and guilt associated with violations of the
cooperative norm.
Rothschil
d
2018
Adults
135,
243,
161,
410
31.1,
32.9,
18.8,
32.1
54.8,
65.4,
60.8,
64.3
USA
NR
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
For participants low in observer justice sensitivity,
feelings of guilt predicted greater outrage and desire to
punish a corporation‘s sweatshop labor practices.
Furthermore, affirming one‘s personal moral identity
reduced outrage and support for punishing a corporate
harm-doer among those low, but not high in observer
justice sensitivity
Royzman
2014
Students
464
(4)
18-
22,
18-
22,
22,
35.1
59.3, 58,
50, 45.1
USA, USA,
USA, USA
NR, NR,
NR, white
(81.4)
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Anger (not disgust) is predominant response to
pathogen-free violations of the divinity code (and to
transgressions generally)
Rozin
1999
Students
520
(2)
NR
NR
USA
(Pennsylvani
a) & Japan
(Hiroshima)
NR
Matching faces
to scenarios (1)
& rating
scenarios (2)
Violation of autonomy (individual rights) linked to
anger, of community (communal codes) to contempt, and
of divinity (purity-sanctity) to disgust
Rule
1973
Children
48
8 &
12
NR
Netherlands
NR
Evaluating an
aggressor
8- and 12-yr-olds judged the act more negatively when
the aggressor's intentions were bad. Younger children

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
72
relied more on consequences to determine their
judgments
Russell
2011a
Non-
specific
241
19.7
81.3
England
(Kent)
NR
Scenario (about
meat eating)
Anger responds to the contextual cues of harm and
intentionality, while disgust responds uniquely to
whether or not a bodily norm violation has occurred
Russell
2011
b
Non-
specific
(1),
students
(2)
122
(2)
23,
211
75, 71.4
England
(Kent)
NR
Questionnaire
about pedophilia
(1), plus visual
prompting using
faces (2)
Elaborated reasons were less prevalent when explaining
disgust versus anger, perhaps due to the unavailability of
those reasons to people.
Russell
2013
Non-
specific
245
31.1
52.2
Mixed
(MTurk)
White
(54.3)
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
The adjective ‘moral’ increased the relevance of anger,
contempt, and fear in irrelevant domains, which suggests
that the adjective increases any emotion’s moral
relevance
Sabo
2017
(5)
Students,
adults,
adults,
adults,
adults
250,
357,
321,
352,
484
20.3,
31.5,
31.5,
33.9,
34.8
37.7,
64.1,
71.3,
55.4,
58.7
England,
mixed,
mixed,
mixed, USA
NR
Reactions to
scenarios
Imagining a purely harmful act is given a “fictive pass”
in moral judgment, whereas imagining an abnormal act
involving the body is evaluated more negatively because
it is seen as more diagnostic of bad character
Salerno
2013
Non-
specific
(1) &
students
(2)
220
(2)
34,
19
50, 63
Mixed
(MTurk),
USA
NR
Scenarios (1) &
mock jury (2),
with self-report
scales
Anger toward moral transgressions
predicted moral outrage only when it co-occurred with at
least moderate disgust (and vice versa)

