anger management

• novaco suggests that cognitive factors trigger the emotional arousal which generally precedes aggressive acts

  • argues in some people anger is quick to surface, especially in situations that are perceived as anxiety inducing or threatening
• becoming angry is reinforced by the individual’s feeling of control in a situation
• anger management programmes are a form of cbt where the individual is taught how to recognise when they are losing control, and then encouraged to develop techniques which bring conflict resolution without the need for violence
• stage 1 - cognitive preparation

  requires offender to reflect in past experience to consider typical patterns of anger to learn how to identify these situations which trigger anger

  • therapist helps individual redefine situations as non threatening to attempt to break the automatic response of anger
• stage 2 - skill acquisition 


  offenders introduced to techniques that help them deal with anger provoking situations more rationally

  eg. positive self talk to encourage calmness, more effective communication, relaxation techniques

  • helps to promote the idea that the offender is in control of their emotions rather than being ruled by them
• stage 3 - application process 


  offenders given opportunity to practise their skills in a carefully monitored environment

  • can involve reenactments of previous events where anger and acts of violence have escalated so it requires commitment and from an offender and bravery from a therapy whose job it is to wind up the offender
• ✔️attempts to address the thought process in offending beh instead of causes of attending (beh modification)
• ✔️experience of treatment programmes may give offenders new insight into the cause of their criminality enabling them to self discover ways of managing themselves outside of the prison setting

  • more likely to lead to permanent change in beh than behaviour modification = lower rates of recidivism
• ✔️ multidisciplinary approach used

  • cognitive preparation used to identify anger triggers
  • behavioural perspective when developing techniques of anger management
  • social approach used when offender are required to demonstrate what they have learnt
• X little evidence that anger management reduces recidivism in the long term

  • maybe because the application phase of treatment relies heavily on artificial role play which might not properly reflect all possible triggers in a real life situation
• X anger management programmes may be misguided as they provide offenders with a justification for their beh
• X assumes a straightforward causal relationship between anger and offending

  • false assumption - loza and loza-fanous used psychometric measures and found no difference in levels of anger between offenders classed as violent and those classed as non violent
• X expensive to run as they require services of highly trained specialists
• X success is based on participants‘ commitment to the tasks