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
73
Seidel
2013a
Students
66
NR
69.7
USA (New
York)
NR
Scenarios plus
mood induction
soundtracks
Induced anger increases the tendency to judge actions as
wrong, and happiness increases the tendency to praise
actions as both good and obligatory
Seidel
2013
b
Students
166
NR
71.1
USA (New
York)
NR
Scenarios plus
mood induction
soundtracks
Induced anger increases severity of judgments about
crimes against persons, and sounds that elicit disgust
increases severity of judgments about crimes against
nature
Siegal
1985
Preschoo
lers
80 (2)
4.4
50
Australia
(Brisbane)
NR
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Newly enrolled (vs ‘veteran’ preschoolers) regarded
social transgressions as naughtier and more worthy of
adult intervention and anger
Shao
2018
Adults
(3)
87,
117,
217
NR,
23.7,
40.3
NR, 57,
46.5
NR,
Australia,
NR
NR, Asian
(57),
White (67)
Rating video
scenarios
Leader moral anger had a negative direct effect on
follower affective trust but not on follower overall trust.
Singh
2018
Adults
224,
97
36,
35.2
66, 48.4
USA
NR
Emotional
induction
Individuals in a state of incidental fear exhibit higher
levels of ethical judgment as the moral intensity
increases as compared to individuals in a state of
incidental anger
Skoe
2002
NA
209
20
50
USA
White (77)
Scenarios and
self-reporting
feelings
Sympathy and anger uniquely predicted both care
(positively) and justice (negatively) orientations.
Relational dilemmas evoked more emotions than non-
relational ones
Szekely
2015
Non-
specific
408
(2)
23.2,
24.5
87.3,
83.2
Romania
NR
Imagining
oneself in moral
situations
During ‘harm to save’ moral dilemmas, participants
experienced mostly fear and sadness but also
compassion, guilt, anger, disgust, regret and contempt

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
74
Täuber
2012
Students
98
20.7
80
USA
NR
Scenarios
(around national
identity) & self-
report scales
Group members felt stronger group-based anger and a
stronger motivation to reaffirm their group's moral status
when an outgroup was morally superior to them
Tong
2018
Students
134,
168,
395
20,
20.9,
22.1
67.1,
63.7,
60.7
Singapore
Chinese
(91.8, 87.5,
84.9)
Tasks
manipulating
blame appraisals
Higher activation of God concepts was associated with a
weaker relationship between other-blame and anger
Törestad
1990
Children
339
12-18
NR
Sweden
(Stockholm)
NR
Self-classifying
situations that
evoked anger
Developmental trends and sex differences with respect to
who was the provoker and who was provoked in the
described situations.
Tscharakt
schiew
2015
Non-
specific
332
NA
NA
Germany
NA
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
When person in need is regarded as being responsible for
plight, anger is elicited, and likelihood of help giving
decreases
Uehara
2013
Students
85
18.8
68.2
Japan
NR
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Abduction scenario evoked considerable anger only
when the abducted victim in national in-group,
regardless of whether restoring fairness was actually
expected.
Ugazio
2012
Students
177
(2)
NR
81.8
Switzerland
NR
Emotion
induction, plus
scenarios (1)
essay writing
(2), & self-
report scales
Emotions influence moral judgments based on their
motivational dimension: approach motivation associated
with anger makes moral judgments more permissible

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
75
Unz
2008
Adolesce
nts (1)
and
students
(2)
153
(2)
14-
15,
15.3
50, 50
Germany
Watching TV
news: analysis
of facial
expressions
Viewers react to violence with ‘other-critical’ moral
emotions, including anger and contempt, reflecting a
concern for the integrity of the social order
van der
Lee
2015
Students
125
(2)
30.2,
21.7
56.2,
67.2
Netherlands
NR
Experimental
manipulation &
self-report
scales
Evaluations of one's own incompetent behaviour
induces anger
van Der
Keilen
1994
Students
177
NR
82.1
Canada
NR
Scenarios &
self-report
scales
Degree of responsibility attributed to the offender, anger
experienced by the victims, and expectations of
repayment or compensation increased with severity of
damage
van
Prooijen
2006
Non-
specific
414
(4)
21,
21.3,
21.1,
19.9
35.2,
42.1,
64.1,
72.1
Netherlands
(Amsterdam
)
NR
Scenarios and
self-report
scales
People react more negatively to in-group than outgroup
suspects when guilt was certain but react more
negatively to outgroup than in-group suspects when guilt
was uncertain
van
Prooijen
2013
Students
100
(2)
20.9,
21.2
76, 78
Netherlands
NR
Choice
manipulation,
then
measurement of
autonomy
Retributive reactions to criminals originate from a desire
to regulate autonomy needs: choice opportunities in an
unrelated decision-making context prompt people to
display stronger retributive reactions
Walter
2000
Children
56
4.1
NA
NA
NA
Naturalistic
observation
Girls' anger, but not distress, was negatively related to
peer rejection. In contrast, boys' anger and distress were
both positively related to peer rejection

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
76
Wakslak
2007
Students
566
(2)
NR
75.9,
65.8
USA (New
York)
NR
Experimental
manipulation &
self-report
scales
Endorsement of a system-justifying ideology negatively
associated with moral outrage, existential guilt, and
support for helping the disadvantaged
Wisneki
2017
(2)
Students
462,
171
NR
NR
USA
(Chicago)
NR
Reactions to
images
Moral conviction about abortion increased only for
participants exposed to abortion-related images at speeds
slow enough to allow conscious awareness. The
relationship between attitudinally relevant disgust and
moral conviction was mediated by disgust, and not anger
or harm appraisals.
Wong
2005
Students
462
NR
43.7
China &
USA
NR
Scenarios with
different people
as victim
Americans expressed less psychological distance
between in-group and out-group members than Chinese
Xu
2012
Students
170
21.4
63
USA
NR
Experimental
simulation &
self-report
scales
When a broker is perceived to act deceitfully by the
buyer, the buyer reacts with negative affect (anger)
which provokes subsequent acts of revenge
Yamagis
hi
2009
Non-
specific
NR
NR
NR
Japan
NR
Economic game
theory
Anger leads people to disregard immediate
consequences of their behavior, committing them to
behave consistently to preserve integrity and
reputation
Note: NR = not reported; NA = not available; N/A = not applicable

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
77
Table 3
Physiological studies
First
author
Year
Sample
N
Age
Sex
(% fem)
Location
Ethnicity
(% dom)
Design
Key finding
Cannon
2011
Students
39
27.2
58.9
England
(Plymouth)
NR
Analysis of face
during consideration
of scenarios
Facial disgust was highest in response to purity violations.
In contrast, harm violations evoked anger expressions.
Extremity of subsequent moral judgments was predicted
by facial affect
Huang
2000
Non-
specific
1427
23.5
50.3
Taiwan
NR
Analysis of eyes
during experimental
simulation
The frequencies of masking smiles and casting down of
eyes showed that participants who based forgiveness on
obligation had more residual anger-related affect to the
hurtful event than participants who based forgiveness on
the moral principle of love
Kédia
2008
Non-
specific
28
NA
NA
NA
NA
fMRI analysis while
imagining scenarios
Three emotional conditions associated with the
involvement of other, either as agent or victim (guilt,
other-anger, and compassion conditions), all activated
structures that have been previously associated with the
Theory of Mind.
Lawler
-Row
2008
Students
114
20.4
55.2
USA
White
(95)
Nervous system
analyses during
calming down
Forgiveness and anger-out were associated with systolic
blood pressure, and heart rate and pressure
Mimur
a
2010
Orbitofro
ntal
2
NA
NA
Japan
NA
fMRI analysis while
imagining scenarios
Neural substrates – conflict between the top-down
rational/logical processes and the bottom-up

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
78
cortex
damage
irrational/emotional processes: individuals with OFC
damage punished more strictly than healthy controls
Pletti
2016
Adults
43
22.5
50
Italy
NR
EEG reactions to
scenarios
Stronger emotions for the utilitarian as compared to the
non-utilitarian options, with the exception of anger and
regret, which in Trolley-type dilemmas were stronger for
the non-utilitarian option. Moreover, participants tended to
choose the option that minimized the intensity of negative
emotions, irrespective of dilemma type
Zahn
2009
Non-
specific
29
27.9
50
NR
NR
fMRI analysis while
imagining scenarios
Activity in the anterior ventromedial prefrontal cortex
correlated with pride and guilt. Activity in the subgenual
cingulate solely correlated with guilt. Indignation/anger
activated lateral orbitofrontal-insular cortices
Note: NR = not reported; NA = not available; N/A = not applicable

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
79
Table 4
Qualitative studies
First author
Year
Sample
N
Age
Sex
(% fem)
Location
Ethnicity
(% dom)
Design
Key finding
Adams
1986
Peace
activists
NA
NA
NA
USA
(Conneticut)
NA
Analysis of
autobiographie
s
Anger is a ‘personal fuel’ that resolves the institutional
contradictions that arise in the course of history
Baum
2013
Social
workers
26
39.6
100
Israel
Jewish
(100)
Interviews
Responses of Jewish Israeli social workers to the health
inequalities facing their Arab clients: provoked feelings
of anger and moral outrage, guilt, and shame
Braunsberger
2011
Consumer
boycotters
1400
NR
NR
Canada
NR
Content
analysis of
boycott
pledges
Pledgees explicitly express desire for the target to
abolish its egregious behavior, their anger about the
behavior in question, and their desire for punitive actions
Brown
2012
N/A
NA
NA
NA
Canada
NA
Analysis of
media reports
Hostage taking incident – emergent themes: retribution,
perceived systemic mistreatment, justice/injustice,
empathy, disbelief, and loss.
Clement
2017
N//A
N/A
N/A
N/A
USA
N/A
Discourse
analysis of
leaders’
utterances
Discourses supporting the use of force, such as those
produced by George W. Bush and Osama bin Laden in
the context of the Iraq war, share the structural
characteristics of the hero‐protector narrative
Cohen
1999
Epilepsy
patient
1
69
0
Israel
NR
Case study
Reflex-induced simple partial seizures, triggered by
feelings of frustration, anger and despair, provoked by
pondering complex political and moral issues

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
80
Daalen-
Smith
2007
Girls with
Spina
Bifida
5
NA
100
NA
NA
Interviews
The experience of societal ableism eroded their sense of
self-worth, impinged upon their human rights, and
isolated them in their own condition, leading to anger
Dahl
2014
Mothers &
infants (2)
26,
35
NR
100
USA (San
Francisco)
White
(76, 57)
Quasi-
experimental
naturalistic
observation
Mothers use intense, angry vocalizations for moral
transgressions, fearful vocalizations for prudential
transgressions, comforting vocalizations for pragmatic
transgressions
Denham
2002
Females
24
21-
65
100
USA
White
(83.3)
Interviews
Experiences of anger – themes: the realities of the self
as moral, the morality of anger expression, and the
morality of outcomes
Eatough
2008
Females
5
28-
32
100
England
(Midlands)
NR
Interviews
Experiences of anger – themes: anger as moral judgment,
in particular perceptions of injustice and unfairness
Flemke
2008
Female
prisoners
39
NA
100
USA
NA
Interviews
A primary trigger for rage is feeling threatened and
emotionally overwhelmed
Ford
2018
a
Workers
423
NA
NA
NA
NA
Critical
incident
analysis
Analysis of the role of moral emotions in the workplace
Ford
2018
b
Workers
54
27
53.7
USA
NR
Daily diary
study
Gratitude and anger towards one’s organization are
indicators of employee affective well-being and play a
mediating role in the effects of organizational and
supervisor supportiveness on employee performance
Gasser
2012
Children
139
8
100
Switzerland
NR
Interviews
Aggressive children judged retaliations as less serious
than did nonaggressive children

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
81
Goldberg
2000
Incarcerate
d male
1
NA
0
NA
NA
Psychoanalyti
c case study
Impact of witnessing significant people who behave as if
anger is a legitimate means for dealing with frustration
and conflict
Haight
2017
a
Child
Protection
System
profession
als
38
NR
82
USA
White
(66)
Interviews in
response to
Moral Injury
Events Scale
Participants communicated feelings associated with
moral injury such as anger and sadness, emotional
numbing, and guilt and shame.
Haight
2017
b
Parents
involved
with Child
Protection.
8
NR
100
USA
White &
black
(50, 50)
Interviews in
response to
Moral Injury
Events Scale
Moral injury as a result of own parenting behaviors, but
also from involvement with professionals and within
social systems, including lasting feelings of guilt, shame
and anger, and loss of trust in professionals
Hardman
2015
Children
with
emotional
disorders
12
NA
NA
NA
NA
Moral
dilemma
interviews
Caring, just relationships engendered happiness and love
and inspired a sense of moral autonomy; harsh, unjust
relationships fueled feelings of anger, sadness, and fear
and led to disobedience and retaliation
Herz
2013
Students
90
19.6
52.2
USA (Rhode
Island)
NR
Analysis of
use of words
to describe
scenarios
Moral disgust is not visceral (gross) but rather appears to
be representative of anger even though autonomy
violations are often labeled as ‘disgusting’
Hexem
2011
Parents of
ill children
73
NR
NR
USA
(Philadelphi
a)
NR
Interviews
Some parents reported questioning their faith, feelings of
anger and blame towards God, and rejecting religious
beliefs or communities

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
82
Kocabiyik
2014
Young
adults
25
20-
25
NR
NR
NR
Interviews
Analysis of relevance and operation of moral emotions
(empathy, guilt, shame and anger) in young people’s
lives
Kraus
1991
Masochisti
c patients
4
NA
NA
NA
NA
Psychotherape
utic case
studies
Self-righteous stance reflected in omnipotent striving to
impose wishes on the external world as a defense against
the pain and anger associated with lack of love
Lee
2010
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Analysis of
adverts
Smoking adverts: emotion appeals of anger and sadness
are associated with higher ethicality than shame and
humor appeals
Miller
1966
Bereaved
mothers
2
NA
100
USA (New
York)
NA
Psychotherape
utic case study
Because of anger and guilt concerning the death of a
child, the mothers have not been amenable to casework
help, establishing a masochistic relationship with current
child
Monrouxe
2014
Healthcare
students
69
NA
NA
NA
NA
Interviews
Students experience anger if they witness or participate
in something unprofessional (so-called professionalism
dilemmas)
Myburgh
2015
Grade 10
children
48
NR
NR
South Africa
NR
Interviews
A culture of aggression was present in class due to lack
of a sound moral base
Negri
2008
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
N/A
Analysis of
texts relating
to case of
sacking
Being fired can be perceived as a form of unfair
treatment and as a personal and social defeat, generating
anger, outrage and resentment, and desire for retribution
Radelet
1988
Mental
health
NR
NR
NR
USA
NR
Interviews
Reactions to execution of mentally ill prisoner:
ambivalence and anger about the case

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
83
profession
als
Russell
2011
Heterosexu
al LGBT
activists
127
40
60
USA
White
(82)
Interviews
Two major sets of ally motives: those rooted in
fundamental principles (justice, civil rights, etc.), and
those based on personal experiences (e.g., guilt, and
anger)
Skeggs
2012
Working
class
people
24
NR
71
England
NR
Interviews
Scapegoating of working class: people angered by being
judged, blamed and held responsible for an inheritance
over which they have no control
Smetana
1999
Maltreated
children
55
4.5
NR
USA (New
York)
NR
Scenarios &
interviews
Children rated unprovoked transgressions as more
serious and deserving of punishment than transgressions
that were depicted as provoked by another's actions
Smetana
2003
Children
81
7.5
51.8
USA (New
York)
White
(60)
Scenarios &
interviews
Moral transgressions judged more serious and deserving
of punishment for prototypical than provoked
transgressions and when retaliation involved hitting
rather than teasing
Thompson
1987
Children
48
9.5
50
USA
(Nebraska)
White
(‘most’)
Scenarios &
qualitative
interviews
Second graders offered more outcome-dependent
inferences; fifth graders provided more causal
attribution-dependent inferences (e.g., pride, anger)
van Daalen-
Smith
2008
Adolescent
girls
NA
NA
NA
NA
NA
Qualitative
reporting by
school nurse
Girls' lived experiences of anger: experiences of
disrespect, dismissal, denied agency, and a denial of the
right to verbalize anger eventually led to self-silencing
Wosińska
1987
Medical
profession
als
237
NA
NA
Poland
NA
Content
analysis of
scripts
Emotions were dominated by annoyance rather than
anger; reactions comprised not only the striving to
redress the injustice but also acquiescence to injustice

Running title: ANGER AS A MORAL EMOTION
84
describing
injustice
Note: NR = not reported; NA = not available; N/A = not applicable